Etching Glass

This isn't a scrapbooking craft, but I did use some of my scrapbooking tools to do this. I've seen so many wonderful glass etching projects and had really been wanted to try it myself.  Then along cam an opportunity. My sister was getting married this past summer and I wanted to make something special for her shower gift. The shower theme was to stock the pantry. I decided to make her a customized casserole dish. This way when she makes all her yummy food to share at parties and gatherings, everyone will know which dish is hers!

I didn't think to take photos as I was doing this. So I just have a few that I took with my cell phone.  I bought a glass casserole dish that had a fairly flat bottom with not much writing or impressions on it. Then I took a measurement of the space I had to work with on the bottom of the dish.

I used my Silhouette Cameo for this project.I laid out my design in the software, being certain to constrain myself to the measurement of the casserole dish bottom. 

 Before cutting the design, I mirrored it in the Silhouette software. I then cut it out of vinyl. And weeded out the portions where I wanted the glass etching to take place.  This part can trip you up. Typically you weed out the waste areas and keep the design. But for this type of project you'll actually weed out the design elements so that those areas of the glass are exposed.

Using transfer tape, I applied the vinyl to the bottom of the casserole. I used a squeegee to make sure the vinyl was tightly adhered. The bubbles in the vinyl are fine. The vinyl will not be staying on the dish. It is just acting as a stencil.

Once the vinyl is in place, you apply the glass etching cream. There are a few on the market. I used Etchall. I only had a small jar and it was more than enough for this project. Plus you can gather the excess and put it back in the jar to be reused.

Spread the cream liberally to cover ONLY the areas that you want etched.  Be very careful to not get it on any other areas.

Now you just wait.  15 minutes. Then you can scrape the cream off the project and put it back in the jar.  Then remove the adhesive vinyl under running water.  And enjoy your permanently etched glass!

The vinyl left a bit of residue on the glass. I used some Goo-Gone to take that off.

I was so happy with the results. Especially since this was my very first time using this technique. Now I'm thinking of lots ideas for using etching cream!