A visit to my younger sister’s new apartment required a quick housewarming gift. What to do? I used my new favorite crafting machine, the Silhouette Cameo, to put together some easy personalized gifts. And where better to start than with something I’d never tried before: glass etching.
The final project wasn’t perfect (you can ignore the two errant marks from some excess etching cream), but I feel even more confident to try this again. With a bit of care, it’s surprisingly easy to etch glass at home.
First, I came up with a simple text design and cut it out with my Cameo on scrap outdoor vinyl.
You’ll need gloves, goggles, etching cream, and something to apply the cream — I used a popsicle stick. Don’t skimp on the safety gear. This is icky stuff. Work outside if you can, like I did.
To prepare the pan for the cream, I cleaned it carefully with rubbing alcohol. I used my favorite transfer tape substitute — clear contact paper — to center the stencil on the pie pan.
Then it’s just a matter of carefully covering all of the exposed areas with etching cream. One thing I would recommend would be to cover more of the area outside the stencil. I managed to transfer some of the cream on my gloves outside of the stencil, which could have been avoided. Lessons for next time!
I doubled the etching time recommended on the bottle to get a good, deep etch. Pro tip — the etching goop is re-useable! I scraped what I could back into the bottle, then carefully rinsed off the rest in the sink. Pulling off the vinyl revealed a perfect etch.
To round out the gift, I used my Cameo again, this time loaded with black heat transfer vinyl, to decorate a pair of kitchen towels.
All wrapped up and ready to go, it made for a nice little present.
sticks on a plane 