Glass Etching!

Glass etching is something I've wanted to do for a very long time. I didn't until now because I really couldn't come up with anything I desperately wanted to etch and so I couldn't justify buying the etching cream. But when my cousin Morgan visited me in Tallahassee, she had just finished doing some glass etching and brought along her tools so that I could try it out too! 

I knew about it in advance, so I decided to etch my glass sugar and flour jars. I had my mom make some vinyl "stencils" for me to use in making this, just so it looked really crisp and good, and I love how it turned out! 

First I positioned the stickers on my jars and smoothed them down, trying hard to make sure the edges were stuck to the sides completely. I used a quarter to help. 

Then I just painted on the etching cream. Morgan bought the Martha Stewart brand, and although she'd done a few things with it at this point, it looked brand new, so I'm guessing it goes really far and lasts a long time. You let the etching cream sit for 15-20 minutes, and it doesn't look like anything is happening. And fun fact: it smells like molasses. I was expecting chemical smell, but at least this one didn't.

After the 15-20 minutes is up, just rinse in the sink. Dry it off to make sure you didn't miss any spots, touch up where needed, and then you're done! It was way less complicated than I thought it would be, and this could very well be addicting. I was trying to think of personalized glass things that I "needed" to buy. It would make a great personalized wedding gift to do something in the couple's last name, so I might do that next... because now I want to buy some and try this myself.

It would have been much easier to photograph in better lighting/with empty jars, but from the little bit you can see, doesn't it look good?!