Glass Etching Tutorial

Hey everyone!  This is my first tutorial and I am covering how to do glass etching.  If you have the right tools this can be a very simple mess free (seriously) project.  I use the Etch-All etching creme I bought at CHA.

This stuff is pretty great because it doesn't have a smell, so you can do the etching wherever you would like, and reusable, so you can dump back in a lot of what you put on the glass to reuse at a later date.

This project is a treat jar for my dog, Phoenix.  I used the Paper Pups and All Mixed Up cartridges and my Gypsy to plan out where the cuts would go on the side of the jar.  I also used yellow vinyl from Avery that I also bought at CHA.

It's kind of hard to see, but this the the vinyl with the cuts in it.  Set your cricut with blade depth 2 and pressure Low.  This cuts just the vinyl layer so you can peel the entire thing off the cricut mat still on the backing sheet.

Peel the backing sheet off of a piece on contact paper and smooth contact paper on top of the entire vinyl stencle.  This step allows you to have very little areas removed or kept in your etching process.  If this is confusing to you, it should clear up in the next couple of steps.

Now peel the backing sheet of the vinyl off.  You should now have a sheet of vinyl, sticky side exposed, attached to a piece of contact paper.

Place the vinyl stencil where you would like the final design to be.  With the contact paper still on, rub over the entire area to smooth out wrinkles.  Etch-All sell a starter kit with a jar of creme, a spatula, and a pick.  A clean spatula works really well for this step.

Peel off the contact paper.

Use pick to remove areas of the stencil that you would like to be etched.  The pick is basically a paper piercer.

As you can see, this process prevents the warping of the vinyl stencil in placement so the cuts look just like they would if you had done them on paper.

Tape off any glass that you would not like to be etched.  The most important thing is to make sure the edges of the stencil don't have any air bubbles or the etching will not be crisp.  Put a liberal amount of the etching creme on the stencil.  Don't be stingy because you can reuse the creme you have on the stencil.

Spread out creme with spatula and let sit for 15 minutes or as long as you feel is necessary.  The etching creme bottle you are using will tell you the recommended range.

With the spatula, scrape the excess creme back into the jar.  Rinse the jar in warm water with the stencil still on.  Remove the stencil and rinse again.  If you are doing other sides of the jar or another stencil on the same side make sure the jar is completely dry.

Finished Project