Friday Favorites: Glass Etching Cream

O.K. so I promise that this isn’t going to turn into the Silhouette blog but I just got it and I am having so much fun playing with it!  Here is one more totally awesome idea using the Silhouette.

Have you guys ever used this stuff?  It’s glass etching cream.  Silhouette sells it on their site but I bought mine at Joann’s.  It’s pricey so start out with the smallest bottle and don’t forget to use a 40% off coupon.  (I’ll also explain later how it can by recycled and used again!)

 

A few weeks ago, Vivienne from The V Spot posted this really clever idea for using a Cricut or Silhouette to etch your name into the bottom of a pyrex dish.  That way you don’t have to worry about getting your dish back when you bring food to an event.  Awesome right?

 

Here is how mine turned out.

I’ll give a brief run down of what I did but be sure to check out Vivienne’s tutorial HERE.  She even shows you how you can do this without a Cricut or Silhouette.  Plus she’s kinda funny so I think you’ll like her blog! :)

 

 

1. Find a font you like.  Type your last name into your Silhouette program.  Flip the image to a mirror image.  Cut it out onto some contact paper.  It would take a little more time but you could also try cutting it out with an exacto knife if you didn’t have a Silhouette.

 

2. Turn your dish over.  Peel off the backing on the contact paper and stick it onto the under side of your dish.  Don’t forget to save the small pieces like the center of my “a” and “o” in the picture above.

 

3.  Use a Q-tip to spread the glass etching cream over your lettering.  (I used a brush the first time and I think that the Q-tip worked better.)  On my first attempt I left the etching cream on for 10 minutes and nothing happened.  This time I left it on for an hour and it worked great!

 

 

 

4.  Here is a totally awesome tip that I learned from the Silhouette site.  This cream can be recycled and used again!  Don’t just rinse it off in the sink.  Scrape it off with an old credit card (or in my case a Build a Bear card) and put it back in the jar.  Clean off the bottom of your dish and peel off the contact paper.

 

I hope you give this a try too.  I’m all ready for a pot luck.  Hmmm…. anybody having one?

Now, I need to share that the first time I tried this it was a total failure.  I painted the Armour etch on with a brush and rinsed it off after 10 minutes and there was absolutely no etching at all!  I e-mailed Vivienne and she was nice enough to respond and encourage me to give it another go.  I think what helped on the second go round was using the Q-tip to really glob it on and leaving it for a whole hour.  Plus now I know that I can scrap the etching cream off and use it again so I know I won’t be wasting it on failed attempts.