Glass etching

I've become kind of crafty lately.  Not really sure why, but I have found all these cool things that I want to make and finally decided to go with it.  One of my new favorites is glass etching.  I saw it done on some blog somewhere and thought "I could do that!"  It turned out to be way more fun and addicting than I had anticipated and I find myself wanting to etch every glass surface in my house.

I've had quite a few people ask me how it's done, so I decided to do a little example for demonstration purposes.  I bought these plain juice glasses earlier this week to use as dessert cups for Halloween dinner- $2.99 for a set of four at Target.  Can't beat that.  And at that price, I can afford to use one for my demo.

First of all, you will need the glass etching cream.  I've heard some people say they've found it at their local craft store, but I searched high and low at Michael's and couldn't find it anywhere (though, in all honesty, I didn't ask so maybe they do have it hidden away somewhere).  Instead, I just ordered it off of Amazon.  Anyway, this is what it looks like:
 

Next, you will need to decide what pattern/design you want to etch.  For this demo, I chose a pretty script S and just printed it off my computer (in a really huge font and bolded).  I've also used stickers as templates and that works really well, too.

Next, take a little square of plain Contact paper and trace the design onto it (or put your sticker on it).  I've found that a fine-point permanent marker works best for this.  Regular pen doesn't show up well and any other kind of marker just smears when you press it onto your glass.

Now just peel the backing off of your Contact paper and stick it onto the glass you want to etch, like so:

This is where it gets a little tricky/time consuming.  Once the Contact paper is stuck to your glass, take an Exact-O/craft knife and very carefully cut along the lines of your design.  I've found it helpful to move the glass around as I'm doing it, instead of trying to contort my arm into some weird position.  If you accidentally go outside the lines, it isn't a super huge deal; you can usually go back and correct it.

Now it's time to remove the part you cut.  Remember to leave certain parts of the Contact paper in place (i.e., if you cut out an "O," you'll want to leave the Contact paper in the middle or else it will just be a big circle).  If you find that your cutting was not quite as smooth as you would've liked, you can always go back and fine tune your stencil.  Here is what my fancy "S" stencil looked like when I was done.

Once you've removed the stencil, take your finger or some other blunt object and gently smooth down the edges around the exposed part of glass (I use the rounded end of my craft knife).  You just want to be sure there are no air bubbles or gaps because otherwise the etching cream will seep under the Contact paper and ruin your beautiful stencil!

From here on out it's easy.  Take a sponge brush and apply a thick layer of etching cream over the exposed glass.  Try to make it as even as possible, but you do want it to be thick.

Then just let it hang out for 10-15 minutes while the cream does its magic.  After the time has passed, put your glass under running water to rinse off the cream, rubbing it off with your finger if necessary.  Here's what mine looked like after rinsing:

Now it's time for the big reveal!  Peel the Contact paper away...

And voila!  (sorry, this picture is blurrier than I thought but it's the only one I took and I'm too lazy to go back and take another one)

So that's it!  A little time consuming, but I think it looks so cool and classy.  And not super expensive, either (I think the etching cream cost around $6-$8 and I had most of the other stuff lying around the house already).  And now my big Pyrex baking dish is un-steal-able!  :)