A Quick Tutorial on Etching Glass

I ordered some Armour Etching cream last week & it arrived the other day. I finally had a chance to try it out & thought I would share the process of etching my pyrex glassware with our last name. I think this is a great idea so that you don't lose your glassware when lending it or taking it to potlucks. I also think this would be a wonderful gift for newlyweds, their last name etched into their dishes. So, I used my Silhouette SD to cut a vinyl template of our last name. Make sure your glassware is clean by using some spray glass cleaner. You also want to make sure you don't have any fingerprints in the area to be etched.

Then, get your Etching cream & a paint brush ready. I did start out trying just a regular paint brush but wasn't getting the kind of coverage I wanted, so I switched to a foam sponge brush.

Apply a coat of cream over the empty letter spaces. Don't skimp, you want to have enough cream to etch the glass completely, not just in patches. The bottle said to leave the cream on for 5 minutes, so that's what I did.

After the 5 minutes are up, wash the cream off. Be sure not to wipe it with your hands, this is an acid based cream we are dealing with. It will cause chemical burns. Be safe. So, wash it all off, then clean your dish again with the glass cleaner & wipe dry. Here is what one of mine looks like. I've actually done about 4 with the same template. Don't look too closely, or you'll see all the lovely fingerprints. It took me a few tries to get a good picture, so I had to keep readjusting my hands. I love this stuff! I'm also excited because I have another use for my Silhouette & my vinyl! (By the way, theSilhouette SD is an amazing machine! You just hook it up to your computer & it will cut any of the fonts that you have. You can also create your own custom images for it to cut onto paper, vinyl, heat transfer, etc.)

 Happy etching!