Etching on Glass with Stampendous and Armour Etch

This week we’re having so much fun etching on glass with Stampendous Stamps and Armour Etch Glass Etching Cream. We hope you’ll give this fun media a try. When you use it with stamps, it’s just such an exciting and different way to create beautiful, and useful, home decor!

I had a great time last weekend etching this gorgeous vase with our Cling Jumbo Dahlia Stamp! I have dahlias in my yard, and I thought this would be the perfect design for an etched vase to display them!  Here are my assembled products:

Vase from the florist with flat sides, Cling Jumbo Dahlia stamp, VersaMark Pad, Gold Embossing Powder, Armour Etch, Rubbing Alcohol, Foam Brush, Contact Paper

The Stampendous method of glass etching starts with cleaning your glass piece with rubbing alcohol. You want to remember to choose glass that is not too thin, or the heating might cause it to crack.

Cleaning with rubbing alcohol and a soft cloth.

After cleaning, brush the vase with an anti-static pouch or talcum powder. Then ink the stamp with VersaMark and stamp your image as desired.

Stamp with VersaMark ink.

Next cover the image with embossing powder. You can use any color, I used Pirate Gold. A color is easier than using clear for clean up later.

Cover image with embossing powder.

Then shake off the excess powder. You can use a small paint brush to remove stray particles, and you can blow on it as well. Remember that anywhere there are stray particles the glass won’t etch, so you want to take a few minutes here to really get them all.

Remove excess powder and return it to the jar with a piece of folded scrap paper.

Heat the glass object VERY carefully. Keep the heat tool moving at all times, and if it’s a container like this be sure to heat a bit inside as well as out. Keeping the temperature even over the whole piece of glass will keep it from breaking. When you’re done, WATCH OUT because IT’S HOT!

Heat carefully. Keep it moving, Heat evenly. Don’t touch hot glass!

When it cools you can remove extra bits of melted powder with a craft knife to make the design really clear.

Use a craft knife to remove stray bits of melted powder.

You want to mask off the area that you don’t want etched. You can use masking tape for this or contact paper. I had some ANCIENT shelf paper that I cut into strips. Smooth the edges very tightly so etching cream cannot creep under it.

Apply contact paper or masking paper to the areas not to be etched.

Now apply a very thick, even coat of etching cream to the entire area to be etched. I use a damp sponge brush for this and dab my cream so I don’t end up with brush lines. You want it VERY thick and even.

Use a damp sponge brush.

You should not be able to see glass anywhere through the coat of etching cream.

Set your timer for one minute. It won’t hurt if you go a little longer, but it won’t help either.

Your iPhone has a handy timer for stuff like this! One minute is all you need.

Wash your project under hot water in your sink. Rinse off all the etching cream and use a scrubby sponge to remove the embossing powder if necessary. It will look like nothing happened when it’s still wet. You have to dry it to see the etched gorgeousness! Then just TRY to photograph it. That really is the hardest part.  I put a dark paper in the vase and brushed some gold PearlEx on the etched part so it would show up for you. In person it is BEAUTIFUL!

Beautiful Jumbo Dahlia Etched Vase by Laura Weed! Brushed with PearlEx for photo only.

Yummy!

Yes, you can totally do this! What a great way to turn a free vase from the florist (or an old mayo jar or wine bottle) into a fantastic, personalized piece of home decor!

There are lots of place to see more samples of glass etching. You can find Armour Etch on Facebook, Pinterest, and their own blog at www.etchtalk.com.

And, of course, there are our designers that are playing today! Go check out their projects, comment on their blogs, and you could win some etching supplies yourself! Remember to tell us in your comment where in the U.S. you’re writing from, only U.S. mailing addresses eligible to win.

Asia King

Janelle Stollfus