Tanya's Creative Space: 08/12/13

August Silhouette Challenge ~ Etched Glass

For this month's challenge, I decided to try etching. I have always liked the look, but too scared to try. It did take a couple of tries to get it right, but I finally got it. In the following tutorial I will share how I did it.

Supplies

Armour Etch - Hobby Lobby

Glass Candle Holder - Dollar Tree

Vinyl - Hobby Lobby

Transfer Tape - Silhouette Brand

Sponge brush - Wal-Mart

Latex gloves

First I did a google search for pumpkin clip art and found this cute pumpkin.

I then measured the candle holder to see what size I needed to size my pumpkin for my project.

Now you will open Silhouette Studio and do a copy and past. Once the image in on your screen, you need to size it to the measurements you took earlier. To outline the pumpkin so that it will have cutting lines around the pumpkin, you need to pick the select trace area. Now un-check the High Pass filter and move the threshold over until the pumpkin is entirely highlighted. Now you will pick the trace outer edge.

If you do not do the steps shown above when you choose the Cut Style Window it would show you a red square around the pumpkin. This is because the trace option steps weren't done. When you got ready to cut, it would just cut a square out.

After you select the trace outer edge, you can grab the colored pumpkin and pull them apart. I did this just to show you the cut area. You won't be needing to have color because you are going to cut it on vinyl. (there will be not printing for this project) So either pumpkin with cut lines shown would work.

At this time I would check my cut lines and chose cut edge.

Now it's time to cut. Choose the cut settings by choosing the pencil at the top right of the page. Pick the media that you are cutting, you will choose vinyl. It will show you where you need to adjust your blade setting to. Cut your vinyl to size and put it on your cutting mat, Load mat and hit cut.

1. Weed out the inside of the pumpkin

2. Take the transfer tape and add it to the top of the weeded pumpkin. Make sure that it smoothed out well.

3. Now lift off the transfer tape with the weeded vinyl and lay it on your candle holder.

This part you will want to make sure that you rub the image down VERY well. Make sure that you get all bubbles out. If you do NOT have it rubbed down well, the etching cream will leak through and ruin your project. Trust me, it happened to me twice. Third time was a charm.

4. Remove the transfer tape and get ready for the next step.

Be sure to read the instructions before getting started. Also wear a pair of latex gloves to protect your hands from the chemicals in the etching cream. After reading the instructions, with the sponge brush, apply a generous amount of etching cream.

Let the cream sit for 6 min. Letting it stay on any longer doesn't help. It stops the process at 6 min. after that, you are just taking chances of the cream leaking through the vinyl. Now just rinse it of in the sink. At first it will look like nothing has happened. Remove the vinyl and dry off, you will then see the etched image.

Here is a sample of what happens when you do not make sure the vinyl is firmly pressed down.

Once it has leaks through, it's no good. You will have to try again.

Here is what the final one turned out like! There is a piece of orange card stock to show you the details of the etching.

Much better!!

I do have the file if you would like to use it to create your own candle holder. It's late and I can't figure out how to post it here. I will have it posted tomorrow. Sorry.

Here is another one that I designed. Hope you like it. It can be used for all seasons. I'm going to put some coffee beans at the bottom and the candle at the top. For Christmas, you can add glitter with snowflakes and a red candle. I hope I can find the right size candles, I haven't been able to yet.

For the scroll part, I found it here. I modified it a bit, but I got the original stencil from All Things Thrifty! Thanks Brooke for the free pattern.

I did find out that not all glass will etch. I had this tall cylinder bottle someone gave me and my plan was to put "Schyler's Stache (with the actual mustache cut out) on it. It just would not etch.

I decided to put vinyl on it instead. I'll post a picture of it tomorrow if you would like to see it.

One Last Picture