Those who know me know I’m a little (if “little” means “a whole freakin lot”) obsessed with Christmas. I love it. Every year I do a Christmas Craft Night for my friends (see one here) which is basically me having a bunch of my best ladies over and instructing us all as we do a fun Christmas craft. I always try to hold it at the beginning of December so that my friends can have their craft up all month, and this year is no exception!
Now before I open the doors to my loving swarm of wine drinking craft elves I first need to come up with a craft and of course test it.
So that is what I did last week.
Yes! This year we are making etched glass snowflake wine glasses! Each of ma’ ladies will leave with a lovely set of four. I’ve tested two (to do some troubleshooting) and am happy with knowing we can pull them off in an evening of crafting (and still have time to fill those glasses up with some wine).
And the best part about using etching cream rather than a frosted ‘paint’ is that the etching cream is permanent – meaning you can put these babies in the dishwasher with no concern about washing off all your hard work. And of course enjoy these glasses for years to come!
They were quite simple to make and the result is so polished looking. If you’re interested in trying it yourself, here is what you’ll need:
wine glasses – I chose these ones from Ikea
Etching Cream (and paint brush) – I got mine from Michaels (craft store). This Martha Stewart one comes with a small paint brush, it is just is not shown here.
Snowflake stickers – Martha Stewart Crafts line from Michaels. Make sure the ‘insides’ of the snowflakes are not filled in (with sticker backing). You need a diecut type sticker. Think paper snowflakes from elementary school!
Adhesive vinyl (such as this kind) – I actually used a roll of adhesive shelf liner from the local dollar store
Circle paper punch – I used a 2″ circle one from my scrapbooking supplies (originally from Michaels)
Rubbing alcohol and cotton swab/make up remover cotton pad
gloves – the little tight fit ‘surgeon’ type ones are the best (vs rubber cleaning gloves) as they are much less bulky and easier to work with
And you will also need a butter knife.
To begin, ‘clean’ with a cotton swab/pad of rubbing alcohol, the area of the glass where you will be placing your etched design. This will ensure that any grime (such as oil from your fingers or dust) is removed. I thought I could skip this step but DON’T… as you will see later.
Next, cut a small square (4″ x 4″ approximately) out of your roll of adhesive vinyl.
Then, take your 2″ punch and punch a circle right in the middle of your vinyl square. This is creating your ‘mask’ that we will use to ensure your etching cream stays put!
Place your punched ‘mask’ on your glass wine tumbler. It is best to place it on a flat part of the glass (vs a part of the glass where it is sharply curved – such as where the bottom curves up into the top) as there will be much less opportunity for buckling here. It is very hard to lay adhesive on a curved surface without all sorts of puckers. You want your circle to remain a circle (i.e. not the way a circle may look after multiple glasses of vino!)
Adherere a snowflake sticker in the centre of your open circle.
This is the part where you want to use the bottom end of your butter knife! I did two trial glasses and in the first one I did not use a knife or rubbing alcohol and it did not turn out as well as I’d hoped. No-skippo-stepos ladies and gents.
Gently use the bottom (butt) end of your butter knife and press your sticker down by rubbing lightly over it ensuring it is stuck securely to the glass. Pay attention to the small little details of the snowflakes as those are the most likely to pop up.
Put on your gloves! Now the fun part – using a paintbrush, ‘paint’ a generous layer of the etching cream over your snowflake and circle opening. It is okay for it to go on to the vinyl as we will be peeling this off later.
In the image below you can see on this one where I did not use the rubbing alcohol or butter knife (#stepskipper) that the snowflake is lifting in certain spots (i.e the points of the ‘star’ centre). Blurgh. Oh well, that is why I test the craft!
Leave the cream on as per your etching cream directions – mine was 15 minutes – and when done, still with your gloves on, peel off the vinyl mask and rinse under warm water to remove the cream and sticker. Cleaning the glass with rubbing alcohol beforehand makes the snowflake stick on there really well so my attempts at picking it off with tweasers were futile and I just rubbed if off under a tap of running water when I removed the etching cream. Worked like a charm!
And you are left with these pretty little things…
Here is a close up (not that I am proud of my failure) of the snowflake that was lifting because I was being lazy…
Ah, pretty snowflake details lost. Still holds wine though ;). So use your rubbing alcohol and knife and consider this a public service announcement. You’re welcome.
