Etching the summer away with Armour Etch and Stampendous

The Stampendous girls are etching glass this week with Armour Etch!  Be sure to hop over to the Stampendous blog to see who all has been playing along this week and the prizes for hopping along with us.  Also be sure to leave comments at everyone's blogs for chances to win!

Glass etching is so easy and fun! (There, I said it!!)  BUT I want to share a couple of tips that will make your project sooo much better.  (Full directions for etching with stamps, compliments of Stampendous, is at the bottom of this post.)

My first project that I created is a candle which would have been gorgeous, LOL, but here's my first tip: Don't emboss your image on glass where the candle is already inside!  It melts the candle in those spots and gives you a weird consistency in that area so that it is hard to see your gorgeous etching!

(Also, I used White Embossing Powder which didn't rub off quite as easily as Bark or Gold I found out later.)

For this one I started with a large candle in a jar and stamped and embossed Jumbo Songbird.  The large chunky image worked as a great mask for the etching!

But since I managed to melt the candle its really hard to see in a photo now!

So I made two little shot glasses too!  (OK, so they're really votive holders but hey!)

On these I used Fantasy Tiles and then masked off the area around them with contact paper and a square punch.

So now I've learned a few minor lessons before our hop on Friday and hopefully I'll figure out a better way to photograph this gorgeous effect too!

Also posting today:

Stampendous

Lea Kimmel

Tobi Crawford

How to etch glass the Stampendous way (of course you can do it another way if you like...ahem... Jenn):

Find your piece of glass – it’s a bit easier if it’s flat, but with cling you can work around a round surface. Go to thrift store, or you can use a mirror as well. - get two or three...you’ll want to try one first.

Clean your glass – with rubbing alcohol

Stamp your image – with versamark OR a colored pigment ink like ColorBox or VersaColor – color won’t matter – but image does. Choose something with clear, well-defined lines, not toooooo detailed.

IF you don’t like your image, clean with rubbing alcohol and repeat as often as necessary.

Emboss your image with ANY color powder (but probably not chunky ones). Heat carefully, some thin things like glasses and christmas ornaments can break if heated too much.

Now – your image will be the part of the design that is NOT etched. So get a piece of contact paper and cut a frame with a Spellbinders die or something like that, that your image fits into.

Place the frame on the glass around the stamped image.  Smooth it down very well leaving no gaps or bubbles along the frame edge that etching cream could seep under.

Apply etching cream with a slightly dampened sponge brush. You may want to do this outside, it kinda smells, keep the coat very thick and even, working on a small area at a time. Work quickly.

Wait one minute – more isn’t better. Then take your glass thing to the sink and rinse under warm water simultaneously washing away ALL the embossing powder. 

Remove the contact paper – TA DA!!  You will get soooooooooo addicted to this. I promise... You thought resin was addicting. Look out world!

Photography – you can use Rub N Buff (available at Michaels) to rub into your etched part to really make it pop... Putting a dark surface inside your project can help, too. 

A link to the online instructions including a video

http://www.armourproducts.com/cms-display/ge-manual.html