www.paperartistsonline.com

I had a couple of questions about this, so I thought I'd just start a new thread, rather than continue to hijack Farley's wallet card thread.

So the glass etching is going reasonably well. The results don't look anything close to professional, but they're probably good enough for someone to buy. Every single piece of glass that I purchased was $1. I didn't want to risk major losses if I screwed up or if things didn't sell.

The process is pretty simple, but there are plenty of gotchas. I chose designs to cut out with my cricut, then I pulled off the positive image and actually transferred the negative image to the glass. Then it's just a matter of glopping plenty of etching cream into the exposed space, and leaving it sit and rinsing it off.

Here are my lessons learned:
1. leave plenty of vinyl around the image - otherwise you'll spend a lot of time masking off the rest of the glass.
2. Don't choose anything too intricate. The positive image likes to bring the intricate little bits with it when you pull that off the vinyl, and you need those to stay and get transferred to the glass. Completely solid/open images are easier to work with.
3. Make sure the glass is absolutely clean before sticking the vinyl to it. The etching cream won't burn through a fingerprint.
4. Leave the cream on for longer than recommended. I doubled the time, and the etch is still very light on most items.
5. Etching spherical shaped things is a PITA. It took me longer to do four of the "The Queen" wine glasses than it did to do 20 candle holders. Transferring vinyl to a curve is still not something I've figured out how to be good at.

So the bottom line is, it's simple, but not easy. The up shot is that my cricut is getting tons of use, and it's prompted me to look at the newest design software, and I've pretty much decided I want an upgrade for Christmas.

Here are some of the completed items. There are two square candle holders (totally easy), a really cool bottle (couldn't believe it was just a $1) with a witch and the word "Potion", which is really tough to see, but it's there; and a wine glass with "The Queen" on one side and a crown on the other. The crown and the blackletter font are examples of images that were tough to transfer in the first place, then transferring them to a curve was just plain painful. I'd like to sell those for $50 a piece just because of the PITA factor. I've got a dozen stemless wine glasses that were donated, and two vases yet to do, and then I'm declaring myself done for the craft fair.

Julie, these look terrific. Gorgeous as the witch bottle and queen wineglass are, I think the simple designs are very elegant and should sell well. You know, I etched glass once years ago; as I recall I etched my initials into something, but for the life of me I can't remember what! I think I used an x-acto knife to cut out adhesive-backed vinyl for my template; the advent of die-cutters has certainly made the craft much easier.

Nice job Julie! I bet they sell quickly.

Those are all really pretty, Julie!

Those look great, Julie! I have a pair of champagne flutes that my gramma etched for my wedding, that are treasured possessions. And I would buy those candle holders in a heartbeat!

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I hope we can sell at least a few of them. My new worry now is that everywhere I go there are craft fair signs! I mean, from the beginning of October to mid-December, there are at least 2-3 craft fairs happening in the area. So by the time we're doing ours, I worry that traffic will be low because of all of the shows that came before.

I guess we'll see. Hopefully there will be some appeal to simply supporting girl scouts who are working towards a goal.

Your etched glassware items are fabulous!

I think having your craft fair later is best. Last minute shoppers...like me...will appreciate that you are there and have excellent, quality, usable items for sale.

Point well taken, Farley. Thanks! Also, the "queen" wine glasses had a prototype. My family declared that I deserved to keep the first one because it was awesome. The prototype has been used and through the dishwasher many times already. So definitely qualifies as useful in my house!

Thank you for the directions and
your work is really stunning!!!

They're very nice. I hope they sell out quickly.

The wine glass and potion bottle are perfect!