DIY Glass etching

DIY glass etching!!

I LOVE monogrammed glasses, but you cant get cute personalized stencils to use with the etching cream! WHAT TO DO?!? A hand held glass drill!

I went to Hobby Lobby and found this hand held glass etcher for about $25 and the tips for about $15.

I will walk you though the process so you can get girly cute monogrammed glass ware!

 This is the drill that i bought from Hobby Lobby. You buy the drill and the drill tips separately.

 These are the "stencils" I use to etch with.

 First, I look up monogram fonts on google and take a screen shot with my iPhone. If you don't have a smart phone you can use your computer screen as well.

 I take some tape and put 2 or 3 pieces together to make a tape square. Then to make it less sticky, I stick it to some fabric a few times so it wont stick to the screen too bad. 

 After you zoom into the letter you want to trace, you put the tape down on your screen and trace with a pencil or sharpie. Do this for all the letters you want to combine. Then arrange them in the order you want and tape all of them together. 

 Here are some that I have done. I usually just do the three initials: First initial, Last initial, and then the Middle initial.

 After you make your pattern or stencil, place it on the BACK or the glass and tape down where exactly you want to drill on the FRONT.

 Once you tape your stencil, chose the drill bit you are most comfortable with. I like the small ones first just to get the initial sketch down. All you do is just trace over the letter like you are drawing right over them. Then to do the "meat" of my letters, I like a ball tip. Then you clean up the edges with a pointed tip. This method works best for me, but what ever works for you is fine.

I find that if you have a test glass, it helps in deciding what tip you like best.

 These are a few of the glasses I have etched. They normally take me about 30 minutes to do each glass. 

 You also can just draw straight on the glass with a sharpie and wipe off with finger nail polish remover when you are finished to remove the sharpie marks.

 This was my very first one!

Let me know how it goes!.. And any new tips you find helpful would be awesome!

kb