Glass Etching Experiment (Progress Pics)

My boyfriend's dad really likes riding bikes. Usually when I think of cyclists, I think of commuters or maybe kids riding together as friends. But my boyfriend's dad rides deep in the mountains, in races, and all around the world. We were in France over the summer, and every morning, he'd get up early, and ride the Tour de France trails.

So for Christmas, I drew him biking those trails, and decided to have it etched on a glass. I bought this etching solution from Michaels. Then, I drew this image in Photoshop, then vectorized it in Illustrator.

Then, I cut it out and wrapped it around a glass. The edges didn't line up at all. I realized that I needed a template, so I found one for a pint glass, and hoped that they were standard.

Better! I vinylcut that on a Silhouette, and applied the vinyl to the glass. I had a terrible time lining it up, so I did another try after moving some of the lines around. Then, I etched the glass.

To etch glass, wear protective gear. I looked like an idiot but I was really paranoid. Also maybe the only mask I had around was one I bought for a rave costume. I woulda worn protective eye gear, but I only had some Burning Man goggles, and it was midnight and they were tinted. Latex gloves are a necessity.

Make sure your glass is dry and clean.

Apply your adhesive vinyl stencil. You'll be etching the negative space, so remove those pieces. You can use masking tape to protect other areas of your glass.

Use a brush you don't care about to goop the cream over your etch area. Have a friend with clean hands run a one minute timer, then run your artwork to a sink (or hose it off). Be really careful to not splash it.

Wash your glass and air dry.

After I made these, I realized that the art was hard to see, so I redid the whole thing over again, thickening the lines and tapering the edges:

Weirdly, I can't find a final pic of the glass (I was doing all my xmas crafting fairly back-to-back - will edit this when I find it) but wanted to share the progress pics so that you could see how easy it was, and so that you don't make some of the same mistakes I did.

Here's another shot of the Alps! Enjoy!