So recently there was a project in a Martha Stewart mag (yes, I get it... I know, I know...) that really intrigued me. You take your glass canisters you use for such stuff as flour, sugar, tea bags, etc in the kitchen, and you etc a "label" on to them. Because, right, it's your own kitchen and you can't tell the flour from the sugar from the tea bags. Shaddup. I realize it's not necessary, but it looked cool in the pics!
And hell, it seemed like a fun project!
So while we were out running errands one recent weekend, I popped into Pat Cattan's, skimmed through their glass etching stuff, and made sure to avoid any products that listed themselves as providing a "frosted-coating appearance" and instead got something that claimed to make "etched glass". I didn't want to put a coating of stuff onto the glass (why not just buy those cans of fake snow people spray on their windows at Christmas!?) - I definitely wanted to try etching the glass.
The stuff I got even warned you didn't want to get it on your skin, and that you should wear gloves while working on it (ha! that's for wusses!). The Martha article even warned you do NOT want to get it in your enameled sinks - it's best washed off in a stainless steel sink. Ok, I figured my work around for this would be any washing would just use A LOT of water and perhaps a stainless steel mixing bowl full of water to dilute anything that would be going down the kitchen drain.
Here's the three victims, along with some of the tools showing up in the background...painter's masking tape, a level/ruler, the etching chemicals and stick-on letters!
All set - let's boogie!
I masked off an area for the first canister, making sure my tape was level, with perfectly squared off corners. Seriously, I didn't want this to look like shit when I was done...etching's kind of a permanent thing, y'know!? Once the first one was done, I put a piece of paper into the frame of the tape, and cut it down to size for a perfect match - this was my template for the other two canisters, and helped me layout the tape on them for a nice consistent look. (You can see the template in the bottom of this picture, with small pieces of blue tape on three of it's edges.
The next step was to use the glass cleaner on the area to be worked on - just a small jar of what seemed like rubbing alcohol to wipe across the area and let it dry. Then it was time to stick on the letters - I used an additional piece of tape (aligning it with the level) to help ensure my letters were nicely positioned. During this process I DID lose a few letters - I'd start to stick them on, realize they were a bit crooked, peel them off to reposition, and sometimes they'd tear. No biggie - I had plenty of spares!
After removing the spare piece of tape under the letters it was time for fun! Brett suggested I hold off on doing all of the canisters at once - just in case something went wrong, in case maybe I learned something from doing the first one, etc.
Riiiiiight....
So here's the canisters with their first layer of etching compound. I have to say for something as corrosive as I thought this stuff would be, it didn't smell at all. And when I got some on my arm, I initially freaked, tried washing it off, and realized it gummed up in my arm hair. Ok, this was a sign of a possible issue...
While the etching looks pretty good here in the picture, I wanted it a little more etched to ensure the writing would be legible. Plus there were vertical streaks from putting on the chemical - I planned to do a second layer vertically to help hide any streaks - the instructions said to wait an hour between layers. Ok, fine.
After a second layer of the chemical, I realized it was still showing streaking AND like it was actually building up a layer of "etching" - more like I was just rubbing on thinned Elmer's glue. So an hour later I added a third layer, at which point the tea canister was really showing flaws in the etching (a small part PEELED UP!), and I'd put it on a bit thick this time and it was running a little. Things weren't going so well.
The next day I figured it was safe to remove the tape, and for one canister the "etching" (etching my ass!) peeled off! For the next one I tried using a knife to cut along the edges of the tape, to sort of "set free" the "etching" (notice more and more implied "air quotes" here!), but that looked BAAAAD once I peeled off the tape - you could see a definite thickness to the "etched glass" (um, real etching would eat INTO the glass, but this "etching" built up a thick layer on the glass).
So at this point I said screw it. I couldn't pick the letters off the glass because they were sealed in under three layers of "etching" goo. Trying to use a knife to cut each letter out was a total failure... More etching peeled off as I pulled off the tape - but of course it wasn't the entire sheet of etching. At this point I was really let down and frustrated...so there are no more pictures.
I DO have to say one bit of good news is that the "dishwasher safe" quality of this "etching" was not accurate. After three runs through the dishwasher, all the "etching" peeled off, leaving only traces of the stick-on letters I need to go at with some Goo Gone.
Funny, all that work and I'll be back to where I started - plain canisters!
And what's interesting is just the other night we saw Martha etching 2-gallon fish tanks! The stuff she used for etching was the real-deal, nothing like my thinned Elmer's glue stuff... Hm. Do I want to give this another try!?
F you, Martha Stewart!
