Acid Etched Jars
(jars purchased at Walmart for $2.97/each)
I remember making acid etched mirrors in high school and it was quite the labor intensive project. However, making acid etched projects with a cricut is so simple! The Young Women at our church recently did a Girl’s Camp fundraiser and made acid etched plates to sell. They were a hit. My friend, Tanya, let me use a little bit of her acid etching to make a casserole dish for a wedding gift and these little jars. A little bit goes a long way. I hardly used anything and was able to make several fun gifts. Now I wish I had a bottle of my own so that I can make things for myself. Casserole dishes, jars….it’s a bit addicting. I’ll have to print out a 40% off coupon to Hobby Lobby and grab a bottle sometime.
It is much cheaper to go to the Dollar Store or Walmart and buy shelf contact paper vs. buying a roll of white contact paper. It doesn’t matter how it looks. You are just making your stencil from it. I used my cricut and cut out the letters and shapes, then placed them on my jars. Blade pressure was set to low. It can be a little tricky to make sure it goes on straight, but since the contact paper is reposition-able, you can do it over a few times until you get it right. Make sure there aren’t any air bubbles and press it on tight. And make sure to leave a border of contact paper. You don’t want your stencil to be too close to the edge of the paper. This allows enough room for you to apply your etching cream without it smearing or leaking over onto other areas of glass.
 Generously apply the acid etching cream to the glass with a small paint brush. Covering the opening of your contact stencil entirely. I made one before and just brushed it on like I would paint. It didn’t come out very solid, but very streaky. So pile it on there so that you can’t see any glass through it AT ALL.
 Allow to sit for about 10 minutes (just follow the directions on your bottle) and then, using your brush, remove the excess cream and put it back into your bottle. You don’t have to do this, but it sure makes the cream last longer. I was able to pretty much save all of it. Then run under water until rinsed completely. Take the contact paper off while running under the water and keep rinsing until you can’t see or feel any of the grainy texture. Towel dry.
These were hard to photograph, but turned out perfect.
For jars, you etch on the FRONT so it goes left to right. No alterations needed. But if you would like to etch a glass plate that will be used for food or the bottom of a casserole dish, you can make a reversed stencil that will go on the BACK of the glass. To do this on your Cricut, use the “flip” feature. Then key in your lettering in reverse. For example, our name would go as follows:
“FLIP” “NOSLEN” (for Nelson)
Then you would apply your stencil to the back of the dish. This way, your dish will always have a smooth perfect finish on the front for serving and baking food on.
Now back to the jars…
I went to Target and picked up a bunch of 50% off chocolate bags. Kisses, PB Cups, and mini candy bars. They were in fall colors, but for $1 bag, I couldn’t beat that. I put a small piece of black construction paper behind the etching so that it stood out and didn’t blend in with the candy. It also looks like a little chalkboard! Perfect for a teacher’s gift!
I went to Target and picked up a bunch of 50% off chocolate bags. Kisses, PB Cups, and mini candy bars. They were in fall colors, but for $1 bag, I couldn’t beat that. I put a small piece of black construction paper behind the etching so that it stood out and didn’t blend in with the candy. It also looks like a little chalkboard! Perfect for a teacher’s gift!
 This one is for my brother, who is getting married in December. I made this along with an etched casserole dish which I will post later in December when I finish everything for their wedding gift. It didn’t photograph well, but it is a “K” with a fern/berry branch to the left. I love how it turned out!
If you don’t have a Cricut or a Silhouette, you can still do this. When I made my mirror in high school, I adhered the contact paper to my mirror, transferred my images onto the contact paper using carbon paper (or you could just free hand), then cut out the contact paper using an exacto knife, taking out the centers and leaving the stencil.
the jars turned out great! I was thinking about making some as gifts this year too! I love Armour Etch..so easy to use!
a very f-etch-ing idea! great for kids teacher apperciation gift! thanks for inspiring!
those turned out so cute! I might need to use this idea for Ashtyn’s preschool teacher.
Those look so nice! Your teachers will definitely appreciate those gifts and treasure them for a very long time! (And you know all the teachers in Dallin’s future will be hoping for something similar because they all chit chat about this kind of stuff in the teacher’s lounge!!) What cute gifts!
Etching is fun! I have done a few projects – need to pull out my etching cream again soon! These turned out great! Your tutorial was fantastic too.
They look fantastic! What a brilliant idea. I am so in awe of you. I am amazed that you have the time and energy to make all these gifts too. Thank you for inspiring me.
They look great! What a wonderful idea. Thanks for sharing.
~Jessica
Great tutorial! I cant wait to try it!
Great tutorial – and fantastic idea!
Thank you– I have been wanting to do something similar and wasn’t sure how it all worked. I’m your newest follower. Would love for you to check my blog out too. And I co-host a linky party on Thursday http://www.yesterdayontuesday.com... we’ll love for you to join us! Malia
Thank you for the great tutorial! I was trying to decide on a way to make “jarred” gifts a bit more special this year, and this would definitely do the trick.
Gosh, those are so cute. I love those jars {even without the gorgeous work} Thanks for the tutorial.
I love the jars. My daughter has a cricut, so maybe I’ll supply the etching cream and we’ll have a joint project to work on. Good job.
What great jars! Fun gift idea!
These turned out perfectly! I just found your blog and am loving all your fun ideas 🙂
If you get a chance, I’d love for you to come link up on my blog hop!
I used your tutorial to make my own! Go ahead and grab a “feature” button if you’d like! Thanks for the great tutorial!
http://thecraftymamablog.blogspot.com/2010/11/glass-etching.html
such a cute idea! i have some jars just laying around…..i think i’ll give this a try! they’d also be cute with a little votive or tealight in them as candleholders with maybe just a monogram on the front!
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Love this! I just fell in love with my cricut and am excited to try this out with it. I do have a question for you though. How did you get the liquid soap etching to be black? I especially love that idea. Seeing as I home school it is not necessary for me to make my son’s teacher a Christmas gift. Although you no what I may anyway heck I deserve a gift too. lol
Dang! You make me want to craft and that’s saying a lot. Wish I could figure out how to do with without a Cricut machine. Will be pondering.
Just wanted you to know I figured out that the soap bottle was not etched and followed your links. What a great project.
Great gift idea and great tutorial. I’d love it if you’d link up over at my blog. I’m hosing a party for Cricut and Silhouette projects. Link as many projects as you’d like.
http://www.creativelittledaisy.typepad.com
Ya know I’ve wanted to try the etching for a long time, but everything I’ve seen has been a bit “fru-fru” for my taste. But this is perfect! I love those jars I use them in my pantry for chocolate, white chocolate and butterscotch chips…wonder if I could etch:
Butterscotch Chips on the front???
Love it~
Robin
All Things Heart and Home
I love this idea. My friend just had a baby and I etched the baby’s name with an owl underneath (which matched his nursery’s theme), and we are going to punch a hole in the lid to make it into a piggy bank. Thanks for sharing!
found this at Christmas-time and can’t wait to try it! linking to it from my Facebook page today…
What a great idea! I will be making these for teacher gifts this spring!
Lovely!
I haven’t read through all of the comments but I bet this would also work really well on those clear, glass “create-your-own” type Christmas ornaments. I might have to try it out!
GREAT IDEA! These are adorable. I’d love it if you shared these at a party that I’m having at Project Queen! Here is the link if you are interested.
http://projectqueen.org/christmas-gifts-and-ornaments-for-10-or-less-blog-hop-3
I’m a new follower.
This is slow clever! I wonder if you can buy the substance in the UK. Is there something I should search for?
Would be brilliant if you could share this at my Christmas Link up – happening now at:
http://twelvecraftsofchristmas.blogspot.com/2011/11/christmas-link-party-no3.html
Would be great to see you there!
Rosie x
These are so neat! Now I need a cricut! Thanks for sharing, I’m now your newest follower via The Creative Spark
Such a great idea! I was wondering what type of thing to get my daughter’s bus driver! Just might have to use this idea! I’d love for you to link up and share it with our readers at Toys In The Dryer!
http://www.toysinthedryer.com/2011/12/fun-stuff-fridays-2.html
Wow – this turned out SUPER cute! I love this idea!! Thanks for linking up to tGIF! See you Friday =)
Beth
This idea perfect to do it specially today giving lots of chocolates for your special someone inside the etched glass, very unique and cool idea right?
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We used this method at ou church Super Saturday craft day to etch nativity scenes on glass. We taped a silhouette of a simple nativity on the back of the glass then covered the front with clear contact paper. Use an exacto knife to trace the pattern on the contact paper and remove the pieces where you want the etching to appear. Use a liberal amount of etching cream. I like to leave it on extra long to get a solid etching. You can also get some excellent stencil books at Hobby Lobby to use to etch glass items of all sorts. You are only limited by your imagination.