Guest Post - Young Women Craft Idea, Etching Glass Tutorial

Hey! This is Markell from A Mouse In My Kitchen. I am super excited for this opportunity I have to guest post for Poppy Seed Projects. I have had an amazing time working with this company and I am a really excited about the tutorial I am going to show you today.

So, today I am going to teach you how to use the new Daughter of God vinyl {available in 12" and 5" squares} from Poppy Seed Project’s store to etch a mirror. I think my sister showed me how to do this a few years ago. We originally used it to etch names onto casserole dishes. I decided to try it on a mirror and ended up loving the way it looked. We did this a little while ago with the young women group in my ward and it was a HUGE hit.

Funny story. My husband is the one who actually did the “craft” part of this project. I had to be out of town when the vinyl got to my house, so he agreed to do it for me. What a good husband, huh? He went a little crazy with the pictures though. It turns out that it is really hard to take a picture of a mirror without getting yourself in it, so he decided to not even try to hide himself. I hope you all enjoy that!

So, are you ready to learn how to do it already?? Here ya go:

I just have one rule. You must read this whole post before you start this project. Twice. Or three times. This tutorial involves some chemicals that can be dangerous if handled improperly.

After you have read this post, gather your supplies. You are going to need:

• A mirror
• Vinyl
• Glass Etching Cream (I use Armour Etch, it’s available at any craft store)
• A sponge brush
• cloth

Before we get started I just feel that I need to give you a HUGE warning. You are going to be using some pretty intense chemicals. I advise you to heed the warnings on the bottle, which include, but are not limited to:

Avoid contact with eyes and skin

Do not taste, swallow, or breathe liquid or mist

Always use near water

Use in a well ventilated area

Wear long sleeve or protective garments, rubber or plastic gloves and protective glasses or goggles

That being said, I think the most important thing is to use common sense and be careful. If you are doing it for a young women activity be very careful and make sure that your girls are mature enough to handle the project. We had no problems at all, but we were really careful.

Now that you are all too scared to proceed, I’m going to keep going anyway.

Prepare your mirror by cleaning it with glass cleaner and drying it well.

Carefully place the vinyl on the mirror.  Keep in mind that placing vinyl on a mirror is not like placing vinyl on wood or a wall.  Just incase you didn't know, mirrors are very smooth and vinyl LOVES smooth surfaces, once the vinyl touches the mirror, it is not coming off.  It may help to have two people lay the vinyl down, own holds the vinyl slightly above the mirror while the other positions the vinyl, once the vinyl is in the correct position the first person gently lays it down.  

Now it's time to remove the masking tape.  The nice thing about this part is because the vinyl is so in love with your mirror, the tape will come up easily while the vinyl stays put.

Notice that you don’t use the part of the vinyl you would if you were making a wood sign or something like that. You use the vinyl as stencil. 

Cover the outside areas of the vinyl with tape. The vinyl I used for this project covered the whole mirror, so there was no need to tape, but if yours doesn't, protect your mirror! Anywhere that the chemical touches the mirror will be permanently changed. It is a chemical reaction that takes place, and once it starts there is no going back.

Once you have your vinyl placed and the rest of the mirror sufficiently protected, you can start the etching.

Apply a thick layer of the glass etching cream to the part of the mirror that you want etched. Brush first up and down, and then left to right.

Let the etching sit for 5 minutes.

Wash off the glass etching cream in a sink with tap water. You are going to think that it didn't work. It seems like all the etching cream washes off, leaving no result. Every time I do this, I think that something went wrong. It didn't. I promise. (well... unless you did do something wrong...)

 Remove the vinyl and wipe the mirror off with the cloth. Use a glass cleaner to get it all the way off, if necessary.

There you have it! It is really simple, but just remember to be careful! Happy crafting!