Etched 9x13

Have you ever been at a holiday gathering and not known which dish was yours at the end because all of the 9x13s look similar when the food is gone?  I just lost one this past Thanksgiving because someone took mine home with them. Today's project takes care of that.  Never again will you have to guess which container is yours (or have yours stolen because it looks the nicest ;) ).

I etched a 9x13, an 8x8, and a pie dish as a wedding gift for friends of ours.  It looks difficult, but it really isn't.  It is hard to photograph glass so these look WAY cooler in person.

For the 9x13 and 8x8 I etched the family's name onto the bottom of the pan.  I used my Silhouette machine and vinyl for the words, but you could use contact paper and a craft knife to cut them out too.  After I adhered the vinyl with the letters cut out, (I had to cut it so the words were backwards since I etched the bottom of the pan) I just brushed on the etching cream.  Then I waited about 10 minutes and washed the etching cream off, peeled the vinyl off and I was done!

For the pie pan I got a little creative.  I thought the couple would get a kick out using pi (3.1415...) to identify their pie pan. ;)

Here are a few tips I shared the first time I tried etching glass:

--Etching cream is very powerful and potent and gloves are supposed to be worn when using it. However I found that I was very clumsy with the gloves on and had too many etching cream "accidents" with them on. I couldn't feel the cream on my gloved fingers and I smeared it on things. For example I got some on one plate on accident and etched a little part on the edge. I found it was better for me to just be REALLY careful and leave the gloves off.
--Just a reminder BE CAREFUL-- that cream is powerful and will start working on whatever it touches. You only want to etch glass not the whole area you are working at. ;)

If you are interested in more I have blogged about these etching projects:

 Etched Plates

Christmas Ornament