Glass Etched Lamp

A quick guide to how i etched the glass on a lamp to give to my mum on mothers day

NOTE:
There are tonnes of how-to guides for glass etching that i am sure are much more informative than mine. This is simply me sharing some of my passtimes with others in the hope that somebody thinks "sod it, i'l have a go"

What i used:
Lamp
Armour etch cream
glass etching stencils
paintbrush
lollipop stick
sponge

(bags and tape to cover wires etc)

Step 1: Blank Canvas

This can be whatever you want, i chose this lamp as i found it while out shopping and its the kind of thing my mum likes so it was an excuse to dig out the old etching cream.

I had to remove the lampshade and tape plastic bags over the braid and the actual light fitting (as i would be wetting it later)

Step 2: Apply Stencils

I ordered some glass etching stencils off ebay, some were cheap one use ones, some were slightly more expensive but re-useable.

to apply the single use ones just peel the clear film off the back, then place onto your glass surface.
There is a second clear film layer on the front that you have to seperate from the blue stencil by scraping accross the surface. For this i used a lollipop stick as it came with the stencils.

Pic 2 shows what it looks like as the clear film starts to lift off the blue stencil.

Step 3: Apply Etch Cream

I used a thin paint brush for this so i could get an even coverage and be able to spread it around easilly.

As i was doing more than 1 stencil i applied the etch cream as quick as possible so there wasnt areas that had been covered for too long.

Now, the packaging for the etch cream reccomended that i keep it on for a minute, but on my test piece it didnt etch it as well as id hoped and you had to look close to see it.

This time i left it for 2 minutes, whats the worst that could happen, buy a new lamp..?

(try not to get it on your hands, it wont kill you but i dont think it will do much good for your skin)

Step 4: Rinse Off

Be sure to wash it off every part of the glass, and then scrape the remainders of the blue stencils off (without scratching your glass)

Step 5: Wipe Dry and Hope for the Best

Its hard to capture the finished look on a camera phone, but i did my best
Im sure my mother will like it, either that or she will lie to me and say she likes it.

thanks for looking :)