Etched Casserole Dishes Tutorial

Are you ready for another gift I made for my friend's wedding shower?  Here's a sneak peak.

Ever since I saw the etched glass on the Silhouette site, I have wanted to do it.  What better excuse than for wedding gifts?  I wanted to make my friend, Laura some personalized dishes.  The next time she goes to someone's home or to a potluck, no one can claim her dish, as it will have her initial or name on it!

If you don't have a Silhouette, don't quit reading! I will share ways you can do this without the Silhouette and without vinyl.

Here are the supplies you will need:

• Contact paper or vinyl
• Exacto Knife or Silhouette (or cricut)
• Printed word, letter or shape OR Design what you want on the Silhouette software
• Glass to etch (this can work on just about any surface) -I used two Pyrex dishes
• Foam Paint brush (one time use)
• Plastic gloves to protect your skin and Safety goggles would be good to protect your eyes as the Armour Etch is heavy duty stuff.
• Armour Etch-(see picture below) I bought mine at Hobby Lobby with my 40%off coupon, but you can get it at any craft store.  This is an expensive bottle, but you will get a ton of uses out of this.  I didn't use a fourth of it and I did four large dishes.

Now, if you are using the Silhouette, design your shape, letter or words.  Before you cut it, you will want to transform it to be backwards (180 degree turn).  Then cut it on vinyl.   This will let you etch the bottom of a dish.  You don't need to do the turn if you are doing the outside of a dish.  I did the bottom and wanted it to be read through the dish.

If you aren't using a cutter, you can print out any shape, letter or word on a normal piece of paper.  Make sure your object is backwards for the bottom of your dish. Then trace it onto your contact paper (white or clear would probably work best).  Use your exacto knife and cut out the object. 

Then take your contact paper or vinyl and adhere it to the bottom of your dish.  Make sure that it is firmly adhered and that there aren't bubbles near the interior as it will distort the shape.  I practiced on my own dishes first.  I didn't take the time to firmly adhere and watch for bubbles.  My name didn't go on perfectly as the creme leaked under the vinyl.  Learn from my mistake and take the extra care to begin with.  Once you've done this there isn't any turning back.  It's permanent!

Below is the "S" I did for a square dish. 

The next one I did her new last name "Starling."  Make sure to put on the inner parts of your letters or they will look funny.  Notice that her "a" and "g" have inner parts that could be overlooked if you don't pay attention to this detail.

Now following the directions on the Armour Etch, generously lather the etching creme onto the letters or shape. (This would be a good time to use your plastic gloves and protective glasses too). Brush up and down and from side to side.  Then I also dabbed it really well to make sure there was a thick coating.  If you notice, on the bottle of the Armour Etch it says that it won't work on Pyrex.  It will.  You just need to let it sit longer.  I think it said to leave the etching creme on for 5 minutes.  I did 15 to 20 minutes, which worked great.

Once your have given the etching creme enough time to work properly.  Put your gloves back on (and glasses) and rinse all the etching creme off.  I rinsed and then took off my vinyl (or contact paper) and then rinsed again.  You can even wash the bottom now with some soap.  I wouldn't scrub it, but a light washing is fine.  Let it sit overnight to settle in.

There you have it.  Personalized dishes that make a great gift!  It is dishwasher safe too, after all, it's permanent!

Here are the her final dishes.

If you are wondering what the dishes are laying on, you'll have to be patient.  That will be my next wedding gift tutorial to share with you.

If you try etching glass, I would love to see your finished item!  I hope this tutorial was helpful.  Let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Crafting!