01/08/12

I tried my hand at etching a beer chalice, using a "Tre Kronor" Swedish theme, which translates to "Three Crowns". Its a national emblem in Sweden and very common there. Nancy's family is Swedish and Danish, we spent six weeks there in 2010, and we enjoy celebrating all things Scandinavian. 

The materials needed are a clean glass, glass etching paste (available at Hobby Lobby locally), some rubber-ish etching stencil blanks (also available at Hobby Lobby), a small paint brush, and an exacto knife.

I found a crown design I liked online and printed it out.Then used the exacto knife to cut out the design on the blank stencils, as well as some straight lines and bars. Arranged them on the glass (the blank stencils stick to the glass) and brushed on the etching paste heavily. Let it sit for five minutes and rinsed off with water.  

You can see I employed reverse etching - where the design is not etched, but rather the area around the design. The chalices are made by Libbey and I bought a box of four for $10 at Bed, Bath and Beyond.