Glass Etching

I couldn't wait to use the Armour Etch glass etching kit that Michelle sent me!  I'd used one like it about 10 or 12 years ago but my etching cream didn't survive the move east and I was almost out of stencils too.

This was the first one I made.

They are like potato chips....can't make just one.

I added beaded hangers to them too.

I gave this one to my mom for her birthday.

When I was spring cleaning and putting shelf paper in the kitchen cabinets, I found this vase that I'd etched in 2000 or 01.  I forgot all about it.  So I added an old necklace around the top of it.  I'm using the vase for beach glass.

I also tried the etching cream on some marbles but I wasn't crazy about the results.  I was hoping for a more  beach glass look but it didn't quite turn out how I thought.  The cracked glass came out the most frosted, but the crystals weren't.

I also tried the cream on a coloured glass bottle and it didn't work very well, even when I left the cream on for longer than the 30 seconds for regular glass. That bummed me out because I wasted a good stencil on it.  You can sort of see the design but not well.

Then I tried the stencils on some pretty polished geode slices that I found in one of my boxes the other day.  You can see the design really well here but as soon as you hang it up, it all but disappears.

Same with this one.  I am not sure if these are indeed geode slices or pieces of coloured glass made to look like geodes, but they sure are pretty.  I still have to drill a hanger hole in this one.

I have to say that I was disappointed when I went to Michael's Crafts to look for more stencils.  Apparently the Armour Etch brand is on its way out in favour of Martha Stewart brand.  It distresses me that she is literally taking over the craft supply industry and her prices are very high.  I am hoping to find the stencils on line. 

In the Mood for Something Celestial

As I make my first tentative steps into the altered art world, I'm doing a lot of experimenting.  This is one such project, as I'm not entirely sure what it is, or what purpose it serves, other than being yet another celestial-themed knickknack to gather dust in my house.  

I found this little box at Ben Franklin.  It was just plain brown paper in it's raw form.  It's about an inch and a half'ish in height, and has a clear plastic window in the lid.  I instantly thought of those dioramas that were so popular for homework assignments in the 70's.  A bunch of themes went through my mind, but I realized that I didn't have any of the items I wanted to make the wildlife scene I was thinking of (namely: the wildlife).  So I went another way with it, and decided to go celestial.  Because I really can't get enough of the cobalt-blue-and-crescent-moon-with-stars-thing, you know?  

I painted the whole thing inside and out with peacock blue acrylic paint.  It's darker than the pictures show. The inside bottom of the box is done in a lighter blue.  Then I brushed the inside walls & bottom of the box with silver and multicoloured glitter paint.  I stuck tiny silver stars on the bottom and crystals on each of the 8 walls inside.  

I wasn't sure how to make the flat blue glass crescent moon disc look like it was floating, then decided to use a glass bead glued in place, with the glass disc glued to the other side of the bead that was sticking up.  I used a product called Gorilla Glue for this because it's unbelievably sturdy and quick drying.  I also added the crystal star on the face of the blue glass disc.

I'd also decorated the outside of the box with the sliver stars and crystals.  Then glued the lid on.