Glass Etching Stencils

The Mulitple Ways to Cut a Stencil Resist

You can get glass etching stencils for your project through a variety of different processes.

• First, you could just purchase them. In my opinion this is a lame way to go and not very creative at all. If you purchase them the stencils aren't unique and there usually is only one established size. Since I think etching glass is a art or hobby, it should be made your own personalized way. Remember that is one of the reasons your doing crafts or art to begin with- To express yourself through your work, not through some mass produced manufactured stencil. So I recommend trying out one of the methods below....
• Second, you could purchase pattern graphics in concrete or electronic form and trace them out on vinyl. This is often done with carbon paper. After they are traced or printed on vinyl, you can manually cut the areas out with a hobby knife such as an exacto knife.
• Third, you can use advanced automatic stencil creating machines and methods With advanced equipment and processes you can make a resist stencil quickly and personalize it with any size that you desire in a matter of seconds. The only part that does take some work is pulling out the cut areas unless your using the photoresist method. These methods can usually be expensive, but I show you how to get some without spending thousands of dollars in Glass Etching Secrets With the cost saving advice and guide to helping you obtain this equipment at the lowest price possible, even the casual hobbyist could afford one. No more hand cutting stencils for your project! It also has the ability to dimensionally resize a graphics quick without any guess work.

Stencil Vinyl Resist for different Etching Methods

There are many different thicknesses of vinyl to use for your glass etching stencil and the thickness depends on the etching method your doing. The thickness is measured in mils and the higher the number, the thicker.

When using etching cream, the thickness doesn't really matter and a cheap piece of vinyl will usually work great for any project. Most people use Contact Paper which can be found at nearby "office" or "craft" stores. It works great because it has a adhesive backing to it so you can stick it to your glass and prevent the cream from etching areas without intent.

If you plan on sandblasting glass, you will usually need to get a thicker vinyl material and it also depends further on the depth of the blasting into the glass. For light surface sandblasting or when using the abrasive shading technique, a thin piece of vinyl such as Contact Paper may be adequate. Contact Paper is about 2- 3 mils thick and you can always double or triple the layers up if you wanted to.

When you're etching deep into the glass, known as Sandcarving glass, you will need a thicker mil to withstand the high blasting pressure. A suggested mil should usually be anywhere between 5- 25 mils thick. It is always a good idea to find a vinyl that has a adhesive backing, so you don't have to apply glue yourself. This saves a lot of hassle when placing your stencil resist on your glass piece.

Want to see some examples of my past work. Check out some of my simple etched glass mugs.

Hand cut Etching Stencil on Glass Mirror

Here we traced the stencil pattern onto the vinyl resist and hand cut it with a exacto-knife.

Advanced Cut Stencil

Below is a automatically cut glass etching stencil from a computer driven equipment. These can be expensive, but our info. manual saves you hundreds of dollars. Consult the manual of where to get these cheap and how easy they are to use after getting it set up.