Etched wine glasses for bride and groom

It won’t be long before there will be lots of weddings. Why not make a personalized set of etched wine glasses for that special bride and groom? It’s easier than you may think to etch glasses. Wine glasses are readily available at most stores. Follow this step-by-step tutorial and you will have a wonderful wedding keepsake. Decorate your wine glasses with bows that coordinate with the wedding colors or make a black tie and white bow.

You will need:

• Wine glasses

• Etching cream (sold at most craft stores)

• Small paintbrush

• Computer and printer

• Piece of glass from an old frame

• Clear contact paper

• Tweezers

• X-acto craft knife or wood-burning tool

• Alcohol

• Paper towels

• You will need to be near a water source to neutralize the etching cream

• Mini Bowdabra with ruler

• Bowdabra bow wire

• 18 inches 1 ½” wide black sparkle wired ribbon

• 18 inches 2” wide white sparkle wired ribbon

• Small mini rose

• Glue gun and glue sticks
• lighter or clear nail polish to stop ribbon fraying

1. Gather your supplies.  Work on a piece of glass to cut your stencil. Print the words for your wine glasses on in the font and size of your choice. I made mine 48 pts. Place your printed word guide under the glass and tape it down so it stays stationary.

2. Cut a rectangle of contact paper to cover your words (Work on one word at a time) Attach to the top of the glass over the words. Use an X-acto knife or a wood-burning tool to cut out the words. Remove the cut out sections, saving the center parts.

3. Prepare your glasses by wiping with alcohol to remove any dirt and oils. Attach the prepared stencil on the glasses making sure you press out all the air bubbles. Use the tweezers to attach center sections in the O’s and D, B and e.

4. Using a small paintbrush, add the etching cream to the stencil and leave on for five minutes. Be careful to apply the etching cream just to the cut out areas.

5. After you have left the cream on for 5 minutes wash it off to neutralize the etching solution. You will have permanently etched words.

6. Decorate your wine glasses.

7. Cut a piece of Bowdabra bow wire 18 inches, fold in half and insert in the bow maker. You will have a loop on one side and two pieces of wire on the other. Fold under to keep out of the way while you are making the bow.

8. Since these ribbons have a right and wrong side you will need to twist as you make your bow. For the black bow tie, pinch and insert the ribbon in the bow maker leaving about a 4- inch tail. Twist and make a loop to the 1 ½” line. Twist and make a matching loop on the other side ending with a 4-inch tail.

9. Thread the loose wires through the loop and pull tight while the bow is still in the bow maker. Bring to the back and tie a knot. Adjust the bow. Dove tail the ends by folding and cutting at an angle.  Run a lighter on the ends to stop any fraying or coat with clear nail polish.

10. Cut a small piece of ribbon, fold and attach to the front of the bow with the glue gun.

11. For the white bow, repeat steps 7 – 9. Glue on a small white rose to the center of the bow.

12. Tie the black bow to the groom’s wine glass and the white bow to the bride’s glass. Curl the excess bow wire around a pencil to finish.

Visit Bowdabra designer Crystal at Make it easy crafts.