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Saturday 24 September 2011

What's In A Name?

A monogram is in a name!  I freely admit I have an obsession with things that have my initial on them.  I don't think I'm narcissistic.  I just love the personalization of a monogram on household items.  I don't wear a big L on my sweaters as Laverne did.  That would be tacky and really weird since my first name starts with an M.  


I also thank my parents for that M because my last name starts with a W.  That doubles my chances of finding something with my initial.  It's the same upside down!  How cool is that?  It makes up for having a dumb name like Maureen when all the bicycle licence plates and key chains had names like Suzie, Patty and Vickie when I was a kid.  I sooo wanted to be and 'ie' or a 'y'!

I make up for that childhood trauma with sticking my initial on things like my doormat. ~


Monograms where important, historically, when things like linen and silver were an important part of a wealthy family's assets and the mark was a means of identifying one's property.  Because this was a mark of status, monograms convey a sense of importance to this day.

While I was out buying neat things for myself shopping for clients yesterday, I came across a glass etching kit at Michaels.  Armour Etching Cream was marked down from $21.99 to $10.00.  Armour re-usable Stencil set was $12.49.  I thought it was a great way to personal some glassware.

I use ordinary wine glasses that I pick up at thrift stores and big box stores.  After running through a couple of sets of crystal glasses it seemed the best route to go so my incredibly clumsy  dear, accident prone friends and relatives don't have to worry about taking a glass out to the patio.  But, the glasses are ugly!

All I needed for the project was this ~ 



You also need running water.  If you don't have running water, you should probably focus on correcting that and leave personalizing your glasses until later.

Make sure the glass is clean and dry.  Position the self sticking stencil letter on the glass.  Tape the outer edges of the stencil so no etching cream gets on parts of the glass you don't want etched.


Use a brush to apply the etching cream.  You really have to gob this stuff on and it should be thick enough that you can't see the stencil.  It's really caustic and you should wear gloves and goggles.  I couldn't find any gloves so I was very careful not to get it on my hands.  I figured my reading glasses were enough eye protection.  Then it occurred to me that, if it had splashed on them, my glasses would have been etched!  Dumb!  As you know, I'm always in a hurry!

Leave the cream on for exactly 60 seconds.  Rinse the area under lukewarm tap water until all traces of the etching compound are gone.  Peel off the tape and stencil.  Do like I did and get really peeved that it didn't seem to work.  Follow the rest of the directions and clean the area with glass cleaner and leave to dry.  See that it did work!  The etching is dishwasher safe.

This was kind of hard to photograph but gives you the idea. ~ 




I'm going to look for a stencil that is a little more bold.  I have cases of these glasses so there's plenty to experiment on.

Thanks Mom and Dad for invertible initials so I can hang these upside down in a wine rack!

Add wine and enjoy!









3 comments:

  1. What a lovely easy way to do glass etching! Who knew it could be that easy? And fun! Good stuff Maureen!

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  2. Love the etching. I have some small plain sherry glasses that the smaller initials would be great on.

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  3. Great idea - use them on smaller glasses. I have 25 unused letters if anyone needs them!

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