Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Faux Sea Glass

I love sea glass!  In fact I love anything that has to do with the beach.  My sister and I have spent countless hours collecting shells and sea glass from beaches from the west coast of the US to the east coast of England.

It's not surprising when I kinda fell in love with some sea glass vases I saw in an online catalog.  I was about to "add to cart" when I suddenly realized I could make my own at a fraction of the cost and here it is:


I've been Spring cleaning lately and discovered a box full of these little heart shaped glass bottles. I wish I could tell you where I found them, but you can use this technique with any glass.  All you need is etchall® dip'n etch reusable glass and mirror etching liquid and a plastic container slightly larger than the glass piece you want etch.  You can find an inexpensive collection of glass bottles and vases, etc at your local Dollar store, or even Goodwill.


Here's what you do:

1.  Fill the bottle with WATER then place it inside the plastic container.  Fill the container with water until the water level reaches the top of the bottle.  Remove the bottle and the water level will fall. Mark the water level on the outside of the plastic container with a marker.

2.  Pour the water out of the container and the glass jar then dry both pieces thoroughly.

3.  Fill the plastic container with dip'n etch up to the mark you made.  Fill the bottle with dip'n etch then carefully place it inside the container.  Leave for 15 minutes.

4.  Remove the bottle and pour the dip'n etch back into the dip'n etch container.  Pour the dip'n etch from the other container back into its original container to be used, again and again.  Rinse the bottle thoroughly with water.  NOTE:  I etched 3 bottles, so after removing the first one, I poured the dip'n etch into the second bottle then placed that into the liquid in the container.  After 15 minutes I repeated the process to etch the 3rd bottle.  After you have finished, return all the dip'n etch liquid to its original container.

The bottles are now etched on the inside and the outside giving each piece the look of sea glass.  Leave pieces plain or embellish with shells, charms, beads, etc - anything you like to match your décor.  This is such an easy process and the results are fabulous.

CAUTION:  Please read directions on the container carefully before starting your project.  This is an etching product and it will etch other shiny surfaces like granite, porcelain sinks, etc.


You can find etchall® glass and mirror etching liquid and crème at www.etchall.com.  Click on the graphic below for their dip'n etch special, just in time for Easter.  Don't forget!  This product is re-usable, so you'll be able to make a lot of faux sea glass! 




Enjoy!  Y'all come back now..........

Yours truly,
Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING! 

4 comments:

  1. Nice post you have here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6/15/2015

    hi ,, thanks for the information,, lovely container,, and it really looks like sea glass, I love sea glass too ,, :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. You’re showing different colors in your sample photo so how do you add color to your sea glass project?

    ReplyDelete
  4. If you mean the sea glass chips around the glass bottle, that is real sea glass, but colored glass can be etched for the same effect. You just need to make sure that it is colored glass and not color coated glass. Look at the bottom of the glass piece. If it's clear then the glass is coated, if it's the same color (a colored wine bottle for example), then it's colored glass.

    ReplyDelete