Ever wonder what to do with all those glass containers leftover from the huge bunch of Bath and Body Works candles you bought? Well we have a fun and simple DIY for you! All you need is a cleaned out glass candle holder (or anything made of glass you want to etch on), some glass etching cream, a paintbrush, and some letters or a stencil of some sort. We like candles in this household, and tend to go a little crazy whenever there is a big sale going on at Bath and Body Works (especially when the season changes – we are currently resisting the urge to stock up on the fall scents at the moment. It’s hard to resist Pumpkin Caramel Latte!). But we would burn through the candles and not know what to do with the jars afterwards. We had an etching kit from Darby Smart lying around and decided to etch onto the glass once the candle was gone. This got our creative juices flowing and soon we were using painters tape and stencil punch outs to make fun designs. Here are some of the candles we have etched.
This craft is rather simple and a lot of fun once you peel off all the letters and see your design revealed. The first thing you’d want to do is clear out that extra bit of wax from the bottom of the jar. This is surprisingly easy. All you need to do is pour boiling water into the candle and let it sit, the wax will eventually float to the top. This sometimes takes a few rounds of boiling water for the bigger candles. It also helps to cut up the wax with a knife at the bottom so it can more easily float up. Make sure to dump the used water out outside or in a safe container, as it will clog up your drain. Another method you can use to clean out the wax is to put the candle in the freezer. We used the boiling water method, but we have heard freezing it works just as well. Once all the wax is out we like to soak the candle in soap and hot water so the stickers peel off. We also scrub the glass well with a sponge to get rid of any lasting wax residue. And that’s it! Now you have a nice cleaned out jar!
On to the etching, which is also very easy and only a tad bit messy.
Supplies you will need:
– Glass container
– Glass etching cream – we used Martha Stewart Crafts brand
– Paint brush
– Letter stickers – we used these from the Darby Smart kit, but you could use any vinyl sticky letters! Comment if you find good ones somewhere.
Steps:
1. Start with a clean glass surface. Place down the letters where you want them and make sure they are secure.
2. Get your paint brush full of etching cream and carefully paint inside your letters. This can get tricky trying to stay within the lines of the letters because you do need a lot of the cream, but just do the best you can and if you mess up we won’t tell anyone! Anywhere the etching cream goes, it will etch, so if you do mess up and you’re upset with it, just try to wipe it up with a paper towel as quickly as possible.
3. Let the cream dry for at least 15 minutes, but if you have more time, let it sit longer.
4. After 15 minutes, bring the jar over to the sink and rinse off the cream with soap and water.
5. Peel off the letters and voila! Biso biso means kiss kiss in french, so Haley made this one for a lipstick holder! Such a cute idea!
Like all crafts we do, we got really into these and tried other designs and methods. For the stars and flowers you will need some painters tape and a stencil punch-out in addition to the other supplies mentioned above. Tear off a piece of the painters tape and then punch out the stencil design. You can either use the inside or the surrounding design and stick it to the glass. Do this as many times as you like to cover your jar. Follow the same steps (2-5) as above to apply the etching cream and let it set.
We hope you enjoyed our etching DIY! It’s been fun to etch random glass jars we find lying around. Also, we have started going to the candle sections in stores and buying candles less for their scent and more for their cool jars. Haha.. crafter habits. Let us know if you tried this craft and what you etched!
