Etched Candle Tutorial

I made the easiest craft project over Christmas break for some of our friends - you know...the friends you want to get something for, but if you actually went out shopping for all of them, you really would lose your mind trying to pick out something they'd like without burning your bank account. Normally, I make cookies or candies, but I didn't want to bake this year...weird....so I etched candles. Yeah. I headed over to Walmart and bought sets of 5 jarred candles in bright red. The darker the background, the better the etching shows up.




Then I got out some old letter stickers from my paper scrapping stash. I lined them up to spell out the word NOEL. Make sure you look for air bubbles between the candle wax and the glass. Don't put your stickers there. It won't show up as well.



Next, I added some star stickers. What I'm doing here with the stickers is masking off places where the glass will stay glass looking, and not etched, so your stickers need to have the shape you're looking for.



Then get your good ol' blue masking tape, and cover the top and bottom of your candle. You gotta be a little OCD with this step about making sure the line is straight and level. You're creating the top and bottom lines for the band of etching across the middle of the candle.



Ok, before making the etching magic, you need to take a popsicle stick or your fingernail, and rub down all your letter stickers and tape. If there are any bubbles or edges that aren't sealed down tight, the etching goo will get behind your sticker mask, and you won't have a crisp image.

Now for the magic goo....



I got it at Michaels. It's thick and gooey and gritty and fabulous. I used an old bristle brush I had on hand to apply it. The instructions say to wear gloves when applying, but I live dangerously....



To apply, just glob it on. And when I say glob it, I mean glob it. There's no such thing as pretty brush strokes here. It needs to be pretty thick. Cover up all your stickers and the edges of your tape.



See what I mean by thick? When its all covered, let it sit. The directions say no longer than 30 seconds, but I don't think it really matters that much. I left one for 45 minutes, and it didn't look any more etched than ones I left sitting for just a minute or 2.



Then, take it to a sink and wash off the magic goo.



Peel off the stickers and tape too. When I first washed off the goo, I thought to myself "This is the biggest crock of bull!! It didn't do anything!!" You can't see it when it's wet!! Take a towel - paper or otherwise - and dry that baby off, and voila...



Beautiful etched candle!!!