How to Etch Stainless Steel
How to Etch Stainless Steel
Etching stainless steel has been a hot topic for quite a while in the crafting world, but recently, it seems to be growing even more in popularity. In this tutorial, we&#;re going to show you how to make a stencil with your Cricut machine and then, How to Etch Stainless Steel. If you love making tumblers, you&#;re going to love this technique!
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We are really excited to show you our stainless steel etching technique. We&#;ve been working on perfecting this so we could show you the perfect way to do it. If you&#;re a Cricut beginner, this is a great introduction to learning how to make vinyl stencils as well.
It&#;s important to note that etching glass and etching stainless steel are completely different processes. They use different products to complete the etching process. Keep reading to find out just how it&#;s done with stainless steel.
How to Etch Stainless Steel
Etching stainless steel tumblers is a longer-lasting solution than simply adding vinyl and it gives your finished product a different look that is quite polished and sophisticated. If you&#;re looking for a special, personalized gift idea, this is ideal for any occasion.
We think these would be especially good for a graduation gift or as a gift for someone starting a new job. How about making a pair of them as a wedding or anniversary gift?
MGL Font Used:
Westlan: https://makersgonnalearn.com/fonts/we&#;&#;
Supplies Used:
Looking for more great tumbler crafts?
Instructions: &#;
There are many different stainless steel etching techniques that can be used, but we are using the cotton ball method. Out of the many different ones we tried, this was our favorite. We are using a tumbler for this project but obviously, this same technique can be used for other stainless steel items.
Shoutout to Mr. Crafty Pants who made an amazing video on stainless steel etching. We learned so much from him!
Begin in Cricut Design Space:
Begin by heading into Cricut Design Space. We searched on Pinterest for some fun crafty phrases as inspiration for the quote on our tumbler. Simply type that phrase into Design Space and change to your desired font. We&#;re using Westlan from our membership here on Makers Gonna Learn.
Next, with our text selected, we decreased the Line Spacing to bring the words closer together. Line Spacing is located in the menu at the top of your screen in Design Space.
Now, we want some of the words in each line closer together. So, to do that, with the text selected, we&#;re going to choose Ungroup over in the Layers Panel. Once you&#;re happy with the placement of the words, select each word one by one and choose Attach in the Layers Panel.
Select all of the words and go up to the top menu. Choose Align. Center Horizontally. With all of the words still selected, choose Attach.
Be sure to measure your tumbler to determine how big to make your design and size it accordingly. You don&#;t want to make your design too big or too long when placing it on a rounded surface like a tumbler or you can get some distortion.
Click Make It. Much of the time when making a design, we will leave it where Cricut Design Space has placed it on the mat. But, in the case of stencil and especially when etching, you want a border around your design so we&#;re going to move ours to create that bit of wiggle room.
Click Continue and select your materials. We&#;re using Premium Vinyl today.
Cut out your design:
Place your vinyl on your cutting mat. Load the mat into your machine. Press the flashing Cricut button and let your Cricut machine do the work of cutting out your design.
Remove the mat from the machine and burnish the vinyl to the mat.
Trim away the excess vinyl, remembering to leave a good border around your design, and save the scraps for another project.
Weed your design. Remember that this is going to be a stencil so you are doing the opposite of what you normally do &#; you need to remove the letters and leave the rest of the vinyl behind.
Apply transfer tape over your design and burnish. Turn the cutting mat upside down and peel it away from your design. Burnish your design again from the back. You can&#;t burnish too much!
Prep your stainless steel tumbler by cleaning it with rubbing alcohol on a paper towel. This helps remove any dust and debris as well as any oils from your fingerprints.
The etching process:
Peel the backing off your design. Place your design down onto the tumbler, lining it up as you wish. You want it adhered really securely so use your scraper tool to burnish it well. You need a really good seal around all of the letters for the etching process.
Peel up the transfer tape.
Before you begin the etching process, be sure to put on gloves. You may want to wear a mask to protect yourself against fumes and safety glasses to prevent any splashes in your eyes. We highly recommend taking all possible precautions and working as safely as you can!
Use a cotton ball to dab on some ferric chloride onto your tumbler. Make sure you dab it over the entire design. We&#;re going to repeat this process several times over the course of 10-15 minutes or so. Don&#;t get too much of the ferric chloride on your cotton ball. You want a good amount but you don&#;t want it dripping.
Once it&#;s coated, toss that cotton ball in your bowl and grab a fresh one. You can wait a minute or two in between coats, but there is not need to be really precise with timing it. Repeat the process of dabbing on ferric chloride. We did this a total of 5 times.
Once you have finished with this, sprinkle baking soda over the cotton balls in the bowl. This will help neutralize the ferric chloride. Sprinkle baking soda over your design on the tumbler as well. Rub the baking soda in a bit over your design on the tumbler.
Peel the vinyl stencil away from the tumbler. You might need to use a weeding tool to get some of the smaller bits. Wash the cup really well with some soap and water. Wipe it dry with a paper towel.
Isn&#;t it beautiful? This is such a simple technique for etching stainless steel that you can use for so many projects. If you make any, we&#;d love to see them. Share on social media using hashtag #MakersGonnaLearn!
Want to learn more about etching?
How to make a stencil with your Cricut
A beginner&#;s guide to using etching cream
DIY etched mirror
Glass etching for Halloween
DIY Metal Crafts - Etching Tutorial
This etching metal tutorial is a great start for making DIY metal crafts. It is as easy as stenciling and the outcome is amazing!
I never thought that etching metal would be something I could do but when I saw a You Tube video about it I knew I could do it. Turns out&#;.it is pretty easy.
I chose Dollar Tree items for my DIY metal crafts because I love them and I love turning something ordinary into something extraordinary. This includes personalizing or adding a great design to make it unique and a one of a kind item or gift. But you can use any metal surface so if you purchase something else or already have something you can etch, that is perfect.
If you LOVE Dollar Tree crafts and gifts then you are definitely in the right place.
AND&#;
If you love DIY metal projects you can click here to find more metal crafts inspiration!
You are probably wondering&#;can you etch into metal? Well, yes you can with a product called Ferric Chloride.
Ferric Chloride is highly corrosive to most metals and needs to be used with safety in mind. I wore gloves when I was using it and baking soda to neutralize it when I was done. These are important things to remember.
Sometimes crafting can be dangerous and precautions need to be taken.
Before we get started let me answer a few questions you may have spinning in your head.
The company is the world’s best stainless steel etching sheets supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.
The answer is no. The etching cream is and acid that attacks the glass but it does not work the same way on stainless steel and other metals.
There are a few acids that will etch stainless steel including hydrochloric acid, nitric acid or sulfuric acid. But the Ferric Chloride is a stronger acid so it works faster. This is a good thing for crafting but you have to keep safety in mind by wearing gloves.
Let me show you how I made these awesome metal etched coffee tumbler, stainless steel spatula, cake server and the flower bucket.
Materials Needed
I have added some affiliate links for your convenience. You can see my full disclosure here.
- Ferric Chloride
- Metal pieces to etch
- Nail polish remover (Acetone)
- Cotton balls
- Baking soda
- Cricut Maker or cutting machine
- Scrap Vinyl &#; I used permanent glossy craft vinyl
- Weeding Tool
- Transfer Tape
- Bowl to place the cotton balls in after they are used
- gloves
Step 1: Cut out your stencil
I used my Cricut Maker and some permanent vinyl to make my stencil.
If you don&#;t have a cutting maching you could make your own stencil by tracing onto the vinyl and cutting out the design. Or you could purchase a stencil. Make sure it is going to be secure and the Ferric Chloride will not bleed underneath it.
These designs are free to download in my resource library. If you already have a password you can use this link!
Look for them in the Cricut and Silhouette SVG files section.
After you download the design, upload it into design space.
You will want to adjust the measurement to fit your project.
Then keeping them grouped, click the &#;attach&#; button in the lower right corner of the screen.
When you get to the screen with the mat, you can move the design further from the edges so you have vinyl around the design. This will ensure that the Ferric Chloride will stay only in the cut areas and not sneak out over the edge of the vinyl.
Step 2: Weed the design and add the transfer tape
Use a weeding tool to remove the design. Remember this is a stencil so what we would normally keep to add to the design we are removing.
Normally I would add the transfer tape to the top of the cut design but this time a placed the stencil design face side down onto the transfer paper. Whatever is easier for you.
Use the squeegy tool to &#;burnish&#; the transfer tape. This helps to keep those little pieces from lifting off when you don&#;t want them to.
Make sure the metal is clean and ready for the metal etching chemical.
To do this use nail polish remover (Acetone) and a cotton ball to clean the surface where the design will be.
Step 4: Place the stencil and start etching
Now you are ready to place down the stencil.
Remove the backing from the vinyl and carefully place the stencil onto the metal surface.
Once your design is where you want it place the entire vinyl piece down to keep the acid away from the extra metal. Use the squeegy tool again to make sure all of the edges are stuck down.
Remove the transfer tape to reveal the design ready for acid etching.
Grab your gloves, your bowl and your baking soda. Oh&#;and the Ferric Chloride.
Put on the gloves and put some of the Ferric Chloride on a cotton ball. Pat the Ferric Acid onto the design until it is completely covered.
When you finish with the cotton ball place it into the bowl.
Wait about 5 minutes or so, grab a new cotton ball and do it again.
After that&#;.one more time for a total of about 15 minutes.
The last cotton ball should go in the bowl with the others. Then add baking soda to to all of the cotton balls in the bowl to neutralize the acid. You will need to neutralize the metal pieces as well. Add some baking soda to the top of the metal piece right over the design then rinse it off in the sink.
Then you can remove the vinyl for the stencil to reveal the etched design. This is always my favorite part!
Here is my coffee travel cup.
I also made a spatula and a cake server. These will be great gifts for birthday or Christmas.
The flower bucket didn&#;t come out as crisp as the others. I think because it is galvanized. But I still love it!
Here are some printable instruction if you want them.
I hope you liked this DIY metal crafts &#; etching metal tutorial and will give it a try. It was amazing how these turned out.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Michelle
For more information, please visit mirror polished stainless steel strip.
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