My (sad) attempt at etching glass

I was all about the homemade Christmas gifts this year- I made hot fudge jars for our families, made sweet looking peppermint trees for my aunts, and I saw a few blogs on etching glass and it looked super easy so I decided to do that for my friends...


I headed off to Micheals to get my supplies-
-etching cream
-applicator for etching cream (I used a foam paint brush)
-a glass jar
-contact paper (I wanted to make my own stencil, so I needed the contact paper to do that)


I started off by finding the style of "B" that I was wanting to etch, so I traced it from my computer onto a sheet of contact paper, from there I cut out the stencil.  It was at that point, that I just cut out the "B" while hacking away at the rest of the contact paper...aka failing to make a stencil...so I had to repeat that over again until I got the cut out of the "B" without disturbing the outside of the "B" so that I would have a stencil.

I then skimmed over read the directions on the etching cream...to sum it up- put a thick layer, let sit, wash off. So I did just that- I waited 5 minutes then went to the sink...I started rinsing and barely noticed a difference!! I was so bummed, but I thought I would then just reapply more mixture and let it sit again so I tried that.  

Well apparently, when I was rinsing, some of the contact paper un-stuck so when I applied more etching cream, it got under the stencil so although the second application of the cream did make the etching more pronounced, it then looked really crappy since the edges weren't crisp.

I also couldn't get an even etching look, it looks splotchy! I layered it evenly, I just don't know what happened! It was not cute though...I gave it to her anyway with strict instructions to keep this hidden away from public eyes and that I owe her a way better present for her birthday to make up for it! 

FAIL....that is all that I can say to describe this...FAIL!