Make Your Own Etched Glass Candleholders

I love pretty candles and luminarias at Christmas, so when I discovered an easy way to make these etched glass candleholders, I knew I had to try it out. It turned out to be easier than I realized and now I want to etch everything in my house!
The secret is to use an etching cream, like this Easy Etch by DecoArt, rather than trying to use a liquid.
All you need are: glass containers, Easy Etch, stickers, rubbing alcohol, and gloves and apron.
First, clean your glass container well with rubbing alcohol.
Add stickers wherever you want the glass to be clear. I used these foam snowflake stickers, but you could use any design you want. Tape off any areas you don't want etched. (For this project I etched the whole thing.)
Using a plastic knife or palette knife (while wearing rubber gloves and apron), spread a thick coat of the etching cream onto the glass. Be sure to get into all the nooks and crannies of the stickers.
Look from the inside out to see that you've evenly coated everything. Wait for 15 minutes.
Scrape off as much of the etching cream as you can and return it to the bottle, to be used on another project. Rinse the glass in the sink, remove the stickers, then clean well with soap and water.
As the glass dries, your etching pattern will show up. Then just fill the candleholders with a little epsom salt in the bottom for a snowy effect and a votive or tea light candle.


See my full tutorial on the blog for more details and tips!
Meredith Wouters
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
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  • Lori Nordine Lori Nordine on Nov 18, 2015
    Could you mix the epsom salt with glue like they do to coat outside of glass to look snowy so the epsom won't spill out when you put it away or have Grandbabies like I do?
  • Lynda Lynda on Nov 22, 2015
    I was wondering, if you have some spots that didn't etch well, can you re-do those areas?
  • Stacy Humphrey Stacy Humphrey on Oct 14, 2016
    I have never heard of etching cream. What is it and where do you get it? Couldn't you also just spray paint it with like a snowy type affect spray
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