DIY Etched Mason Jar Mugs

It's the third week of Saturday Crafternoon's impromptu coffee series! This week's post brings you a two-part tutorial: how to etch on mason jars (and other glass), and how to turn your etched glass artwork into a note-worthy thank you gift with (you guessed it!) coffee beans.

Last week, I left my job as a behavioral therapist for the world's best company, FirstSteps for Kids, in order to pursue an M.Ed. in Special Education. As a first-time therapist at FirstSteps, I had so many mentors guiding and encouraging me along the way, and I wanted to give each of them a warm, personalized "thank you" for all their support.

I etched our company's logo onto the mason jars, purchased on Amazon for less than $2 apiece. From there, I added coffee beans, embellishments, and a thank you card to each. Recognize the cover of that thank you card? I've been stretching that same design to fit every occasion these past three weeks! Get your free printable at the bottom of this tutorial, available as a tag or card.

In my enthusiasm for glass etching, I bought the industrial-sized glass-etching cream. Unless you're painting 
a glass house, this is entirely unnecessary. For a small-scale project, the smallest bottle will be plenty.

What you'll need for etching glass: 

• mason jar (with plain panels)
• glass etching cream (a small bottle will suffice)
• scissors or exacto knife
• transparent contact paper
• paintbrush

What you'll need for thank you gift:

• etched mason jar
• hemp twine
• burlap fabric (1 yard yields 9 jars)
• thank you card (see printable below)
• hole puncher
• coffee beans (1 pound yields 6 jars)
• sealable sandwich bag

Step 1: Trace your design onto the clear contact paper. Use scissors or your exacto knife to carefully cut out the design. If you're cutting out letters, be sure to save the inside bits (like the middle of the Q, as you'll see below).

Step 2: Peel off your freshly-minted stencil and press it firmly onto the mason jar, pressing out all the bubbles and sealing any loose edges. Press hard! My first attempt as glass-etching turned the beautiful company logo into a sloppy mess when the etching cream snuck underneath the stencil!

Step 3: Use your paintbrush to evenly spread a thick layer of etching cream over the entire stencil.

Step 4: Wait 10-15 minutes. Thoroughly rinse off all the etching cream and pat dry with a towel. If you're like me, you'll probably fear you've washed off the design along with the excess cream, because it will look like there's nothing left. Never fear! You can't rinse off the design, because the etching cream has actually carved out the glass (in other words, it's totally and irreversibly permanent), but you won't really see it until you've pulled off the stencil.

Step 5: After rinsing, repeat! One more layer of etching cream, 10-15 more minutes of waiting, then thoroughly rinse again. Wait until the glass is totally dry if you want to reuse the stencil, then peel it off. If etching a mason jar was your final goal, you're done! If you want to turn your mason jar into a chic thank you gift, read on...

These are the final thank you gifts for my colleagues. The cards say, "Coffee Beans for an ABA Queen." If there are any behavior analysts out there who'd like this super-specific card, feel free to shoot me a message!

Step 6: Cut a square of burlap fabric, approximately 12" by 12". I bought a yard of burlap fabric so this allowed me to make nine perfect squares.

Step 7: Put about half a mason jar's worth of coffee beans in a sealable sandwich baggie (to keep the beans fresh). I wrote the brand and type of coffee beans on a small label and taped it to the outside of the bag, since some folks are picky about their beans, and others might unknowingly mix these light-roasted beans with their dark-roasted ones at home! Push all the beans to the bottom of the bag, then roll the bag up like a sleeping bag.

Step 8: Wrap the burlap fabric up around the sandwich baggie and push it down into the mason jar. 

Click here to download the full-resolution PDF, sized for thank you cards (3 per page).
Click here to download the PDF, sized for small tags (8 per page)

Step 9: Print out the thank you tag or card, and hole punch the top left corner. Wrap a piece of hemp twine several time around the mouth of the jar (I probably wrapped it 7-8 times around, purely for aesthetic purposes), and finally, tie the thank you note or card to jar. And... mission accomplished!