Colorful Giraffe Vase

I found a lovely tall square shaped glass vase that needed to be Upcycled, so I decided to use my dip ‘n etch to give the surface more tooth for the paint I wanted to use.  

Etchall® dip ‘n etch is a re-usable liquid, the consistency of water.  When you submerge your glass piece into the liquid, it will etch the entire outside of the glass as far up as you want it to go.    

SUPPLIES NEEDED to etch: Etchall® dip ‘n etch, a glass item to etch, plastic container (Normally, I use a soda bottle, but this tall, skinny vase needed something a little thinner, so I found another plastic container), water, marker, marbles or glass rounds to hold down the glass piece in the liquid.  Paper towels or cloth.  

A 2 liter plastic soda bottle with the top cut off works great as a dipping container.  Save the top to use as a funnel for returning your dip ‘n etch to the jar!  This stuff is reusable! As stated above, I found a smaller, thinner plastic bottle for this particular vase.

I filled the glass vase with glass rounds to weigh it down, put the vase into the empty plastic container, and filled the container with water to the level that I wanted it etched. Then I removed the vase from the container and marked the water level with a marker.  Pour out the water and thoroughly dry both the plastic container and the glass vase. You do not want to get water in your dip ‘n etch! 

Pour dip ‘n etch into the container to the level that you marked. Place the glass, filled with the glass rounds, into the container and leave in for 15 minutes. Remove the glass from container, wipe with a paper towel, and rinse under running water.  Clean and rinse with soap and water. 

To my great surprise, the glass was not fully etched. It had some etching that just looked like a texture. So I put the vase back into the dip ‘n etch for another 10 – 15 minutes, removed it, and cleaned it like before. 

STILL NO FROSTY ETCH! Just a texture that looked like a snowy night. 

I poured the dip ‘n etch from the plastic container back into the original jar to be re-used.

Well, I thought. That is my first experience with a piece of glass that cannot be etched. I know that the vase was not Pyrex, but it was very heavy, so it must have been made with lead. I almost put it aside BUT I had found a really cute design I wanted to paint on the vase. And, the texture would give the vase enough tooth for the paint to go on smoothly. 

 Just look at the great photo of colorful giraffes I found posted on Facebook. In fact, there is a Youtube tutorial for making these Rainbow Giraffes if you are a Fused Glass Artist and have a stash of colored glass and a glass kiln to play with. Check out Tabitha Burrill’s page and her great tutorial HERE.  I will definitely be making this in glass.

So, I visited my favorite site for line art work, Creative Meadow, and found some cute giraffe heads to use in my design. I printed out the designs to size and taped one giraffe head on each of 3 sides of the vase and proceeded to outline the design with my Identipen.  I removed the pattern when done.

I had some Jo Sonya acrylic paints that I wanted to try with their Glass & Tile Primer and Medium. I read the directions and found that I had to paint the Primer on the glass where I was going to add color. Then I mixed the Medium with my paints, One part paint to 3 parts medium . I used some bright colors (Yellow Light, Pyrolle Orange, Brilliant Green, Carbon Black & Titanium White).  If you don’t have these paints, you can use any glass enamels you have. Also, you will need a small flat brush and a liner brush. 

I used the flat brush to lay the bright colors on the neck and face of each giraffe, leaving just the eyes without paint. When dry, I painted a second coat. The mouth areas and inside of the ears can be painted a different color using the liner brush. I also painted the eye holes white. When eyes were dry, I painted the irises black. The black patches on the giraffes are just random splotches. When dry, put reflection dots in each eye and randomly outline the black patches. If you like, you can outline your giraffe using black and the liner brush. Let the paint dry completely. 

For something that I thought was going to be a disaster, I thought it turned out pretty good. The texture of the glass made a great surface for the Jo Sonja Acrylic paint.  The Colorful Giraffes will make a really cute vase in a kid’s room.

Remember to always use Etchall etching cream and dip ‘n etch in your projects. It was voted the BEST by crafters. 

You can click below to order from the Etchall site and I will get a small stipend that will help me to keep giving you these free tutorials. Thanks.

 I hope you enjoy this project. Always remember to “Have A Colorful Day”

Kathie Camara, 

Etchall Designer & Fused Glass Artist.