Cinco de Mayo Tequila Bottle

I found this great Deleon Tequila bottle with a beautiful silver filigree bottle topper and an etched “D” on one side. My vision was to etch the back side of the bottle and add a cute little Cinco de Mayo design to the container.   This is what you can make with very little effort.  You will definitely get lots of comments on this artsy bottle.  Here’s how to make it:

Here is the bottle all washed and dried with no sticky label stuff on it.  

As I have been doing recently, I was going to look for an SVG file for my Silhouette cutting machine, but thought, many of you might not have a cutting machine. So, I decided to find a design that could be transferred to the etched glass. I  Googled ‘free Cinco de Mayo images’ and  found a couple of nice ones. After downloading all of the images I liked into my computer and inserting them into a Word document for resizing, I had to decide on which one I wanted to use. It wasn’t easy because they were all so cute.   I’m sure you will find lots of really cute images on Google, too.

I decided an etched circle on the back of the bottle would be a good canvas for my Tequila Worm. I covered the bottle with blue Painters tape, overlapping the sides just in case. Then I found a circular object the correct size for my design. It happened to be the cover of a Talenti Gelato jar. (That is the BEST ice cream. Even better when you can buy it BOGO). I placed the jar cover in the center of the taped bottle and outlined the circle with my trusty Identi-Pen. I made sure that the design would fit inside the circle, and then placed the jar cover again on the taped bottle. Taking an Xacto knife, I used the jar cover to cut a perfectly round circle. 

I removed the circle and burnished the sides to make sure the tape was very secure. Then, I added a layer of my beautiful chocolate brown Etchall cream and set the timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes I used the black plastic squeegee to scrape off the etching cream and put it back in the jar. (YES, you can reuse this cream over and over, Even if the color has turned from white to Chocolate!) Then, I wiped the glass off with an unscented baby wipe, polished it with a paper towel and washed any remaining Etchall cream off the surface. 

The Etchall Cream took the glaze off the glass and gave it some ‘tooth’ for me to apply color.  I cut out my design and placed it over the etched circle, taping it at the top so that I could lift the design. I put my sheet of transfer paper under the design and then traced the entire design with a ballpoint pen, carefully lifting the design to make sure I had transferred all the lines. Then I removed the design and the transfer paper. Using the Identi-Pen, I traced over all of the lines of the design.  

Now, to add the color. Instead of using paint, I decided to fill in the design with colored Identi-Pens. This worked very well. In fact, by using the colored pens, the design looks the same from the back of the bottle and from the front of the bottle, looking through the glass.At this point, I removed the blue painters tape completely from the bottle.

Being able to see the design through the bottle as well as from the front was a delightful surprise.  

I hope you enjoy creating a design of your own on a thrifted bottle of your choice. I just love upcycling glass to keep it out of the landfill.

Remember to always use Etchall etching cream in your projects. It was voted the BEST by crafters.  And remember, 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 and always remember to “Have A Colorful Day”

Kathie Camara, Glass Artist & Etchall Designer