Bring the beauty of a butterfly garden to your patio with a whimsical etched window. We’ll show you how to etch a garden window. It’s easier than you think! Just pick up an old wooden window at the flea market, mask a flower and butterfly design, then etch with real etch cream. As you rinse your window clean, the ethereal image will be revealed!
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How To Etch A Garden Window
Materials
Wooden window from the flea market
White Con-Tact paper (not shelf liner)
Stencils: Butterflies, Flowers , Swirls (each about 3″ to 5″ across)
Armour Etch glass etching cream (10 oz)
Steel chain*
2 Screw hooks (3½”)
Tools
Sharpie marker
Scissors
Drop cloth
Window cleaner
Paper towels
Protective gloves
Sponge paintbrush
Kitchen timer
Drill
*Steel chain isn’t easy to cut, so measure before you go to the hardware store. Hold your window under the branch where you’d like it to hang. Have someone measure the distance from the window to the branch at each end. One length might be longer than the other if the branch slopes. Get the two lengths cut at the hardware store.
Instructions
1. Start by making a set of large stickers to use as a mask. To do this trace the stencils onto the Con-Tact paper using a Sharpie. Cut them out with scissors but do not remove the backing yet. Arrange the cut-outs on your window to create a pleasing design. Make a sketch or take a snapshot with a digital camera to refer to later.
2. Set the stickers aside, don your gloves, and thoroughly clean the window with window cleaner and paper towels. It is very important to clean any and all oil from your fingers off the window. Any fingerprints will show up when you etch, and your finished project could end up looking like a crime scene!
3. With your gloves still on, peel the backing off the stickers and press your design onto the window. Use your snapshot from before as a guide. Crumple a piece of the adhesive backing into a ball and use the slippery side to rub down all the edges of your stickers. Clean the glass one more time by spraying the window cleaner onto the paper towel and carefully wiping the exposed glass around your stickers.
4. For the etching process, take the window outside and lay it flat on a drop cloth. Be sure you are still wearing your gloves. Using the sponge paintbrush, apply a thick layer of etch cream over the glass and stickers. Your brushstrokes will show, so use a swirling motion to create a pattern with the etch cream. Once your window is entirely covered with etch cream, set your timer for 5 minutes.
5. After 5 minutes, rinse the etch cream off the window with a garden hose. Rub the surface with your gloved hand to help clean the glass.
6. Take off your gloves and peel all the stickers off the window. Rinse again with the garden hose to remove any remaining etch cream. Let the window dry.
7. To hang your etched window, pre-drill two holes a few inches from each end, then screw two hooks into the top of the window frame. Attach two lengths of steel chain to a sturdy horizontal branch in your yard. Then hang the window from the last link in each chain.
Improved With Age: For a garden piece like this, shabby is chic! So keep an eye out for a wooden window with a weathered look. You can pick one up for less than $20.
Do you decorate in your garden? Tell us what you like to repurpose in your yard! And remember if you have any questions, just ask in the comments and we’ll answer! We’re here to help!
Happy Crafting,
Jennifer & Kitty
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I love that!
Thanks Susan!
I love this idea! I’d love to have one hanging on the end of our front porch. Must tell hubby to keep an eye out for Windows on his trips to the local dump. He often finds great, usable things there!
Yes, have him pick up one for you! Must be fun to see what he finds!
Jennifer & Kitty
That is a great idea. I might borrow this idea:)
Go for it Tammy!
Very pretty. Instead of etch cream, could you use frosted spray paint? You’d have to mask off the frame, but it might be easier?
Hi Cynthia! Yes, you could use Frosted Spray Paint. For us, the etch cream is a little bit easier. And it always gives great results. With spray paint it is a little harder to get an even coat and you have to be careful to avoid drips and runs. But either way will work! Good thinking!
Jennifer & Kitty
Great idea for my garden!
It is a real pretty piece in the garden. You’ll love it!
Jennifer & Kitty
Love this girls. And would love to give this a go. Thankyou.
Thanks Sheryl! Have fun making it!
Jennifer & Kitty
Love this idea
Thanks Georgeann!
Jennifer & Kitty
Great project and thanks for sharing. It is beautiful
Enjoyed the information in your book.
Oh good! Glad you liked it!
Jennifer & Kitty
I am definitely going to do this!!
I love this idea! It is so beautiful, and it seems so doable…!
Thanks Marjorie. It is a really doable project. We’ve done it a few times!
J&K
I love the butterfly etched window.
Can you please send me the directions so I can save them to my email where I can print them off.
I want to do several for gifts. Such a fantastic craft idea.
Thank you
Sure thing, Nelda! It’s a really fun project!
J&K
Where can I buy etch cream? Amazon, perhaps? Unknown here where I live.
In reply to Crystal Gene Nicholas.
You can get etch cream at many craft stores. And yes, Amazon carries it too. Here’s a link http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001BE3UM4/?theonesi-20
J&K
This is just beautiful. I have a few Windows and I would like to try this. Want to cut out fish to put by my pond. Thank you.
Thanks! The fish by the pond sounds like a great idea! J&K
Absolutely LOVE all of your ideas. Such fun projects and fun young ladies.
Thank You Janet!!
Hi ladies – Just discovered your site and I love this project! This may be a silly question but is it possible for etching to be a colour other than off-white? I was thinking of something in a very soft blue or pink but not sure if this is possible. Thanks in advance!
The etching is always frosty white, but you could possibly paint over it with a tinted glass paint or Krylon’s seaglass spray paint. If you try it, we’d love to hear if it works!
Jennifer & Kitty
Positively one of the classiest prettiest pieces I have ever seen!! Love it and hope to do something like it soon. Thanks so very much for sharing with us all 🙂
Thank you so much! You made our day!
J&K
‘very Cute idea for the garden.
Thanks Deb!
Have a old home that we replaced windows and was wondering what I could do with them. Great idea. Hope mine looks as good as yours does.
Great idea
you girls are awesome
Aw! Thank you!!
Could this be done by painting a design on then using the etching cream and removing the paint after the glass has etched?
We’re not sure. The etching cream is a chemical which might dissolve paint. It’d be worth trying though! Let us know your results! J&K
Love the look !!! Can you do this to a back door window for privacy ? But I can’t take the door off
Thanks Hermine. It would be hard to do a window that is installed. We applied the etch cream with the window laying flat. And we rinsed with a hose! Also, the etch cream doesn’t work well on tempered glass – so if you do want to do it, test an area first.
For an installed window you could get a similar look with Frosted Glass Contact paper. They have lots of designs.
Jennifer & Kitty
Want to try etching. Love it.
Go for it, Lyn!
So cute. I have an old window frame but could not figure what to do with it. Many thanks for a wonderful idea!!
Thanks Sherry!
I’ve always wondered how to do this and now I know!! Thank you so much! This looks like a project I can do on my own. Was thinking of doing one for a graduation frame. Cross your fingers for me please.
Hey girls! I Love Love Love the etched window idea. You girls are so creative! Love the way it looks too. It provides some privacy, but you can still see through it. I have been wanting to purchase a few windows to do the faux stained glass on it to hang at the end of my patio where we sit at next to the driveway. But, I may be doing the etched glass with the butterflies, & etc. Like you did instead. Thats so Awesome. Thank you for the inspiration!
That sounds perfect! Thanks for your kind words! J&K
How did you get the color on the cut outs? You said to use stincels so do you do that on the contact paper, then put on glass. Then etch the glass?
Yes, Dorothy. We traced the stencils onto contact paper. We cut those shapes out of contact paper. Then we put the contact paper shapes onto the glass. Then we etched. Then we rinsed and removed the contact paper shapes.
Hope that helps!
J&K
First time I’ve seen your work, ladies. This window is uniquely classy, whimsical and creative. Love it! My question; is there a need to treat the wood in any way to further preserve it if I were to use an exterior paint or stain on the frame, or just use it as is?
Thanks,
Hi Rosemary,
Thanks for the kind words! We used the window as we found it. It was already chippy and rustic so we left it as is. It has peeled a bit more with wear now. If you wanted to preserve it, you could paint on a clear varnish or urethane.
Hope that helps,
Jennifer & Kitty
I’ve been saving old windows for a greenhouse. I think this idea would be wonderful to do before my son puts them up as walls.
How fun for a greenhouse! J&K
Would love to do this using hummingbirds and flowers!!! Gonna give this a try for sure!
Ooh sounds pretty!
Beautiful,I will have to try it.
Thanks Daverlee!
Thank u so much for sharing! Love ur ideas! I’m constantly getting rid of things and u made me realize I need to give it a new life
I absolutely love what you have accomplished with this old window. I don’t have an imagination…..seriously I am so not artistically inclined but I do know beauty when I see it.
Wonderful, wonder job!
Thanks so much Mary!
This looks awesome I’m definitely gonna give it a try
Thanks! You should definitely try it!
J&K
Was wondering about 2 things:
I wonder if the etching cream could be colored using food coloring, especially the paste kind sold by Wilton Cake Decorating. Then stirring it into the etch cream to make sure it was the same color throughout.
Second, I am thinking of varying your project by cutting shapes into the Contac paper, and just using the original paper from which the shapes were removed, as the stencil. Thereby having the actual cut out shapes be the etched parts of the glass.
Feedback will be welcomed for both ideas. Thank you.
Great question about coloring the etch cream! The etch cream chemically etches the glass. It’s like a chemical version of sand blasting and takes off the outside layer of glass. That makes the surface frosted. The etch cream gets washed off, so adding color to the etch cream would not add color to the etched part of the glass.
As for the Contac paper stencils, you can use either part of the cut out. The pieces cut out or the big piece left behind with the negative space! Great idea!
Jennifer & Kitty
Any tips on coating the wood/grout of window. Sitting out in the yard was really hard on window and grout falling out and paint chipping. Thank you.
Hi Mary,
Maybe you could run a line of clear silicone around the loose joints to make the piece more secure. As for paint chipping, we love that look, but you can use a clear spray paint sealer to keep it from chipping more.
Hope that helps!
J&K