A Stroll Down Memory Lane

One day my son asks, "Mom can you  make me a glass block I can gift at my fireman's Christmas party". I was honored that he asked and being the Mama I am, I was eager to oblige. He gave me an idea of what he wanted and off to work I went.

I started researching and found an appropriate image, identified the materials needed  and went to town shopping. The materials I needed were 8" glass block, etching material, string of lights, and vinyl.

Once I had all the materials required, I started with etching the glass block on both sides. It took a couple of applications of the etching cream to get a nice even coverage. After the etching cream was applied you need wait the allotted time and then wash it off.

I later learned that you save much of the etching cream and reuse it by scraping the excess off. When the coverage was the way I liked, I let is cure for a couple of days until moving on to the next step.

I then went to my computer and downloaded the image. Using the software that came with my cutter, the image was uploaded and resized to the proper size for my block. The image was then cut onto vinyl in all the appropriate colors.  Then the process of weeding happens. This is when you remove all the vinyl around the image you want to keep.  Now, I'm ready to apply the cut image onto my glass block. The image required pieces layered on top of each other. This took some time and patience to get it all layered correctly. 

Now that my image has been placed on the block, we are almost done. I added string lights to the inside and to finish it off, ribbon was added to the outside edge.

I wanted to make this a unique and personal piece for the recipient, the name of the fire department and fire fighters number was added to the back.

When my son came to pick it up he was very happy with it and it was a hit at his party. So much so that I had several orders following.

This is how it all started...