Personalized Baking Dishes

If you find yourself sharing casserole dishes or baked goods, etc frequently and sometimes need to leave your dish behind, here’s a wonderful way to personalize your bakeware to ensure you get it back. Alternatively, this is a very well received gift for housewarming, weddings/anniversaries, birthdays and more.

In our list of items needed you’ll see that we have Glass Baking Dishes listed… this can be any brand that you like, in our case we’ve chosen Pyrex, but be forewarned, not all pyrex is the same. Only SOME pyrex can be successfully etched. Here’s a quick test that you can do to see if your pyrex is “etchable” before you begin and spend oodles of your time cutting out decorative stencils.

Simply place a single drop on the backside of the pyrex handle. This is an inconspicuous spot that makes it easy for you to see, but will go unnoticed to anyone else. Let it set about 5 minutes. Wash it off with warm water. If you see the etched dot clearly, your pyrex can be etched. If you do NOT see the etched dot clearly, better not waste your time with this dish!

Alternatively, you can etch glassware, stemware, clear glass plates, bowls, vases, storage canisters, ornaments and much more. You’re only limited to your imagination!

You’ll Need:
Glass Baking Dishes
Armour Etch (New & Improved Formula)
Clear Contact Paper or Stencils
Utility Blade/ X-acto knife for cutting out the stencil
Old newspapers/junk mail
Rubber Gloves
Rubbing alcohol & Cotton Balls

Wash the bottom of the dish with rubbing alcohol and let it dry completely.

You’ll notice that we’ve opted to use contact paper as our “stencil” medium. You can use any stencil you like, we just prefer the contact paper as we can personalize it easily.

Create your design using whatever font you like, keep in mind that you’ll be cutting this Font out by hand, so unless you have a lot of patience, you might want to stick with a simple design.

Now, Reverse the design. It needs to be printed backward in order for it to display properly on the dish. This can be done on most printers by changing the print settings. Alternatively, you can print it on regular plain paper, tape the printed design to a window and then use a sharpie to trace the design.

Use a sharpie to trace the letters onto the clear side of the contact paper. It helps to do this in a well-lit room so you can see where you’ve already cut.

Lay down some newspapers or old junk mail to cover and protect your work surface.

Shake the etching cream very well before opening and slip on a pair of gloves. Keep in mind that this is an extremely caustic product, think of it this way, it will burn through treated glass… imagine what it can do to bare skin or eyeballs if it gets splashed.

‘Paint” on the etching cream to the cut out areas of your stencil, covering them completely. Keep in mind that if you continually go over the area your brush strokes will be visible. Let it dry for about 20 minutes then rinse the etching cream from the dish (again, ensure you are wearing protective gloves and be very careful NOT to splash this onto your skin or face!!)

A note BEFORE Rinsing- this is a glass etching chemical so if you have a Ceramic or Porcelain sink- do NOT rinse this in your sink as it WILL eat away the protective coating. This is safe to rinse in Stainless Steel or Plastic Utility sinks. Since this is a caustic chemical and we have a septic system, I generally sprinkle baking soda all over the bottom of my sink to help neutralize the acid before it hits the septic.

Ta Da.!!!!! An Instantly Personalized Gift!

Now, if you’re giving this as a gift, be sure to place a couple homemade mixes in it too!

Other Hints-Tips & Things you should know Before you get started:

• This does not harm the pyrex/baking dish. You’re barely scratching the surface of the dish. If it was microwavable & dishwasher-safe before, it still is. If it wasn’t microwavable or dishwasher-safe before, it still isn’t.
• Do NOT rinse in Ceramic or Porcelain Sinks
• Use Gloves