OWJones 1,981 Posted April 22, 2013 (edited) I shop at the local Dollar Tree and it's a great place to pick up blanks for vinyl and glass etching work. They have decent quality beer mugs, pilsner glasses, double-walled plastic tumblers and more for only $1 each. They sell a lot of crap, but every once in a while I find something that I can see the potential in. I recently found these "Beveled Glass Picture Frames" and wondered what I could do with them, so I bought a few and took them home to play with. Turns out that with just a few simple steps and basic tools (single-edged razor blade/scraper, GooGone and glass cleaner) you can turn these tacky "picture frames" into a decent quality blank that is perfect for vinyl work, or even better for glass etching - or both! Here's the instructions I posted on Pinterest of what I did -- http://pinterest.com/pin/532409987168517873/ Basically you unbox it, peel the tape off that is holding the little cellophane bag with the support leg in it, then flip it over and tear off the cheesy plastic "pocket" that holds the picture, flip it back upright and peel off the metallic plastic frame that is stuck on with 2-sided adhesive foam. Then use a scraper to take the foam tape off and then some GooGone to remove any remaining adhesive. The residue from the plastic tape that they intended you to remove takes more work than the adhesive that is supposed to hold it all together - it's sticky tape! Once all the residue is gone, give it a quick spritz with glass cleaner (I use RapidPrep) to get rid of the oily GooGone and then put it together - voila! A clean, very inexpensive, blank product for vinyl designs, glass etching, etc. I cut this design out of Oracal 651 (045 - Soft Pink). I don't know how clearly you can see it in this picture, but there is an etched 0.15" outline of the design on the back of the glass to give it some depth. In hindsight, I should have installed it a little higher up on the glass, but I was using the beveled edge for lining up my registration marks - oh, well, live and learn. One dollar for a picture frame, less than a dollar in vinyl and other materials and I now have a gift worth at least 5x what I paid for materials. Forgot to mention - the frames are available in at least 3 sizes - I found 3"x5", 4"x6" and 5"x7" in the Dollar Tree closest to me. These dimensions, the ones on the package, refer to the space inside the metallic border and are actually about 1" larger in each direction, plus an additional 1/2" for the beveled edge... Edited April 22, 2013 by OWJones 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slice&dice 2,451 Posted April 22, 2013 "Like" has no dot over the 'i' How did you manage to miss that? (Dot all your i's and cross all your t's) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OWJones 1,981 Posted April 22, 2013 "Like" has no dot over the 'i' pIcky, pIcky, pIcky... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OWJones 1,981 Posted April 22, 2013 There... fixed it... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MadHatterGraphix 1,258 Posted April 22, 2013 Great find great idea. I have had 12 of their mugs waiting to be etched but haven't gotten there yet. As for picky picky lol. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
plbrooks 13 Posted April 22, 2013 Great work, great idea!!! I've got one of those close to me... will have to try it! Thanks for sharing! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OWJones 1,981 Posted April 22, 2013 One of the first tips I learned when weeding is to peel off that one big piece around your design and set that piece aside. I usually stick it to the front edge of my weeding table for just such an emergency. Sure enough, I went back and found the missing dot still in place and was able to remove it cleanly with a pair of tweezers and place it on the glass. Just to make sure, I held the weeded piece up to the light to see if I missed anything else - I didn't - yay! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
