All the materials spread out on my kitchen counter.

I wanted a phrase on my vase so I bought alphabet stickers at the craft store. I placed them on as carefully as possible but they were still a little uneven so I had to reposition a little. This caused some problems later. TAKE YOUR TIME with this step.

After positioning the letters, I painted on a thick layer of Armour-Etch. I wanted the edges of the etched area to be splotchy so I intentionally went a little wacky there. If you wanted, you could tape off the area to be etched, leaving you with nice straight borders. You paint on a thick layer of this stuff and let it sit. Don't follow the instructions -- five minutes isn't nearly long enough. I let mine sit for fifteen and then actually did another coat.

The etching goo on the vase.

Wearing rubber gloves (this stuff BURNS), wash the cream off under running water. As I mentioned, I didn't think it was defined enough the first time so did another coat. The only problem is that some of my stickers had lost their stick at that point. The E fell off entirely and the A was peeling up at the bottom. I wasn't careful with the A (silly rabbit) and it ended up looking like a triangle. I did the E with a toothpick and that one came out a little better, but it would've been EVEN BETTER if I had just added more etching cream without washing off the first batch. Oh well. Now, theoretically you can reuse the cream but you use so little that I don't see the point. That's all there is to etching. It is EASY. I like freehanding it and intend to just do some pieces by painting the cream on with a brush. Some day.

Let's not discuss the shoddy lettering in that last word. Ssssssshhhhhh!

Total time spent: approximately half an hour
US Dollars spent: approximately 26