Transforming Artwork to Etch into a Pint Glass Using Inkscape

Backstory

A while back my wife’s Jeep was in the shop, and besides just getting a newly-repaired vehicle we also acquired a set of Jeep-themed pint glasses to replace the last of a set of scratched up glasses we’d had for years. This led to a conversation in which Beth asserted that her vehicle was clearly cooler than mine because hers had a set of glassware for it and nobody would make that for a minivan. Honda, sure, but not a minivan.

That claim couldn’t be allowed to stand. Now instead of browsing Amazon or Etsy to prove her wrong I took the extreme route: I went shopping for a blank pint glass and a bottle glass-etching acid to make my own. I’m sure that says more about me than about how awesome my minivan is, but so be it.

Glass acquired, I did a quick image search and came up with a Honda logo and an outline of an Odyssey that I pulled into Inkscape and ran through the “Trace Bitmap” tool to create passable vector art. Almost ready to send it to the vinyl cutter to create stencils, right? Nope, the pint glass has angled sides so any art on it needs to be transformed to match the curve.

I’m sure there are specialized tools that can handle this type transformation automatically, but given that I already have a vector graphics tool that I’m comfortable with I’d rather dig deeper into the features in Inkscape than pick up something new.

Generating the Template

The pint glass I picked up takes the form of a truncated cone. I knew I needed to bend the artwork so it wouldn’t appear stretched/curved on the glass, but how do you calculate that?

Short answer: plug the glass measurements into a tool such as templatemaker.nl to get a template that will wrap the sides of it. As a bonus, that site also includes a breakdown of the math used to calculate the result in case you want to do it yourself. Is that directly useful here? Partly: it gives you the radius of the top and bottom of the glass, which lets you calculate the bend radius at the height of the center of your logo. You have to do a little more work to make that data easy to use.

I’m lazy, so I fired up OpenSCAD to generate my own template that I could just snap my image to for easy bending. Did it work? Yes. Is it really the best tool for generating SVGs? Not really, so I made a better one:

Simply enter the dimensions of your glass, desired logo size and buffer width, and how high you want the logo to be on the glass and it will generate a template with all the points you need to transform your art and a guide edge to align with the top of the glass to ensure it’s positioned correctly. Instructions are under the embedded form so I’m not duplicating them here.

Etching Glass

Once the image is transformed and the template is cleaned up you’re ready to send it to the vinyl cutter to make a stencil. After cutting simply weed the parts you want to show in the final product, then transfer it onto the glass using the top edge to line up the height and being careful to keep it vertical. I had some trouble keeping it straight, so if I try this again I’ll probably use a dry erase marker to draw a vertical reference line to line up the vinyl edge against.

Make sure the vinyl has a good seal to the glass along all the edges of the image. Bubbles under the vinyl don’t matter so long as you’ve got firm edges because the acid won’t go through the vinyl but can squeeze under it if it’s not stuck down well.

Follow the instructions for applying the etching cream, especially the safety instructions. Mine said to brush on, then rinse off and clean with soap and water after 15 minutes. Leave the vinyl on and let it dry to see how it turned out.

I wasn’t entirely happy with the results (faint, with some unevenness to the etching), so I did some reading online and tried again. I first stirred the acid cream to ensure even consistency and rubbed it in all different directions for the first 5 minutes before letting it sit for another 45 minutes. It’s not perfectly even, but it came out very clear.

Pardon my water spots and finger smudges: this is the first time I’ve tried to photograph glass and I didn’t put enough thought into preparing it.

Backstory, Continued

I managed to get it filled and on the table at dinnertime without drawing attention to it. We were a decent way through dinner when Beth was talking to me (as I took a slow drink from my glass) and she suddenly paused.

“What? Where did you get that? Did you buy it?”

When I stopped laughing (giggling?) I filled her in on how I’d spent my previous two evenings after she went to bed. All was worth it for the look on her face when she noticed what I had, and for an added bonus I’ve got a glass that won’t get mistaken for anyone else’s when we have company over (because seriously, who would choose the minivan glass?).

BEST OF ITALY, A CHOIR TRIP, DAY 3- FLORENCE

Today we got back on the bus and headed to Florence. It was a hot and sunny day with a slight breeze. When we arrived, we started the day with a walking tour of Florence.

As we walked into the city and saw the famous shops on the Ponte Vecchio bridge over the river Arno. After passing the bridge we made our way into Piazza della Signoria, which is famous for its sculptures, which include a copy of the David. Many of the sculptures were some sort of representation of the political powers of the day (Medici’s and the Republic). The square had the statue of Persesus with Medusa’s head, The Rape (properly translated to kidnapping) of the Sabine women, the Fount of Neptune and many others.

After looking around the area a little we went over to the Museo di Palazzo Vecchio where we saw rather odd carving on a block that looks like a doodle. We were told it was made by Michelangelo and was his version of a selfie.

After this we walked to the Cathedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore which is the 4th largest cathedral in the world and is madd of all local marble. The white marble represents the faith, the pink represents hope and the green represents charity. It was a truly stunning building. We also saw the Basilica Santa Niche which is holds the tomb of Michelangel and da Vinci.

After we finished the tour Joe and I broke away from the group and had an early Anniversary lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Every year we visit a different Hard Rock for a meal and to get a pin.

After a wonderful lunch we explored the city more and saw the famous shops and bought some street art from a painter named The Flying Painter, on Ponte Vecchio before heading back to prepare for the concert.

The concert went great and we enjoyed some delicious pizza for dinner before heading back to the hotel for the night.

BEST OF ITALY, A CHOIR TRIP DAY 2-CINQUE TERRE

Today we started pretty early. Breakfast started at 0630 and we were back on the bus by 0800 and headed toward Cinque Terre (five villages) where we had nice boat ride and a chance to swim in the Mediterranean Sea. People learned early on that I (Beth) am not a verbal person before I have had my coffee.

After a little bus ride, we got on a nice tour boat and started sailing along the Italian coastline. Cinque Terre is a beautiful area with five seaside villages which are centuries old and connected by hiking trails. The five villages are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. Riomaggiore is the first of the villages and is connected to Manarola by a walking path. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that they put a train line connecting the villages and the mainland. After that train was put in they also built a walkway between the villages. Before that everyone had to walk along the hilltops to get to the other villages and it would take all day.

The third village of Corniglia was built up on a rock and has very few house

One of the first architectural beauties we saw was St. Peter’s church on Porta Venere. While Porta Venere is not one of the five villages of Cinque Terra is is viewed as a bonus city and was only about 25 kilometers away from Riomaggiore. The church was built with white and black marble from the region and was stunning along the coast.

After we passed a few islands we stopped at the fourth village of Vernazza and stretched our legs and ate lunch at a cute Pizzeria. Of course we at some delicious Italian pizza before getting back on the boat and heading to Portovenere. We found the Ristorante Luca sign and had to take some pictures with the animals.

We got back on the boat and headed to Porto Venere where we got to go swimming in the Mediterranean. This is also one of the villages that the movie Luca was inspired from. They also had an awesome octopus water fountain.

I swam for a bit before going to find a cappuccino. (add picture of joe in water.

After our swim we got back on the boat and headed back to the bus. On the boat ride back we played a game of spoons and when we got closer to the first village we sang “He never failed me yet” for our tour guides.

That night we introduced Rachel to the wonderful world of Donor kebabs and I think she thoroughly enjoyed it!