Sandcarving Recycled Glass Block Crafts & Painting Them

We haven’t featured a subscriber in a while so I figured, it would be great to feature Cheryl Ball this week! After our post about using the permanent bakeable paint with this etching, she shared a few cool projects that were sandcarved and painted. She was nice enough to allow me to feature them on here so I hope it gives everyone some ideas.

DIY Glass Block Crafts

What I Like About Glass Block Etchings:

Great Decorative Item– she sandblast etched a design of an old fashion car, motorcycle and a classic truck.
Lit Glass Blocks– lights were placed inside to give off a cool blue look!
Combination of Etching & Paint– she etched the outside of the glass block and used permanent paint to highlight it more.
They’re Recycled Glass Blocks– this is a great idea itself. Since some people discard old blocks, you can upcycle these and turn them into cool projects.

A second block that was etched with a motorcycle.

Third block has an old fashioned car.

Cheryl provided the below details on these projects:

The first 3 are custom orders on recycled glass blocks. Sandcarved, then painted with Pebeo paint, then baked per instructions. The casserole dish and cups was also sandcarved and painted with Pebeo and baked.
I had to drill a hole in blocks with diamond drill. The little cup holder helps a lot (See below). Everyone says to use cold water when drilling glass. I found using warm water prevent both shards flaking off or cracks. Heat-drilling, then cold water causes cracks. I frost painted inside of blocks to give frosted effect. I strongly suggest using led string light because they do not get as hot as regular string lights. Use a regular oven to bake blocks; not a toaster oven. Toaster oven cools down quickly resulting in block cracking. These are my trial and errors used.
On baking the paint on the casserole dish- I turned it with the paint at top while baking so won’t stick to rack.
Also, it is very important to let these cool down in the oven over next 3-4 hrs. Will have good product.

On the left is some sort of holder she mentioned which helps guide the drill placement steady. On the right is the diamond hole saw which is usually used for glass, ceramic and tile.

Casserole Dish Etching

Below is the casserole dish she mentioned etching and coloring with a darker permanent paint which is provided in our paint kits.

Sandcarved Coffee Mugs & Painted

The below is another project she shared that was etched and painted with a firefighter logo. As many of you know, some of these type of mugs will expose the white ceramic color when sandblasting through the glaze enough. I am not sure if she blasted through them enough to see the white, but this makes a great idea to add paint on them regardless.

The reason I suggest adding a white paint to the exposed white ceramic is this will act as a sealant and prevent it from getting stained. I know many folks have asked about what to seal sandcarved ceramic with and this paint would be perfect for it!

About the Paint

It is baked on for a permanent finish. It is one of the most well bonded paints I have ever used.
It is dishwasher safe, food grade safe and microwave safe.
It is non-toxic to work with and low odor.

We also now offer these Pebeo paints with a marker kit! Now you don’t have to deal with brushes or cleaning them. The markers are more convenient- just pop off the cap and get to work! I am a big fan of these markers also, but they are more idea for smaller projects since the tip is like a sharpie marker.

You can see the 10 pack of our Pebeo paints or the paint markers on Amazon here.