DIY Christmas Presents

We decided to do some crafty, homemade presents for my girlfriend’s family for Christmas. Having recently moved to Portland, we wanted to make a present that had a feel of our new digs. What we came up with was very hip mason jar with stuffed candy and treats. We would spice up the jars by getting crafty and etching everyone’s favorite bird into the glass jar.

We created vinyl bird silhouettes stencils to etch the patterns into the side of the mason jars. My girlfriend created the artwork in Illustrator and I cut the stencils on a vinyl cutter I had access to at a workshop I use. We would use a chemical etching solution to create a frosted pattern in the clear glass.

Here Come the Birds

Step one was finding out everyone’s favorite bird. We didn’t even think most people would have an answer, but some of the responses had clearly been thought about for a while. For example one cousin’s choice was the titanis walleri, and his fiance’s was a shoebill stork. After a few days we had a list of birds to work with.

Continue reading Adventures in Vinyl (aka “Put a Bird On It!”) →