Custom Made Glitter Wine Glasses Using Cricut

If you are interested in starting a small business from home the Cricut Vinyl cutter is a great investment.  There are so many uses for this machine it is incredible.  The first project I tried was these novelty glitter wine glasses. They were so easy to do and are very popular, so you will not have a problem selling them.  I did some research on which vinyl cutter to buy, and it came down to two machines. 

The Cricut Explore Air 2 and the Silhouette Cameo while both machines are great the Cricut Explore Air 2 was more suited to my needs.  Many of these vinyl cutting machines require cartridges and monthly subscriptions to use, and Cricut Explore Air 2 can be used either way.  

Custom Made Glitter Wine Glasses Using Cricut

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Find suitable wine glasses

I started using any size wine glass, but soon figured out big is better. The glass that I found the most suitable were 340 ml and bigger.  The reason for this is you have a larger area to work with so you can use a larger font, which is more effective. Using the smaller glasses, I found I got more creases in my vinyl.  There are so many different styles on the market at the moment the stemless wine glasses are very popular so included them in your range.  

Prepare the surface

Make sure you buy the dishwasher safe Mod Podge. The first questions asked by my customers was “are the dishwasher safe”.  Customers seemed to be put off a bit when they have to wash them by hand.  The only downside to using dishwasher safe Mod Podge is that it takes 28 days to cure.

To start, add some masking tape around the stems so that you can get a nice clean edge where the glitter ends.  I have seen some of these novelty wine glasses that are taped only halfway down the stem.  This way is easier to do, but my personal choice is to do the whole stem.  You can put a bag over the wine glass to protect the surface getting fingerprints. all over them. This just helps keep the wine glasses looking like new.

Use a soft brush to add the Mod Podge to the wine glass.  I have found the brushes that work best are makeup brushes, am sure all you ladies out there have them lying around in makeup drawers not knowing what to do with them.

Add the glitter

Add a thin layer of the Mod Podge to the wine glass, don’t be tempted to do one thick coat. It works better if you build up the layers, the end surface is smoother.  It is also easier to see where you have missed adding the glitter.   Protect your surface with newspaper (nothing worse than having glitter everywhere).  A plastic container works well to catch the excess glitter, simply hold the glass over the plastic container and pour over the glitter.  I would highly recommend using fine glitter for this project.  Regular glitter can feel too rough on the hands even when sealed.  Leave glass to dry 1 to 2 hours between coats.

Two coats work great with the fine glitter, excess glitter can be put back into a storage tub ready for your next project.  You might think it would work better to put the finished wine glasses in the sun to dry, but this is not the case.  I put mine on a bedroom windowsill to dry but it faded all the glitter and it looked all washed out.  After 2 hours use a soft brush and dust off all the excess glitter.  Add two more coats of Mod Podge to make them dishwasher safe.  Even though I taped up the glasses the very top was still a little uneven, you can use a craft knife to remove any rogue glitter.

Design your decals

The great thing about this project using the Cricut Explore Air 2 is you don’t need to be talented or creative because you are just using fonts.  There are many websites that sell fonts, but you can get free fonts to use from Dafont or 1001 fonts.  But make sure you check the description first, not all fonts are free for commercial use. In design space type up what you want to have on your glass and select your font.   If you want to add a graphics there are many websites that offer free SVG cut files and graphics that can be converted into SVG cut file using Inkspace.  For wine glasses, I keep my decal size to 3inches length by 2 inches deep that is a good size for the 560ml wine glasses.

I tried a few different types of vinyl for this project and found Oracle 651 was far superior to Cricut and Silhouettes vinyl.  

Put the vinyl on the cutting mat and push the “make it “button in design space.

Weed the vinyl

Once the designs are all cut, using a Cricut weeding tool or a craft knife to remove the excess vinyl leaving you with just the text you will be transferring.  To transfer the image, I personally have found that the cheaper brands of transfer film work best. Alternatively, you can use a piece of tape that has been used a few times and is not so sticky.  A new piece of Cricut transfer tape seemed too sticky and I had trouble at times getting the vinyl to transfer.

Prep the wine glasses

To transfer the image to your glass you need to prep your glass first. Clean the glass with Isocol or something similar to remove any residue on the glass.  Use a hairdryer or heat gun to heat up the surface of the wine glass first, this helps the vinyl transfer easier.

Place the transfer film on the wine glass and rub the text using a felted scraper or Cricut scraper tool to remove any bubbles in the vinyl.  Adding the words to a curved surface can be tricky. You can cut some slits into the transfer tape, which will make it easier to transfer.  Remove the transfer film by starting at the top corner and pulling it down on itself.

And that is the novelty glitter wine glasses done.  You can order boxes for the wine glasses to sell them but that will chew into your profits.  A cheap option is to use clear cellophane with a rubber band or ribbon.  If you are giving it as a gift, you can even fill the wine glasses with chocolates.

Here are some of the novelty wine glasses I made, but you can put anything on them.

More Cricut Ideas

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Novelty doormats

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