@johnwills. Weren’t you going to sandblast some glasses? Perhaps you can help. I haven’t tried it yet, but was going to just use Oracal 651 outdoor vinyl. Do you think that would hold up for etching?
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Try cheap adhesive vinyl contact paper (for shelves) that you buy at the grocery store. I’ve cut a metric ton of it to use for masks and adhesion to various projects.
(Slight exaggeration.)
It’s really hard to do a tight mask on a curved surface though.
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I have had mixed results. I think my best results have been with a 6mil decal vinyl. I have some thicker 10mil vinyl but haven’t done much with it yet.
Others on the forum have had much better results with cutting sandblasting masks on Silhouettes.
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I have been looking and have found vinyl that has no adhesive that is 4mil thick, which as I have read can be used if the sand blaster pressure is kept below 30psi. I haven’t ever done it so I don’t know. Will a silhouette cut 4mil vinyl?
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It should. I have cut 6mil on my Silhouette Curio.
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You need adhesive vinyl though. That’s how you stick it to the glass, and you need something with a liner to cut it on the Silhouette.
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I’ve done a lot of glassware with Armour Etch cream. You don’t get a real deep etch, but it’s serviceable. You can definitely use plain sign vinyl like Oracal brand or even craft vinyl like Silhouette or Cricut.
Here’s a video on it if you consider that route. One caveat, if doing wine glasses, try to keep the design on the upper, less compound surface. A stencil is very tough to place on compound curves, no matter which etching method you use.
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Yes, @bill_laba is right about trying to avoid compound curves. Very tough to get the stencil to adhere well.
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Alright, my Cameo arrived today. Now that the kids are in bed I’ve set it up and cut a couple quick test things on some small pieces (3.5"x3.5") of card stock that my wife had lying around.
I can think of lots of stuff I’d like to do, but I don’t have the materials for any of it right now, so I’m just putzing around and seeing what I can cut in to the card stock and on to some regular printer paper for now. I should probably order some vinyl.
Any suggestions on tutorials or other resources to get going on this would be greatly appreciated.
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Lots of them on YouTube…just search Silhouette Tutorial or Cameo Tutorial.
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What she said. 
Look for whatever interests you first. You will want some vinyl and some Heat transfer vinyl for a variety of projects. eBay, or a place like http://www.crafterscornersupplies.com/itemdetail-color.php?sku=651-000-12&=&p=Crafters+Corner&c=Vinyl sells by the piece to get you started. eBay usually has variety packs available. Sometimes with free shipping. Don’t forget transfer tape to move designs from the backing paper to your final surface. Look for low to medium tack PAPER tape. You’ll then be able to use that to mask your own wood or other materials when you start to laser. Clear tapes often have vinyl components which are laser bad in all sorts of ways.
Oh, and remember to sleep when you start cruising through You Tube. There’s a lot out there, and you could look up and find it’s 5:00 AM. 
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Lots of cool stuff so far. Ordering a pack of vinyl for now. Tempted to get the heat transfer paper and the temporary tattoo paper for my son, but if I get those I’ll also need to get an inkjet printer, so I’m holding off for now.
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@bill_laba I would be careful using the Orocal 651 as a mask for sandblasting, it is not really made for that application. (i’m not saying it won’t work, but absolutely test it on some scrap first!)
Anchor, HartCo, and 3M all make products intended for blasting. The 30mil rubber stuff really takes a beating without deforming, and is easy to remove when you are done.
euro link for oracal 831 sandblast mask (i don’t see it for sale in the US)
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Thanks. I didn’t think it would hold up for heavy blasting and would definitely test on scrap glass first. When I get into it, I’ll look at some of your suggestions. Just have to be sure they would cut well with a Silhouette craft cutter.
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It is always worth asking for samples from any of those manufacturers. Worst case they say no, best case you get a sizeable sample roll.
I have not used those masking products on glass, only on wood (and I am not the one who was doing the actual blasting, that was subbed out. I just made the masks, applied them, and removed them again when they came back a week later).
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How well does the Print and Cut feature work on the Cameo? I bought it for my wife for Christmas so I haven’t been able to play around with it yet! I kind of feel bad though…it’s like 60%/40% one person’s gift than the other…perhaps I should buy some earrings!
I digress…the print and cut feature…does it line up pretty well?!
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Should be excellent. (I have the Silhouette SD.) It uses one of the best 3-Point Registration systems of the various cutters and has an optical eye.
Dead on.
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Great!!
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Very nice! 
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