If you want to level up your personalized gift giving, and have already gifted tumblers or mugs to friends and family, you might want to try something new by way of customized wine glasses.

You can give personalized wine glasses as stand alone gifts, or pair them with a good bottle of wine to glam up your gift giving. If you want to go a step further, add a charcuterie box for the perfect elegant gift.

You can decorate your  glasses whichever way you like.

You can combine images with letterings using a variety of vinyl colors and types. You can add glyphs to your letterings. Or even design your glasses with layers of different vinyl colors. The possibilities are endless.

Getting Started

For this project, you will need to prepare the following materials:
        

• Vinyl of choice
• Wine glasses
• Cutting machine
• Cutting mat
• Transfer tape or transfer paper
• Scraper tool or squeegee
• Weeding tool
• Rubbing Alcohol

Vinyl of Choice

1. Permanent  Vinyl

You can use a number of permanent adhesive vinyl types for this project depending on your design requirements. This type of vinyl is also used for car decals and wood projects.

Different types as follows:

1. Matte and Glossy

Matte and glossy vinyl come in a variety of single tone colors, and can range from pastel shades to bright neon colors.  

Image from Teckwrap Craft Instagram

2. Holographic Vinyl

Holographic vinyl comes in multicolored sheets for eye catching decals to your wine glass projects.

Holographic vinyl may look plain looking from a distance, but upon closer inspection you will see the change of color in the design. Usually the holographic effect is best seen when the design is viewed at an angle or when light casts on the vinyl.

Holographic Sparkle Rainbow Adhesive Vinyl Roll

3. Shimmer Vinyl

Shimmer vinyl are perfect for holiday themed projects, the shimmery tone gives a vibrant look to your customized project.

Image from Teckwrap Craft Instagram

4. Color Changing Vinyl

If you’d like to wow your gift recipient, use the color-changing vinyl in your customized wine glass projects.

At room temperature, the design in the glass will be opaque in color, but watch the color change when cold liquid is poured or when ice is added.

This vinyl comes in a number of color-changing shades. And you can use or layer different colors in your design so that when cold liquid is poured, a variety of vibrant colors will appear.

5. Christmas Plaid Vinyl

It definitely can’t get more Christmas-y than having these Christmas plaid design vinyl, or alternately called as buffalo plaid vinyl. Comes in festive red and green colors as well.

At a loss on what permanent vinyl to use? Fret no more. These vinyls come in affordable starter packs in an assortment of shades and materials so that you can try your hand in creating unique one of a kind gifts without breaking the bank or buying so many rolls of vinyls. The starter pack will help you decide what designs and colors you intend to use more frequently with your future projects.

2. Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV)

Sometimes you don’t have permanent vinyl on hand, and what you do have are excess heat transfer vinyls used for t shirts and other fabric projects.

You can put your HTV’s to good use and still create wonderful customized glasses. Just make sure that your glasses are the type that can withstand heat, such as borosilicate glass.

You also don’t need a heat press for the vinyl to stick, a small craft mini iron will do the trick.

You can use a heat gun after the sticky vinyl is in place to seal the vinyl. This process is similar to an iron on vinyl project done on fabrics. Try with the low setting first.

Here are some different typres of Heat Transfer Vinyl you can use for your wine glass project:

1. Snowflakes Pattern Heat Transfer Vinyl Roll

Add sparkle in your holiday gift giving tradition, use this Christmas themed HTV to your personalized Yuletide glasses.

2. Glitter Heat Transfer Vinyl

Similar to the permanent shimmer vinyl, the glitter heat transfer vinyl will surely liven up any project with its vibrant and shiny shades.

3. Flock Heat Transfer Vinyl

Flock heat transfer vinyl is a specialty HTV. It gives your customized project an embossed look and velvety feel giving your finished product an added dimension.

4. Holographic Heat Transfer Vinyl

If you want your glasses to stand out, holographic heat transfer vinyl can certainly do the trick, with a variety of color shades available and even unique holographic patterns.

Your glasses will probably merit a second look from anyone holding it just to see the change in colors.

Wine Glasses

For this project you are not limited to wine glasses per se, but you can start with dollar or craft store bought 20 ounce stemmed or stemless glasses.

Stemless glass and stemmed glass

Other types of glasses you can use for this project

• Martini glasses
• Champagne flutes
• Shot glasses

Most of these glasses are available for purchase at the dollar store or at your supermarket.

Pro tip: No need to buy expensive glasses, dollar store bought glasses can do the trick, up until you perfect this project, you just might ruin or break a number of glasses along the way.

Cutting Machine

Cutting machines are used to cut your artwork design according to your specifications to fit the design area of your project.

There are many different types of cutting machines, most popular are the Silhouette and Cricut brand. Both brands come in an assortment of models to suit your crafting requirements. 

For this project, you do not need a highly specialized cutting machine model, even the most basic cutting machine can do the trick, since the designs are small in dimension.

Pro tip: Cover your cutting machine with a protective cover when not in use. You can create one using a sewing machine or buy ready made covers. This will prevent dust and debris from entering the slots and spaces of the machine.

Cutting Mat

Most cutting machines come with an accompanying compatible cutting mat. This is where you will place your vinyl material to be loaded into the cutting machine.

Always put the vinyl on the cutting mat at a proper level.

Pro tip: Should your cutting mat lose its adhesion quality, simply clean with dishwashing soap and warm water.

Transfer tape or transfer paper

Transfer tape or paper is used to transfer the cut out vinyl design onto the wine glass, because you cannot stick the vinyl directly on to the glass.

Usually, the transfer tape or paper is cut according to size to cover the vinyl artwork design.

Pro tip: For this particular project, you may want to use transfer paper with grid to help you align the design on to the glass.

Scraper tool or squeegee

A squeegee is an important tool in any vinyl project since this is used to smoothen the sticker to the surface of the cutting mat, the transfer tape or glass. This process is more efficient than using your fingers. Also, the squeegee help remove air bubbles.

Pro tip: Invest on a good quality squeegee, since air bubbles are the bane of vinyl. A reliable squeegee easily does the trick of eliminating air bubbles.

Weeding tool

When using any type of vinyl, it is recommended to a have a weeding tool to efficiently weed your vinyl up to smallest of detail. The weeding tool can weed in between really small spaces and gaps in your design.

Pro tip: Invest on a high quality precise weeding tool. Half of vinyl related crafting is weeding. A bad weeding tool can damage your vinyl, and may cause you to redo you project all over again.

Rubbing Alcohol

For wine glass items, or any project that involves glass, it is best to have rubbing alcohol available. The alcohol is used to clean any dirt on its rounded surface. Rubbing alcohol may be an extra cost in your crafting journey, but a clean surface will spare you of any adhesion problems.

Pro tip: Do not skip this important step. Use alcohol everytime you clean a vinyl glass project. Using water simply will not cut it. The water may remove the dirt or grime, yes, but alcohol will help the vinyl stick better to the glass.

How to Apply Permanent Adhesive Vinyl

Beginner’s guide essentials:

• Ensure that your work area is clean and free from debris and clutter
• Make sure that your target surface area is clean and dry
• Make sure that your cutting machine is in good working condition
• Have your cutting and weeding tools available nearby

1. Prepare your design file

If you are using Cricut, you can draft your design using Cricut Design Space. If you are using Silhouette, you can draft your design using Sihouette Studio.

SVG files are good for use with a cutting machine. But if you don’t have any machine, you can still cut your designs by hand using printable PDF files.

For this wine glass project, regardless of two different types of cutting machines available, make sure that the design output is around 3 inches by 3 inches in size to fit the surface of the glass.

You can use the preinstalled fonts and images available in your cutiing machine design application. You can also purchase an upgrade at extra cost from Silhouette Designer Edition or buy additional fonts and images in Cricut Design Space.

If you want to make your fonts stand out and be more fancy, you can add glyphs. Glyphs are lines, symbols or characters to customize your existing pre-installed fonts. Glyphs are available in paid versions of Cricut Design Space and Silhouette Designer Edition.

Do weigh the pros and cons before investing on this add on feature, as you might not use the upgrade features often and with a little creativity you can create your own glyphs as well.

2. Cut the design

• Prepare your cutting mat
• Apply the chosen vinyl, shiny side up
• Burnish the adhesive vinyl with your squeegee
• Load your mat
• Select go to start cuting
• Unload mat
• Gently remove the mat from the vinyl

3. Weed and transfer your design

• With a weeding tool gently weed all the excess acrylic
• Pay close attention to spaces and gaps that need to be weeded
• Apply transfer tape on your weeded design
• Burnish with a scraping tool or squeegee

4. Assemble all materials

• Clean your glass surface with alcohol as this will help make the vinyl stick better
• Make sure all debris and unwanted prints are removed
• Fill half of the wine glass with tap water
• Cut some slits all around the design, be sure not to cut on the design
• Align the vinyl onto the glass using the waterline as a guide
• The slits will help the vinyl wrap itself smoothly around the rounded glass
• Remove the transfer tape
• Burnish with a squeegee

How to Apply Heat Transfer Vinyl

Repeat procedures 1, 2 and 3 from how to apply permanent vinyl instructions stated above.

Assemble all materials for your project

• Clean your glass with alcohol as this will help make the vinyl stick better
• Make sure all debris and unwanted prints are removed
• Cut some slits all around the  design, be sure not to cut on the design
• Stick your design on to the glass and secure with a tape on both sides
• With a mini iron, press on the design gently, and continue ironing the design until it adheres to the glass
• Remove the transfer tape and continue to iron your design for a few more minutes
• If you have a heat gun, you can use a heat gun to seal the vinyl. Always exercise caution when using a heat gun.

Other uses of customized wine glasses

Festive Decor

You can use them as festive holiday decor. Simply put a battery operated tea light or a mini led copper string light inside each glass and use them to decorate your dinner table, or place them on your shelves, counter top tables and on your coffee table.

You can also paint on your glass to add some pizzazz on top of your vinyl design. Just make sure you allow the paint to dry thoroughly.

Party Favors

You can use your customized glasses and fill them with sweet treats or line the rim of the glass with small candy canes. Use it at home for guests and parties. Or wrap them and give them as holiday gifts to your friends with a sweet tooth.

Wine Gift Bags

With a sewing machine, you can sew personalized fabric wine gift bags to go along with your glasses.

How to sew wine gift bags?

Materials:

• Sewing machine
• 12 x 16 white canvas cloth
• Thread
• Ribbon
• Pins
• Mini iron or heat press
• Iron on HTV design

1. You can prepare your iron on HTV design using the how to apply heat transfer vinyl instructions above.
2. With your sewing machine, follow the instructions on How to Sew a Wine Bottle Gift Bag to create your bags.
3. Apply the iron on vinyl  to your wine bags.
4. Secure your design with a heat press or mini iron.
5. Repeat steps 4 & 5 should you be adding more vinyl images.

FAQs

Are these glasses dishwasher safe?

No, best to hand wash them. Putting them in a dishwasher might affect the adhesion of the vinyl.

How do you keep your glasses from moving when applying the vinyl?

You can set the glass on top of a roll of duct tape, or an eye glass hard case to prevent in from moving or rolling. Make sure that the roll of tape or the eye glass hard case is placed on a level surface.

Will the designs last?

For as long as the items are hand washed, the designs will last a long time.

Stemless or stem glasses will it really matter?

Go for availability. Buy whatever is available at the dollar store. Even without the stems, stemless glasses can be easily recognized as wine glasses. But if you are planning to pair your customized glasses with a bottle of wine, stemless glasses will do well with red wine, than with white wine, which requires more chilling.  

Remember, when holding a stemless glass, your hand warms the wine, changing the ideal temperature of the wine. You can however put the stemless glass down when you are not drinking, minimizing contact with the warm hands.

Best Tips:

There is no best vinyl for this project. Any vinyl you have on hand will certainly do the trick, as permanent and HTV will adhere to glass. You can use the same procedure in creating customized ceramic coffee mugs, beer can glasses, etc.

Permanent types of vinyl are typically used for car decals and wood designs, whereas heat transfer vinyl is usually used on fabric.

If you plan on making a serious hobby of vinyl-related projects, best to invest in a high-quality tool kit. Each tool kits comes with 3 cutting mats, a squeegee, a weeding pen and a tweezer. Quality cutting mats make sure that the vinyl adheres to the mat and will not dislodge the vinyl during the cutting process.

A good squeegee is gentle on the hands at the same time effective in removing air bubbles from projects. A high-quality tweezer makes for precise weeding every single time. And a weeding pen ensures that even the tiniest vinyls are lifted and removed.

Don’t throw small scrap vinyl, you can use them for other projects that may require smaller designs and letterings. A small vinyl, for as long as it adheres to the cutting mat and follows the machines registration mark, will still be useful. You can also use scrap vinyl for small hand cut images.

And lastly,  as a general rule, and to keep these beautiful customized glasses for posterity, always hand wash these items. Putting them in the dishwasher will only damage the vinyl.

The journey to endless vinyl projects is long and exciting, albeit, with a few hiccups along the way. Many a vinyl may be wasted, but that is part of the experience.

Navigate your way through the many many tutorials online, join online crafting communities, be inspired by the multitude vinyl projects available, scour websites that cater your crafting interest.

You will definitely not run out of ideas and inspiration.

May this article inspire you to try something new, as an item you can use for yourself, or something that you can give as a gift.

With vinyl, the possibilities are endless!

Happy crafting everyone!