You Have Just Been Poisoned

By Sean Michael Ragan
Time Required: 45 minutes

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Fans of Patrick McGoohan’s classic BBC spy series The Prisoner will recognize this gimmick from Episode 15, “The Girl Who Was Death.” This is a pint glass with words etched on the bottom (in authentic “Village” font) that appear line by line as the liquid is imbibed.

Update: Got lots of folks asking to buy these, and I finally managed to get a couple dozen made and posted in my Etsy shop. Thanks for all your positive comments.

Update 2: Etchworld has started carrying these stencils in their online catalog, so those of you who want to DIY should now have a much easier time sourcing the vinyl. Thanks, folks!

December 18, 2012, 10:43 pm PST

Parts
/
Tools

Tools

Brush or other applicator for etching cream. It should have no metal, glass, or ceramic parts.
Etching cream such as Armour Etch
Exacto Knife
Gloves
Paper Towel
Razor blade
Rubbing Alcohol
Sink
Sponge

Steps

Step #1: Clean bottom of glass

NextPrev

Moisten a paper towel with rubbing alcohol and wipe the bottom of the glass squeaky clean.

Conclusion

The stencil I used was laser cut from adhesive-backed vinyl with a transparent "carrier" sheet that makes it easy to apply the entire stencil, "islands" and all, at once. I ordered four of them from Etchworld for $1.76 apiece.

The stencil art is attached to this project as a .PDF file. You can also download it as an .AI, .SVG, or .DXF file from Thingiverse.

You can, of course, make your own stencil design. For it to read correctly from inside the glass, it needs to be reversed left-to-right. The reproduction "Village" font I used is freely available here.

Sean Michael Ragan

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

40 Responses to You Have Just Been Poisoned

Sean Michael Ragan on June 17th, 2011 at 11:12 pm said:

Use a mug instead of a glass! And then orient the text based on whether you think the mug is more likely to be used by a right- or left-handed drinker. =]
Sean Michael Ragan on June 22nd, 2011 at 10:41 pm said:

Yes it does. As pointed out in Step 5. But probably worth emphasizing.
NMF on June 24th, 2011 at 10:48 pm said:

Especially since those nitrile gloves provide no protection to acids. HF is scary stuff- it won’t burn your skin- it seeps painlessly into your tissue and seeks Ca- that is your bones- and dissolves it. Best get real acid gloves if you’re screwing around with HF.
Sean Michael Ragan on August 5th, 2011 at 4:20 pm said:

I did finally managed to make a run of these and get them listed in my Etsy store, if anyone wants to buy. Thanks for your interest. Sorry about the busted Etchworld link.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/76104876/you-have-just-been-poisoned
Sean Michael Ragan on May 24th, 2012 at 2:21 am said:

The claim that “nitrile gloves provide no protection to acids” is unsupported by any evidence that I can find, and, frankly, makes little sense to me. They exclude water, they exclude acid.
Sean Michael Ragan on June 13th, 2012 at 6:18 am said:

Those are cool! If you want to use my vector art, which is authentic to the show styling, you can download it at the link below, and should feel free to do so. Sell it or whatever, I don’t care, though I suppose it’s possible the BBC actually has some rights in this that I am not empowered to convey. But you won’t get any grief from me, though you might link to this guide if you are feeling generous.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:9384
Ryan Byrne on August 20th, 2012 at 10:15 pm said:

Nitrile gloves are impervious to hydrofluoric acid in liquid form, although vapourised acids may penetrate thin layer gloves with sufficient exposure. A respirator should be worn.
Source: Research pharmacist. Provided link to MSDS for HF, Section 8 provides the relevant safety information;
http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9924296
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