I never thought I would do anything with metal etching. Well, never say "never", right? Thanks to Meredith Arnold, I wanted to try etching.
I had everything I needed to start: metal (copper and nickel silver) disks, PCB Enchant (ferric chloride), Staz-On ink with rubber stamps, black ultra-fine Sharpie, washing soda, gloves...
First, I started with copper disks. I bought a small stamp with butterfly at Michaels (on sale for $2.00) and a leaf stamp for $1.00. I used to make scrap-booking cards and books. What could be easier to make a nice stamp? Hah! Paper and metal "behave" differently. If it was easy to make a leaf stamp, but my butterfly wanted to "fly" away and smear the print... I had to re-stamp it 3-4 times, I think. But I am happy with the results. 
Well, I was happy with copper, but not satisfied with nickel silver disks :( Initially, both metals, copper and nickel silver, were shiny...
After etching, copper came out shiny, but NS etched part was dull even after polishing with Euro-Shine and polishing cloth. Maybe I need something else to polish them...or just give them to my daughter to play with :)
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| Left butterfly is two-toned (is it copper showing up?) |
8 comments:
wow, copper ones really DID come out great!
Good idea, very beautiful!
Beautiful results for your first try!
Albina, did you use the same bath for both metals at the same time? It's best to etch different metals separately and keep the solution you use for each metal separate, too. Great results!
Personally, I prefer the nickel silver ones - they would suit my personal style more, and they would be the earrings I would buy if I had the option of both. I like that the design is shiny while the rest isn't. So don't give them to your daughter to play with, they're gorgeous!
These are wonderful. I wish you would have put a step by step tutorial for us.
Hello, I love reading through your blog, I wanted to leave a little comment to support you and wish you a good continuation. Wish you best of luck for all your best efforts. copper wire, copper wire manufacturers.
great work, love both designs
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