Resists for etching silver

Hello everyone! I have just started etching my designs into 18 ga.
silver discs, and I am having some trouble with resists. I am using
a paint pen, and the pen is flaking into the ferric nitrate and the
etchant is pitting parts of my silver and etching through parts of
my design.

If you have any suggestions as to what to change or consider, any
assistance would be most appreciated.

Thanks very much-
Dani

Dani, In my experience, paint pen will always pit. You can strengthen
it a little by etching your silver for one minute before you add
any resist. This seems to open up the structure of the silver and
give any resist more durability. Clean the silver and pat dry, don’t
touch or abrade the etched surface.

If you do a dry toner transfer method, either ironing on an image
that has been laser-printed or photocopied onto acetate, or PnP
Blue, going over it with paint pen will give a strong resist. I iron
on, myself. (For details, check the archive). My very crispest
images are from ironing on an image, then very carefully aligning an
identicle one with the first, and ironing that on.

Good luck!
–Noel

The BEST resist pen I have found so far is the Staedler red
permanent ink pen. I got this tip from Sandra Goss who uses it in
her etching. Doesn’t matter if it is ferric nitrate on silver, or
ferric chloride with copper or brass.

The photocopy resist works very well, if you keep the metal clean,
and apply a 3 alcohol to 1 water mix. Denatured is the best. If
your toner runs, alter the proportion until it stops. Keep the
metal a little wet when you apply your transparency film and
squeegee out the excess. This sucks the film right onto the metal
and you get much better results. If you get little “blooms” or
clear spots, touch this up with your pen.

Good luck!
-k

 I am using a paint pen, and the pen is flaking into the ferric
nitrate and the etchant is pitting parts of my silver and etching
through parts of my design. 

Dani, I have no experience with a paint pen but have good success
using Bituminous Paint as a resist. Paint the whole surface and
scratch out the design or paint the design on … either works
quite well. You can get Bituminous Paint in hardware stores in
Australia, used for painting on pruned tree branches (among other
things I think).

I use a cocky feather to brush away the bubbles as they form. Hope
this is of use.

Renate, from Adelaide, Australia where the cockys are wreaking havoc
on the ripening walnuts.