[Jewelry making - Article 00868] - [Orchid] Chemical etching of copper

[Michael Honeycutt]

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    Hello again folks. I've been etching copper using a ferric chloride
    solution. I got the stuff in a kit that was designed for etching
    custom printed circuit boards. With practice, I am finally starting
    to have some successes but I'm also noticing some problems that seem
    to be fairly common. I think these may be related to the different
    resists I've tried. Let me explain what I'm doing and what I think
    is going wrong and I'd really like to hear from others with an
    assessment of my notions. 

    I'll start with resists. The kit suggested using a permanent felt
    tip marker ( I used a Sharpie). It seems that the ink does act as a
    resist but I've noticed that it is very difficult to get a good even
    coat with the ink. Variations in the ink coating result in
    "etch-through" giving me smudged looking results. To get the depth I
    want requires etches of 2-3 hours. I decided to try a laquer (
    common fingernail polish, somewhat thinned). This gives very good
    protection but presents problems of it's own. When I have to scratch
    a design through it, the final etch shows that there may have been
    some lifting of the laquer around the scratches. The mordant appears
    to be seeping under the resist around those lines giving an uneven
    etch and fuzzy line margins. I want clean, clear lines. 

    My assessment of the laquer is that it needs a better bite on the
    surface to prevent lifting. Perhaps I'm putting too fine a polish on
    it prior to resist application? Another consideration I've had is
    that perhaps the laquer is forming too hard of a coat causing it to
    lift like a sheet when I scratch through it. The ink resist seems
    too inconsistent. I've tried multiple coats but the solvent in the
    pen dissolves the previous layer causing smearing that eventually
    shows through on the etch. The ink doesn't seem too well suited to
    long etch times either. Would it help to go with a resist that has
    more "tack" to it? Maybe something like beeswax or a thinned rosin
    or tar? Any ideas would be appreciated. 

    A final question concerns the mordant. Are there other concoctions
    that might work better? I've looked into buying some nitric acid and
    constantly run into people who want to know if I'm trying to build a
    bomb. Lunatics. I just want to play with metal.              

Mike


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