[Jewelry making - Article 00916] - Re: [Orchid] Chemical etching of copper

[chelsea stone]

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    Hi Mike-You don't happen to be the Mike Honeycutt from Prescott, AZ
    do you? Anyhow, I do alot of copper etching and use PCB etch from
    Radio Shack.  It is ferric chloride for etching computer boards and
    costs around $4 a bottle.  For a resist I use paint pens which you
    can buy at craft stores like Michaels or Ben Franklin.  They are
    enamel based, not water based, and fairly thick in application. 
    First scuff your metal with sandpaper-I use 220, it keeps the paint
    from lifting when in the etch and if your resist is lifting I suspect
    it is because you are polishing the metal first and the paint does
    not have a surface to "key" into. Draw/paint with the pen (there are
    different tips, thin for thin lines, thick for covering large
    surface areas.)  I wait until it is almost but not completely dry, a
    minute or two, then scratch designs into the paint with a scribe or
    exacto. If I wait till the paint is too dry, I don't get crisp lines
    and the paint tends to fleck off.  If I dont' wait long enough, the
    paint is too wet and oozes into the lines I have just created with
    the scribe. Anyhow, its a fun and simple process.  Hope this info
    helps. Electrical tape as a resist also works... 

Chelsea Stone
Eye Candy Jewelry 
Prescott, AZ


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