Sunday 12 June 2011

Vat of Acid

A vat of acid is my new favourite toy :) Technically it's a small plastic tub rather than a vat, and the acid is ferric chloride, which is pretty mild but it sounds suitably cool so I will continue referring to it as a vat of acid.

I've been etching copper. Which is suprisingly addictive. And the number of potential ways to finish it grows every time I think about it. Here's a few pictures - all etched copper, some oxidised, some painted with alcohol ink (and layered with resin although the resin pictures aren't great - these are all snaps-in-progress which tend to not be great photography!)

Oxidised and polished

Single colour alcohol ink with resin glaze

Oxidised with Liver of Sulpher and polished
Heavily oxidised with Platinol which gives a fabulous gunmetal finish

Coloured with multiple colours of alcohol ink and resined (below is before resining)



I'm really happy with the effects I'm getting, and have more techniques still to try - specifically I want to try colour patinas (have the neccessary stuff here, just need time! and I want to try blowtorching etched pieces.
Obviously the above need holes drilled into them before I can make them into actual wearable jewellery but give me time!

It's been a while since my last update and will probably be a while until my next - sadly hubby is working 200 miles away this month (usually he works from home so I'm kinda used to his constant presence!). This means I have very little playing time this month - he usually does the lion's share of kids and daily chores whereas this month I get them on top of my job. So I forsee very little playing / blogging / fun stuff before the end of June!

Take care and have fun!