Thursday, September 8, 2011

Etching Nickel Silver

I decided to use some nickel silver I have on hand for the back of the "magic" necklace.  I etched it with a cool stamp I have.  It will be trimmed so that the eye is the focus.  It has a mysterious somewhat occult feel to it that will go well with the theme of magic as illusion. 



etched nickel silver

I also etched a couple of other pieces. The longhorn and the winged heart will probably go on cuffs. 


etched nickel silver



This is the first time I have etched nickel silver.  I removed the pieces after only 45 minutes because the StazOn ink was coming off the longhorn.  Usually that doesn't happen quite so quickly.  The ferric chloride was fresh but the etch wasn't as deep as what I usually get with the copper and brass.  I don't know if nickel silver is harder to etch or if there was a problem with the ferric chloride.  My last ferric chloride etched very well, but when I opened it up tonight there was a metallic gray/blue crystalline stuff floating on the surface.  It was like a very thin sheet of some sort of crystal.  This is the first time I've seen that. Later when I have some time I'll pour it through a filter and see if it still etches after the crystalline stuff is removed.



etched nickel silver


6 comments:

Beadbug said...

Nickle Silver is extremely hard you could try using an acrylic paint as a resist it seems to stay on better then you could get a deeper etch. I think these look great just the way they are.

Leslie Todd said...

Thanks, Tracy. I'll try the acrylic next time. I wish I could get the Sharpie paint pen with stamps. Nothing eats through the paint pen!

ziggy stardust said...

These are very cool!!! I am looking for a metalsmithing class in Houston, have any ideas where to go? Are you going to Adorn Me next year? I saw all your work done there, it is amazing. I feel the classes are not as great this year. What do you think???

xoxo
Ziggy

ziggy stardust said...

I forgot to ask... I noticed a lot of your badges on the sidebar, a lot of the classes I wanted or want to take... like Stephanie Lee and Deryn Mentock, I am always skeptical about taking classes online. Did you learn a lot in those classes??? Thanks for all you input!! Have a lovely week!

Leslie Todd said...

Thanks, Ziggy. The only classes I know of personally in Houston are the Adorn Me classes. You might check with the Texas Art Asylum. They are on Facebook and the web. I think David Pilgrim teaches some classes there. I've not taken any of his classes but I've seen some awesome mixed media art work that he has done. You might check Diane Cook's blog too, Rosie and Josie. I think she might teach some classes in the area.

The online class are very good. You just have to have the discipline to do them. I really enjoyed the ones I took.

Silver Jewelry Jaipur said...

this is just great i like this art to much so nice