Hi y'all!

I had to share my etching project that I tried tonight. I've been toying with the idea of using original art in my designs and put that to the test with this experiment. Metal etching is the perfect medium for what I envisioned.

I started with a sketch of Peter Capaldi's first photograph after he was announced as the Twelfth Doctor this summer.

This is a pencil sketch, so I ran it though some Photoshop filters to beef up the lines and contrast, reversed, inverted and printed on acetate for the transfer to metal. The transfer is still the most difficult part - I'm not sure if it's the materials I'm using or my extreme lack of patience for how long it takes. I suspect it's a little of both. After eight tries and a LOT of swearing, I got a decent transfer. After a little acid bath, I got this:

How cool is that???? I'm so psyched that this turned out. There are some flaws - his thumb is messed up and I can see how important a clean print is (those vertical streaks are from my photocopy image), but it's so gratifying to see a piece that I can truly say is my original. I can't wait to see where this takes me and I'm going to have loads of fun on the journey.