It's the gap. Work. Work. Work.
The Twelfth Doctor Etching
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.
Etching
Hi y'all!
I finally tried etching and I'm hooked. I've been researching on the internet for a while on how to do it so I gathered the materials together and took the acid bath plunge! It takes several steps and you have to be clean and meticulous on the prep, but the payoffs are fabulous. Wanna see? Hee hee, here we go!
It starts with some brass blanks. The ones pictured are dirty and grimy, but polished up like bright, new pennies with a little steel wool
The next step was to find designs to etch. I tried three different types to test how each would work. The dark bits of the image act as a resist to the etching solution, so the brass parts exposed will be slightly eaten away leaving a raised image.
The three techniques used were freehand doodles drawn with a Sharpee, a stamp using a specific ink that works as a good resist (StazOn Ink) and photocopied image transfer. I was a bit anxious on the photocopy ones as my images weren't the best. I'll try a different heat technique and hopefully will have a better result. Some helpful tutorials and details on how to do this can be found here, here and here.
Now comes the fun! After making little tape hammocks to suspend the brass disks, I poured Ferric Chloride (Science!) into the tub and gave the pieces a little acid bath.
I was intending to take pictures of the next steps, but acid, rubber gloves, baking soda and water baths is a messy business. Picking up a camera in the middle of all that wasn't in the cards. But after neutralizing the acid and a little scrubbing, LOOK!
For my first try, I was psyched how they came out. I was especially happy about the photocopy transfer. Now that I know how it works, I'm planning a lot more fun stuff to use as images. Check out the cool effect on the TARDIS (bottom right). That edge is totally done by the acid! Cool, huh?
A little antiquing and Voila! Etched brass components ready to be turned into something wonderful.
I'll keep you posted on the new projects bouncing around in my head. I have one portrait etching I'm ready to tackle and will show my results. Stay tuned!