The Acid Etching Process
Acid etching is a long process, but I've gotten the process down to a science over the years. To start, the piece of metal I'm working on is covered in a resist. After the resist dries, I lay out the words or the design and then "write" into the resist using a scribe. The scribe clears away the resist where I write, so the silver shows through (remember making crayon scratchings when you were little?). When the design is finished, the piece is immersed in an acid bath for many hours until the acid has eaten away at the exposed silver enough to make a nice, deep impression. The resist is then removed and the piece is sanded, formed (if needed) and finished. It is fun, fun, fun and allows for infinite design possibilities!!!