hello Helen
haven’t seen you around in a while- seems like your skills are
growing extensively! Yipee…
Anyway- etching a ring shank, right? Why not just engrave it if it’s
a simple design. not much detail. otherwise, provided you aren’t into
the quite messy proposition of using asphaltum, or even gum arabic or
just a plain old titanium white watercolour block (my preference for
’not much detail’) (works well, less messy than asphaltum and far less
’toxic’ scented…) you could painstakingly cut out thin contact
paper or any adhesive/psa material. You could use a heat gun, or the
blower attachment/heat concentrator on a butane torch to get it to
adhere to the shank but, i like using gravers for small stuff. that
said, etching small stuff is a bit trickier than larger work because
of the tack iron. the tip (pointed end) is harder to get into tight
spaces so small cut-outs aren’t easy with any PSA material. there are
a couple of products out there that are an alternative to any above:
One, is called called “Masque Pen” once dried it works good enough
and has a needle thin applicator tip (just pre-warm the emulsion in
hot water to make it fluid enough for your purposes as if it’s
cold-ish in your studio the stuff may be too thick to extrude easily.
Then there’s another old favourite- Ulano brand’s Amber or Ruby lith
pens. much like a marker tip (chisel or point styles are available)
they put down a nice layer of stuff 9 intended for the screen
printing /printmaking industry originally).One pen will last perhaps
100 lightly detailed rings, cuff links, etc. it comes off easily with
methylated spirits.
Any of the Ulano products work great for etching various metals and
outperforms sharpies, nail enamel, PSA cut outs, etc. Just keep em
tightly capped when not in use. rer…good luck
