If I have a fairly intricate pic/design to etch, is PnP the best way
to adhere this to the metal? What about silli paper?
Doing research online about etching, I am overwhelmed with
If I don’t use PnP, and I have a photo copy, how
do I adhere it to the metal to etch? It is too intricate for me to
hand draw on the metal directly.
thx, brenda
Brenda -
Do a search on the last 12 months’ archive for “PnP”, “etch”. I wrote
quite a long description of how I use PnP.
good luck,
Kelley Dragon
Dear Brenda,
I have not used silli paper so I cannot advise you there. But, PnP
is an excellent resist for very fine and delicate designs. PnP was
actually developed for etching electrical circuit boards which are
extremely fine designs.
Without using PnP I do not know of anyway to get the design on to
your metal in a resist from just a photocopy. Perhaps someone else
has that answer.
Best of luck,
Nanz Aalund
Hello Brenda,
In my website I have some new silver jewellery.
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/bf
They are not etched but pierced and cut. To be able to follow the
pattern I copy the design on a paper and I use normal paper glue to
glue it to the silver sheet. You can do the same. After that you can
trace the design on silver with a pointed tool. Ofcource if your
design too intracate to go over it you cannot do that I guess.
Kind regards,
F. Oya Borahan GG. FGA. DGA.
Without using PnP I do not know of anyway to get the design on to your metal in a resist from just a photocopy. Perhaps someone else has that answer.
Yes indeedy!
Photosopy your deign (or print it with a laser printer) onto an
acetate sheet-- these are sold at office supply stores, or a copy
place like Kinkos can do it for you. Make it as dense as you can.
Put a clothes iron upside-down in a vice so the platen is up. Set it
for cotton or a little above-- you may need to experiment a bit. The
temperature is right if a paper towel left on it about a minute
singes slightly to yellow.
Sand your metal, dust it off and hold it by the edges only, or
pre-etch it for one minute (for silver) then rinse and dry (this
helps hold the image on).
Put the cut-out section of the acetate with your image INK DOWN in
place on your metal, on a paper towel, and use the towel to lift it
onto the iron. Use a tool of your choice to hold everything in place
while you go over the image with a burnisher. When it is hot enough,
the lines become a bit blacker. Burnishing helps to transfer the ink,
but do it lightly, not hard.
When it looks good and black (but before the ink starts to spread
wider), lift it off by lifting the paper towel. I like to put it on a
steel surface to speed cooling.
Lift one corner of the acetate and see whether it transferred well.
If not, lay it back down, heat and burnish again. If so, there should
be very little ink left on the acetate, and a good, dark image on
your metal. You can touch up with extra-fine paint marker, and color
except black so you can see where you’ve worked.
Cover the back with tape, and etch! Been doing it this way for
years. I bought some PnP blue to try, and have never opened it.
Noel
If I don't use PnP, and I have a photo copy, how do I adhere it to the metal to etch?
Instead of PnP, you can use overhead transparency sheets made of
acetate (not polyester), e.g., “Apollo,” “3M PPM 2500,” “PP 2200.”
Make sure your copy machine has a carbon-based toner.
See
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/photocopy_transfer_etch.htm
and Katherine Palochak’s articles in Lapidary Journal, June and July
of 1998. See also the info on Sandra Noble Goss’ website. She uses
PnP, but has good advice.
Judy Bjorkman
Hello Neil and Ganoksin,
I have used the PnP Blue method of transfer/resists but had not
heard of the acetate method. I am interested in finding out more
about this. Does the ink itself transfer as well with the acetate
just like with the PnP Blue and when the acetate lifts off does the
ink remains behind resist being rubbed off when touched? Do I need to
be particularly careful of the ink I guess is what I am asking. And
does the ink transfer method hold up well in most of the common
etching solutions, particularly Ferric Chloride for Copper and Nitric
Acid for Sterling Silver? The PnP Blue leaves a surface that is
almost plastic-like, has some durability when handled and needs
removed with acetone when the etching is complete. What do you remove
the acetate applied toner ink with, would you still use acetone?
Also, Pnp is a little expensive. I have a toner copier and acetate is
much more common and easy to acquire, I would not have to use it so
sparingly and could easily afford to do more etching. This is
exciting!
Do I need to be particularly careful of the ink I guess is what I am asking. And does the ink transfer method hold up well in most of the common etching solutions, particularly Ferric Chloride for Copper and Nitric Acid for Sterling Silver? [snip] What do you remove the acetate applied toner ink with, would you still use acetone? Also, Pnp is a little expensive.
I think you meant “Noel”, not “Neil”…
In any case, the ink is the same ink, just like from PnP Blue, and
it’s reasonably tough.
It holds up great to ferric nitrate or ferric chloride, and will
work great for nitric acid, too, if you pre-etch the silver for 1
minute to give it a bit of “tooth” before transferring.
You can remove it with acetone, but I hate to use solvents if I
don’t have to, plus I touch up with paint marker, and that needs
paint thinner to remove. Lacquer thinner will remove both. BUT I
always just use 0000 steel wool. Much better!
Yes, this is a much cheaper method, and I’ve been using it for
years.
One final note-- if you etch copper with ferric chloride, toss a
little citric acid into your ferric chloride and you will get less
precipitate (sludge) and cleaner action. This does NOT improve ferric
nitrate!! Turns it a pretty purple, though…
Noel
I agree that PnP paper is probably the best way to make a transfer.
You want to make certain to print on a black & white laser copier and
that photos are printed in halftone. I have done this at Staples copy
center.
I have never heard of silli paper but would be interested in learning
what it is and how it works. I have had some success with acetone
transfer. Simply place a laser copy face down on clean metal and dab
with a cotton ball soaked in acetone or nail polish remover (just
don’t use the acetone-free type). It is a slightly less sharp image
but in my experiments it was minimally so. Here is a chart I made
about a month or so back when I was researching online sources for
Pnp. From what I can tell it is all produced or imported by Tecniks,
but you can get a better deal from other sources depending on the
quantity of sheets you wish to purchase. Each distributor offers a
range of quantities and shipping prices. Dipmicro seems to have its
own quantity system all together. It can get confusing and expensive
so to figure it all out I finally created an Excel spreadsheet to
help me.