Listen to the road


Friday, September 21, 2012

Flowers and etching

Happy to be on the other side of summer. Mom gave up her car so I'm taking her out more. It's good
to be with her at dr appts. She's now using a cane for more stability. Lots of changes.

Our small, rural post office is kept clean and nice by Sandy. Flowers are her love and she fills
the rooms with them. Once she sensed I was having a rough patch and brought in a special pot of
purple silk flowers for me. I'm there almost every morning so she starts my day in a kind way.
She asked if I'd make her a brooch when she found out I'm making jewelry again and here's what
I came up with.
Not sure who to credit the newsprint petals with. I've seen them in several Belle Armoire Jewelry
articles. I fired the copper into fimo center then resin'd the words on as well as the stamp. Sewn onto
a fabric flower I made.

Also, on days I can stay home, I've been fooling around with etching copper and brass. A workshop
with my friend, Vernie , got me interested in this way of 'drawing' on metal. I've used Rio Grande's
Etching Mordant (stock #118-108 for copper, brass, aluminum) with good results. It only seems to
stay strong with one etching session. (I had to pay a hazardous shipping fee to get it via UPS).I like using it as I can etch brass and copper at the same time.
The second photo is one of the second batch I etched. Left them in for 4 hours and still didn't
completely do the job. It was raining that day even though the batches were covered and I may have
contributed to the results. You use a sharpie or perm. stamp pad ink for the resist. I'll probably
etch this again in a fresh solution by going over design with a sharpie again. This worked on another faint result.


At Verni's we used PCB Etchant Solution from Radio Shack (can't be mailed) Store (stock # 276-1535). Be sure to take the stock # to Radio Shack as the young man who helped me couldn't
find it at first. It's about 10 bucks for a 16 oz bottle.

From what I hear, only brass can be etched with this PCB stuff but the results were far
superior to my other try. Maybe because we had the expert with us.

This is a nasty process so think it out before you try it. Mainly, know where to safely dispose of the
worn out solution (harmful to the earth), wear rubber gloves, have eye protection and plenty
of baking soda to stop the etching process.

Just got a BIG box from Rio Grande so will be off the radar and not answering the phone today.


Friday, September 7, 2012

Tree frog haiku

The other night I noticed a tiny, green tree frog on the window as I closed up the house. In the
morning I saw he'd left a poem.
 Beautiful calligraphy. Wonder what it means.