Months ago, two kind souls in our Faux Bead Society showed us how to etch on copper.  I enjoyed the experience, but was involved in learning other things and didn’t do any further etching. Then, last month, a nice friend in the group brought me some mordant, the solution used to eat away the copper in the etching process. I brought it home and couldn’t leave it alone. I was itching to etch.

I’d been trying to develop a new cuff bracelet and the etching seemed a good option to try. The first bracelet, not pictures, was done on 20 gauge copper and although it turned out fine, it was extremely difficult to cut that gauge copper sheet by hand. Layering the metals seemed to be the answer. Initially, I tried to solder the two metals together after etching the top, but was not very successful. Therefore, the layers of the three bracelets pictured first are held together with cold connections (rivets). 

The next day I worked on another set of bracelets and was determined to get them to solder. My stubbornness paid off and these held much better. I also put rivets in each end of these bracelets.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following the soldering and riveting, these bracelets spent about three hours in the tumbler to both clean and work harden them. The soldering process also annealed the metal and the bracelets were very soft prior to being tumbled. Now they retain their shape.

Etching was very messy and I was pleased to finish the bracelets and several other pieces today so I could put away the etching supplies. I guess you could say that the itch has been scratched for now. I shall see what my customers say about these pieces before I decide whether or not to get messy again. What do you think?