Glass etching

Hiya

Inspired by the necklace in Show & Tell I am intrigued about etching my glass beads, what do you guys use/how do you do it?

B xx

Etch all from Tufnells. It's an acid solution - you plonk your beads in either by stringing them on an old bit of cotton or something or by using a wee pot. When you're done you take the beads out (return the acid to the pot) - I have a plastic tea strainer for this - and then neutralise in a solution of sodium bicarbonate.

Again, I think there's a thread on frit happens about all the different ways people do it - there's also some scare mongering about the solution but its quite safe and not the stuff they are referring to.

Hey Tinker

Thank you, I shall pruchase etchall! Just looked at Tuffnell, they have large one which is V expensive and a smaller one at half the price. Would you recommend the smaller or is it worth investing in the larger bottle?

With regards to the sodium bicarbonate.... how do you do that formulae? (Showing my ignorance here!!)

B xx

I have the small bottle, I dip mine in the bottle hung on wire or nylon.

With the bicarbonate I'm not sure on the proportions I tend to use 1 part bicarb to 2 parts water. Leave the beads in the bicarb solution until they stop fizzing, then wash in soapy water. I slways use gloves when using the etchant.

Nail varnish is good to cover parts so they don't etch and it just peels off afterwards.

Thank you Cornish, I have purchased the small one.... silly question (another one!) if you put a wire or nylon around the bead to hold it, does the part covered by the wire/nylon still etch?

It seems to etch fine

Great! Can't wait to receive my bottle to try it out!

I have the bottle that cost about £20, I assume that's the small one. I can't quite get my head around using nylon - I use a piece of thick cotton and put a knot in-between each bead. Obviously then the cotton needs to go in the bicarbonate solution too. I just put in a teaspoon, the container is about yoghurt pot sized. I also find the bicarbonate solution great for getting stubborn beads off mandrels.

Annealing will make the surface shiny again so unless you're desperate to have a play you need to wait till they come back. Don't etch beads that you have reduced as it will take off the shine and in some cases just render the bead 'normal' although copper green etched is delicious. Worth a play. Think thats all I can tell you, if I remember anything else I'll come back.

Ooh yeah - it says on the bottle to leave beads in the solution for 3 minutes. It won't harm them to leave them in for longer and in he case of some glasses you definitely need to.

Also you won't see what the finished product is until you've dried it all off with a paper towel.

I don't string my beads at all, I pour my etchall into an old takeaway container and dump the beads straight in so I can see what's going on. Plastic tweezers to turn them, check them and then lift them out and put into another container with bicarb solution (1tbs to a cup of water).

Then I strain the etchall back into its container through an old plastic tea strainer.

The liquid will change colour over time - ending up the colour of old cola. Don't worry - it will still work for quite a long time even at this stage. When it starts taking half an hour to etch a basic bead, you know it's time for a new pot!