Etching Silver

I have been interested in the idea of etching silver for a couple of years now and finally this week I actually did it. So for anyone interested in the technique here's how I went about it, bearing in mind that at this stage I have etched exactly four pieces of silver!

My experience with etching has been limited to etching copper and brass with Ferric Chloride. The chemical that I was interested in using on silver is Ferric Nitrate. The traditional chemical to etch silver has been nitric acid but Ferric Nitrate is safer to use and I have read that it gives a cleaner etch. First I had to source the Ferric Nitrate, with the help of google and a couple of emails to artists I found online I quickly had a source in British Columbia - xenexlabs .com. Surprisingly they shipped it to me through the regular mail, it was $78 for 500g, plus tax and shipping. The chemical comes as greyish-mauve crystals.

I contacted Ontario jeweller and metalsmith Sandra Noble Goss for some notes on dilution strength which she kindly emailed me back right away. It appears that you can alter the dilution of the crystals depending on how long you are prepared to wait for the metal to etch. Since I had bought 500g I decided to make up half of that and keep the rest of the crystals for another batch later on. I used a small tupperware container which 350ml of water filled nicely. I added my 250g Ferric Nitrate crystals to the water and stirred until they were dissolved - I used warm tap water. According to Sandra's notes I could have used a stronger solution or a weaker one (1:1 water to crystals or 2:1), I simply chose the proportions that best fit my container and the amount of crystals I had bought.

I prepared my silver the same way as one would prepare copper or brass for Ferric Chloride etching ie starting with clean metal, the design applied in PnP blue transfer paper, the back and sides taped off with packing tape. If you don't have the PnP paper you can use an oil-based paint pen to draw on the metal, however I would recommend PnP paper above anything else - enamelworksupply.com has it and many other places I am sure.

It is necessary to suspend the prepared metal in the Ferric Nitrate solution and it must be upside down so the residue can fall out. I taped fishing line to the back and then taped the lines to the edge of the tupperware container pulling it tight enough so the piece is submerged but not touching the bottom, then put the lid on. I got a very good etch in 4hrs at this strength of solution. When you take it out put the piece in a bowl of water with baking soda in it and rub more baking soda directly on the piece, scrub well. This will neutralize the Ferric Nitrate and clean off the greyish film. The PnP residue can be sanded off or removed with acetone. There, you should have a lovely piece of etched silver ready to make into something beautiful.

Safety First: wear an apron and gloves and safety glasses, don't get the solution on your skin or clothes. When making up the solution I worked under a fume hood to be on the safe side, while the etch was working I had a lid on the container. Always use baking soda to neutralize. The solution can be used over again - as I have only just started I don't know how long it will work for, eventually it will wear out. The best disposal recommendation would be taking it to a toxic waste specialist.

If you have already etched with Ferric Chloride these notes should be enough to help you start with Ferric Nitrate. If you have never etched I would recommend you see a demo first as written notes are really just an addition to watching it done. If you have questions though, I'll try and answer them. Also if you can get Linda Darty's book The Art of Enameling, she covers the process in there quite well.

Tool Tutorial

My class went really well last week, I got a lot of enjoyment with my small group of four lovely women who were all super keen and worked incredibly hard considering it was their summer holiday!

One thing that surprised me was their interest in making textures with stamping tools, no other students that I've taught have shown so much interest. I gave them a handout on making your own tools though I didn't have time to demonstrate. I thought I would share these instructions because making your own tools means you are not limited by what a commercial maker is offering.



Tool Tutorial



Tool steel: the cheapest way is to buy tool steel from a steel supplier, get 1/8" or 3/16" stock, medium or high carbon, not mild steel. Large masonry nails can also be used. But the easiest and quickest way is to buy a pack of nail punches in various sizes, from a hardware store and modify them.



Annealing: heat the tip (last 1/2") of the tool until cherry red, let air cool.



Shaping: using fairly coarse files, #0 cut, old ones if you have them as steel will dull your jewellery files quickly, shape the tip into the motif you want. Switch to #2 cut file to refine the shape. Bear in mind that the smaller the shape the easier it will be to stamp it into the metal, curved sides help the stamping process too. Use silicon carbide (wet/dry) sandpaper to sand, finish with 600 grit.



If using tool stock not ready made nail punches, also bevel the the edge of the hammering end of the tool to prevent it mushrooming.



Hardening: heat the tip (last 1/2") rapidly to cherry red, quench in lukewarm water, swirl as you quench, remove quickly. To test for hardness run a file lightly over the hardned portion, it should skip over and not cut.



Clean: sand with wet/dry paper to clean edges of tool so as to see tempering colours clearly.



Tempering: heat slowly, work flame towards tip, watch colours appear on the metal. When straw or golden yellow is right at the tip pull heat away and quench in water. If you miss the colour, go back through hardening stage and then temper again.



Polishing: you can polish the tip with chrome polish.

Here's a pic of a hand stamped piece of silver overlaid with transparent enamel.

Cloisonne Wire

I have been using wire in my enamels lately in two different ways. I wanted to try using round wire as cloisonne wire to see how it looked. Round wire is a lot easier to use in one sense because it doesn't fall over like the traditional rectangular flat wire that is used in cloisonne enamel.

I drew down some fine silver wire to the last hole on my draw plate which is about .3mm and used that for the Snowdrift Ring I did a couple of weeks ago (see post: Finished at Last). I liked the look of it a lot. It is much larger in diameter than traditional cloisonne wire so gives quite a different look. It is true that it is easier to keep small, almost straight, pieces in place though I do use some klyrfire type gel as well. I am thinking that next time I splash out on some new tools I'll see if I can get a drawplate that goes even smaller in diameter.

Another thing to remember about using round wire is that as you stone it back the diameter of the wire that is exposed changes, so even stoning is needed unless of course you want your wires to look different sizes.

This past week I made a cloisonne ring using the traditional rectangular flat wire. On this piece I wanted a fine and delicate look and I think I got what I wanted. The little pieces that make up the leaf veins are folded over, curved and then opened out - that way they stand up very well. Of course this ring is flat topped which makes it all much easier than working on a highly formed shape.

Leaf Ring

I really love experimenting like this, looking for ways to get the style I want in the piece, trying for different looks, combining alternate ways of working. Rules are made to be bent, broken and ignored after all!

Fine or Sterling?

I don't do a lot of enamelling on copper, not because I don't like it but it just doesn't seem to fit with the aesthetic that I'm into right now. What I like right now is transparent enamel on silver. What I have to think about before I make a piece is whether to choose fine silver or sterling. I weigh up the pros and cons of each according to the piece I am making and often I use both metals in one piece. Here are a few observations about using both metals in combination with enamels.

Fine silver

• transparent colours really pop


• no tedious depletion gilding needed (see an earlier post I wrote about this)


• takes textures easily


• very soft, so could bend if not formed (domed for example), or if used flat, very thick sheet is needed


• more difficult to get a hard smooth high polish, on the edges for example

Sterling silver

• colours can be a little muted, most of the Thompson transparent greens and blue-greens are fine, other colours may be duller


• needs to be depletion gilded, I do it ten times!


• sterling has much greater strength than fine silver meaning greater choice of form and construction


• sterling can be polished to a super hard shine


• If you want to experiment sterling offers some interesting possibilities if you don't depletion gild, ie let the copper oxide bleed through into the enamel

Fragment Series

And here is a pendant I just finished. It's all in sterling for strength and because the edges are high polished and because I knew the green enamel would work well.

Make it matte

Sometimes glossy is great but othertimes matte is marvellous, modern and makes me happy. I am talking about enamel, the wonderful material otherwise known as glass. Yes, transparent coloured enamels look luscious when they are fired to a smooth gloss, like wet pebbles look wonderful, but there are times when a subtle matte finish is just right.


Today I was working on my piece for Influx Gallery's 'Fiat Lux' juried show and getting a matte finish was exactly what I needed for my piece. In fact I combined the matte finish with a 'sugar fire', the two enhance each other wonderfully. This is what I did...

• fire your first coat until fully fired and glossy
• sift on your second coat of enamel and fire until it just starts to melt (it is quite tricky to get the time right, if you take it out too soon the enamel will flake off, for our purposes it is better to go a little bit longer rather than underfire too much)
• the piece should look like its name - sugary but not orange peely
• you may want to practice on scrap metal first
• now submerge the piece in some Etchall glass etching liquid, usually takes 20 minutes or so, rinse well and dry
• any parts of the enamel that had gone past the sugar stage will now look beautifully matte
• of course you can use the Etchall on fully fired enamel too, to give a smooth matte finish

Have fun and remember to break all the rules!