If you read the article in Art Jewelry magazine and are having trouble making the process work, there are a couple things that got left out of the article (I assume because of space constraints).
If you just want to find the article, you can buy the project lesson on Art Jewelry Magazine’s website.
The most important thing to know is:
FOR YOUR FIRST PROJECT USE EITHER SILVER ON CLEAR OR PURPLE ON CLEAR. (Not “violet” but the color Bullseye simply refers to as “purple”.)
Reds and coppers do not etch at all. Emeralds etch much faster than the “2 minutes” in the article. Savoy glass etches so fast you probably can’t use it at all because the ink won’t hold no matter how hot you heat it first. I’ve had better results with thin glass than with standard and better results with clear than with black. Not to say you cannot experiment, but it’s easy to waste a lot of expensive glass.
RED RUBBER STAMPS WORK BETTER THAN POLY STAMPS. If you use poly stamps, you will want to go with images that do not have large printed spaces. For example, silhouettes won’t work. The large surfaces of poly don’t hold the ink well enough for the metal dichroic coating, so you want to stick with red rubber if you’re going to be doing images with heavily inked areas.
An important note about poly stamps. Most “home stamp making” is done with poly, not red rubber. Unfortunately, you may find you have trouble getting poly stamps to work well on the glass. If you make your own, or custom order them, you will need to do several things: First, rub the surface of the stamp lightly with ammonia or denatured alcohol. Let the alcohol dry, then ink the poly stamps and use them on paper several times, never cleaning them in between. This process fills the little ridges left on poly stamps after their manufacture and should help you get clearer images. This is not a problem when you are stamping on paper because paper is porous. The metal coating on dichroic glass doesn’t WANT to hold the ink, so you’re going to have to help it along!
CLEAN THE GLASS (with ammonia or alcohol), THEN STAMP, HEAT and ETCH in one sitting. If you don’t, the ink will come off the glass too easily.
If this does not work for you, please don’t hesitate to email me and I will try to walk you through the project!
Please send pix of you work…I love to see what people have done!
