Making Bookplates with Electrolytic Etching
Part I: ProloguePart II: Preparing the PlatePart III: The Etching Equipment
Applying the Resist: First, we need to find a way to mask off the parts of the plate we don’t want etched. There are a number of commercial etching resists available, but I used a process which may be familiar to you if you’ve ever etched your own circuit boards, the toner transfer method.
Buy some inexpensive inkjet semi-gloss photo paper, the thinner the paper the better, because it will transfer more heat. Print out your artwork on that paper using a laserjet printer. See, laserjet toner is a type of plastic that is melted onto the paper using, improbably, a laser. We live in the Future, and everything’s amazing, and no one’s happy. Anyway, by using a glossy inkjet paper, the toner won’t stick to the paper very well, and when we put a hot iron on the back of the paper, it will re-melt the toner onto the plate.
Prepare the Plate: clean the oxidation off the plate with steel wool. This will also roughen the plate, making it easier for the toner to stick to it. Next, tape the artwork to the plate. It’s best to tape in a thin 1/8″ strip around the edges, because the tape will interfere with the heat transfer. Once you start ironing and the paper is stuck down to the plate pretty well, you can peel the tape back.
Note that you can peel back the tape once you have the paper melted to the plate, to get all the edges.
Transfer your Artwork: Set your iron as hot as it will go, with no steam. Work systematically over every part of the plate, moving the iron slowly and using lots of pressure. When you’re done, turn the steam up on high and iron a rag to clean the crap off the iron. Unless you want to ruin the a dress shirt when you next use the iron, three months later, like me. When you’re done, toss the plate and paper into a tub of warm water, and leave it overnight. Don’t try to skip this step; you’ll only pull off half your toner with the paper.
By the way, in the picture above, you can see what ironing on the artwork did to my workbench. This process will destroy the finish on whatever surface you do it on, but if you put a piece of paper in between the plate and the table, you won’t bend the plate because you were prying it up from the tabletop.
Once the paper has softened in the water, peel off the paper. You’ll find that you can use a scrub pad to get all the pulp off, without removing the toner, as long as you’re gentle. When you’re done, you can fix up any places where the toner didn’t transfer by putting on a dab of paint, then cutting away the parts you don’t want with an X-acto knife.
The hole is so that you can bolt a wire to the plate. You could solder the wire to the back of the plate, but I didn’t have too much luck with this approach and I didn’t go want to go too hot, for fear of melting the toner off.
Go to Section:
- Part I: Prologue
- Part II: Preparing the Plate
- Part III: The Etching Equipment
- Part IV: The Etching Process and Final Remarks
- View All
September 13th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
this is one of the coolest thing i ever seen i tryed it with brass plate it didnt work out as well as yours. but it was only a test . but thanks very much for the post
September 13th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Thanks, Joe!
My understanding is that brass typically uses an acid etch, so you might try adding some vinegar (acetic acid) to the mix, and see if that improves the etch? The zinc plates are available at any good arts supply store, so there’s an option if you’d rather go to that way.
Again, just my understanding here, but I think brass emits considerably more hydrogen gas when you etch, so make sure you work in a well-ventilated space!
Post back if you have any success.
September 30th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Actually I think the resistance of the hot light bulb tungsten electrode is higher than when it is cold. And as the filament boils off (slowly, but that’s how the insides of vacuum tubes and car light bulbs get shiny gray) the resistance will go up. Turns out you can predict bulb failure that way. That was almost-a-patent years ago. But I digress. Some Day I will measure some AC bulb resistances on and off to really prove this to myself. Thanks for the fun post… makes me want to go play with some chemicals.
October 1st, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Hey Bruce,
The resistance of a standard metal does increase with temperature, due to increased number of atomic collisions at higher temperatures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistance#Temperature_dependence
As a practical matter, if you put an Ohmmeter on a cold bulb, you’ll measure a much lower resistance than the derived value that you would get from measuring current and voltage under load. Something to keep in mind if you’re using incandescent lamps as resistors. Glad you enjoyed the post, thanks for commenting!
April 4th, 2011 at 4:22 pm
Wow … that is really nice deep bite. Just wanted to say there is an easier way to etch zinc, mild steel and aluminum which does NOT need electricity because it is electro-chemical in nature and apparently non-toxic … hmmmm … maybe no gass-off!!!??? Check it out: http://www.nontoxicprint.com/etchzincsteelaluminum.htm