So lately I have been messing around with copper etching. Its a pretty crazy process and so many websites tell you to do things differently. It took a lot of research to figure out a somewhat safe and reliable experiment. I finally found that you can use ferric chloride to etch copper. However, its really hard to find/buy the stuff. I then found out that you can buy muriatic acid (concrete etching acid, from Stanley's 3 dollars) and hydrogen peroxide (the stuff you clean wounds with, rite aid, $2.50) to make etching solution. All you do is mix the hydrogen peroxide to the muriatic acid 2:1. I then tried a couple of sample pieces that I sanded and cleaned. One copper sample I wrote my initials on with black sharpie and one I wrote on with green sharpie. I also put rubber cement on one also. I even put 2 pennies in. The acid solution immediately turned neon green and slightly bubbled. I took them out at different rates, 20 minutes and one hour. The black sharpie and the rubber cement worked the best. Also, the longer I keep it in the stronger the etch. The penny had a whole burn through it and the copper pipe you can see my initials ares etched into it. I still need to experiment with printing images on toner transfer paper and ironing it onto copper. This should work better than sharpie or rubber cement. Next class I will hopefully have the supplies to do this experiment. I will also try bending pipes using different techniques such as filling the tube with sand and with ice to stop it from flexing.
