Making Victorian my own

 Above is a piece of silver i had etched with a ready made pattern which i printed onto transparency sheet. Because I am trying to personalise my designs a bit more I am going to try and etch over the already etched pattern- just using a nature inspired Victorian style spider and web scratched into bitchumen.

 This is my tattoo.

 I have also started designing my own wallpaper designs which i am going to make in digital form and mirror to make them symmetrical then etch and recreate in my jewellery.

Etching away

As my focus moves more towards the ornament and it's patterns and motifs of Victorian objects, I am trying to incorporate more such style in my pieces. I have been etching silver and copper using bitchumen as a resist and hand drawing the detail to be etched using mainly Victorian wallpaper as a reference.

Originally i was using transparencies (as below) of printed pre-existing designs as a resist to etch but wanted to make the pieces more "my own."

Textiles and Wallpapers

Having noticed the ornate, textured patterning that seemed to cloth many 19th century household objects and walls and furniture, i have been making some such patterning of my own using silver and copper. My first approach was to use nitric acid etching on silver covered witha ptterned film of ink as a resist.

The pattern unfortunately became over etched and difficult to see, but on two test pieces was clear enough to make out. If the unintentional etching is not too severe it actually has an aged appearance which could be used anyway.

On the pieces which i was not going to use further or keep as test pieces i tried to roll them thinner and intended on using the back sides of them as an excercise in how thin metal can be to still etch deeply enough to see. I noticed, however, as the rough etchings were being rolled, that the grainy unintentional etching (which is shallower than those areas intended to etch) rolls smooth before the rest, making the before unclear pattern much clearer.