HYDROFLUORIC ACID for Mica Acid Etch

[megan child]

Hi all,

Im looking for a substitute for the HYDROFLUORIC ACID as it is not available here in Australia unless you have training and are registered. So other than glue chipping my small area is there any other suggestions out there?

Meg

[pat mackle]

Do you know what the requirements are in Australia to become certified and thus able to obtain HF there? I'd like to know.

[Robare M. Novou]

A good read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrofluoric_acid

And Some Good First Aid Medical Advice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bp6mfy_Ekk

[Larry White]

You can achieve a gilded texture via embossing varnish.
Or stipple the area with a liquid type mask, then sandblast
it, to achieve a texture. This can then be cleared and gilded.

[Anthony Bennett]

Hi Megan,
I recall a previous post of Pat's who wrote about using Aluminium Oxide (maybe 220 grit) and a piece of glass on a handle as a pestle to grind the glass to emulate an acid etch.
To echo Larry, you could get some PVA wood glue, dilue an amount down by 50% with water and then use a very stiff brush in a prodding action (Bigger the bristle the bigger the dot) to leave dots of glue on the glass, Sandblast then wash the glue off with warm water.
Alternatively you can get things like a ladies stocking or some other form of mesh and soak in watered down PVA Glue, this can then be used as a resist.
Lastly, wipe glass with the PVA mix, write in it with your finger or get an engraving stick and make wavy lines like you see in the knotts in wood and when dry sand blast, washing the glue off afterwards.
Good luck with experimenting.

[megan child]

Thanks for all of your suggestions Im going to move forward and try them on some spare glass I have at home - lets hope for success

[BruceJackson]

wow, what a great idea....using PVA as a resist and graining/stippling for texture.

I just happen to have a project coming up that needs something like this and was thinking about my options...was thinking of simply carving in three stages (peeling off some parts of the resist mask for the different depths). But I actually wanted a more graded/textured affect like wood-grain and was thinking about how to achieve it....

thanks Anthony and Larry

[Ash Bishop]

Bruce, I saw your remarks about woodgrain and thought this may be of interest. Last week I was acid etching and silvering some pub mirrors and had a thought along these lines.
I brunswick blacked some spare glass and ran a wood graining tool through the wet black. This was my first and only attempt and am certain it could look great with some practice. I had not seen it done before but it must have been a standard victorian method.
Once dry I mica etched and silvered the glass. Potential for more experiments I think.

[erik winkler]

I love it. Was the mica etching a good choice in your opinion instead of normaal etching?