Time to do something with all that sea glass?

This is a batch of sea glass I found last time my sis and I were by the sea, must've been some weeks ago by now. Even picked up a piece of sea pottery.

The last two years or so I've taken up the habit of combing the beach for glass and pottery every time I've been down by the sea. Sometimes even forgetting to take photos, which is usually why I do by the sea. Sometimes I don't find much, sometimes I get a handful of shards, mostly white and some almost new, sharp and unfrosted -- while not as pretty, I pick up that too just to keep the beaches clean.

Add to that my collection of our own tumbled glass plus a few "sea glass" beads (= etched or tumbled glass beads sold as sea glass even though they're absolutely not). But of cause that's not as special as real sea glass/beach glass and sea pottery.

But now I have enough to more or less have to start thinking about what to do with it all. Most pieces aren't that special as they're plain frosted clear glass. But they're still sea glass and I don't want to "waste" it on mediocre projects. I love, love the pieces in this tutorial, but don't think there are enough big pieces of glass for me to use -- it might be better to tumble some broken glass for that. A few pieces are even smaller than a little finger nail (there's one piece I'm saving for a real metalsmith's bezel setting as the shape and size is so pretty).

Another idea along the line of the image transfers would be to add variegated metal leaf as I did with this cab or paint the back with some cool effect paint. But, again, it feels like ruining it and something that should be left to tumbled glass.

Beaded bezels would be too thick and I can't yet make metal bezels. Wirework isn't on the agenda right now. Drilling holes for stringing or chainmaille techniques doesn't really tempt me. WOrking them into embroideries might work, but I don't have any ideas yet to wow me into "sacrificing" a piece or more of the limited stash.

And still, while shooting down every idea I get, I would like to not just collect. Though sometimes I wonder if it's just that the maker part of me doesn't want the collector part to decide, maybe because collecting without a collector's goals and organized purpose is akin to hoarding and hoarding, we are told, is bad. Or at least not really good. Beaders can write about being hoarders and often it will continue with statements about daring to use a precious component or complaints or apologies for hoarding or saving something for "that special project". It's not something to brag about, not using components in the stash. But sometimes we should perhaps abandon that guilty feeling and just remember the joy of collecting these small treasures, just like we did as children. No one expected us then to use the little knick-knacks we gathered in a special box just for looking at, picking up and admiring. It's not wrong to buy supplies without the intent of using it. It can be beautiful just the way it is. It doesn't always need to be processed (förädlad) to get a value and justify the purchase [or in this case, the acquiring] of it.

It's not wrong to want to make something awesome with supplies, to be creative with something in order to enhance it. It's great! You make something that gives you a chance to showcase the special component, make it possible to carry it with you -- you deserve to feel good about doing it, about creating something really beautiful and/or meaningful from something you love. It's just that it's easy to make the opposite of right be wrong and define something as a supply makes it sound unfinished, incomplete, a part that can only become whole when put together with something else. It also makes it sound like you're a bad beader/crafter/artist for buying new things when you already have supply, as if supplies are interchangeable without specific characteristics and uses -- especially people that don't create themselves will let you know this! It's easy to feel guilty about spending money without using the things you buy (which, as said before, don't have value until you use them due to their definition). To feel stressed about a growing -- I'd say thriving! -- stash or about not having the urge to make those special components "complete".

But really, some things are beautiful as they are and shouldn't be seen as merely supplies, but objects to adore all in their own right. They are complete, they are wholes from the day we acquire them. And while a beader never has that bead she/he really needs and she/he sometimes even forget about some beads in the stash, just having a stash is more than just a practical thing. More that a cress physical resource for jewellery making and beadwork. It's not just about having the right supplies at hand for a project. Maybe you never used that bead you bought, but the colours have still inspired you -- many times over! Maybe you forgot a beautiful bead as you kept buying new ones, but one day you'll find it in the stash and it'll be just perfect for a project you're working on or it'll inspire a new design on a day when you feel like you've lost the mojo for good. Maybe just looking at the beads every now and then will make you happy -- for the beauty and feeling of the object itself, for memories of the person giving it to you, for your adoration of the bead maker. Maybe you one day will give it to someone who'll create something amazing with it and she wouldn't have been able to do that had you not gifted her with that particular bead or component at that particular time. Maybe you just need the rainbow of colours that's your bead stash to sort and touch in order to infuse yourself with creativity and inspiration or in order to relax and feel harmonious. Beads, ribbons, yarn, charms, design papers, effect paints -- all creative supplies have values far beyond merely its intended practical use. And you don't need to feel bad just because everyone and everything focuses on that particular, narrow value. You know better!

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I should've stopped there, but just I just realised that a simple post showing some relatively so-so sea glass, a post mostly posted because I took a five minute break and wanted to write something to keep the blogging going, turned into something very different. How did that happen? Apparently it was an issue I had/have opinions on and feelings about...

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UPDATE: Fun thing, today (the day after writing the text above)  I started finding reveal posts for the Bead Hoarders Blog Hop in my blog feed. Talk about interesting coincidences. Wonder if anyone participating in that hop read this -- before or after posting on their blogs -- and I wonder what it made them think... Should I note that it was a reaction to myself and my own feelings, not towards anything anyone else did, certainly not a reaction prompted by the blog hop? It's just a different perspective to alleviate guilt -- we all get fed guilt, especially females, in our society about what we do or don't do and how we look. I wanted to ease this particular little guilt a bit, remove a nagging, stressing feeling of "ought tos" from my mind. I wanted to free myself -- and I didn't know it until my fingers began writing this text!

Being one of those who are so bad at starting (see this post on start buttons and sparks),  I sure need challenges (from myself or someone else) and encouragements to get going. To rev up and set the ball rolling. The Bead Hoeaders Blog Hop could've been useful for me -- unless my creative drain and inert resistance would stall me and made me feel guilty about that too -- and I firmly believe that we need to challenge ourselves and push ourselves to pick something up and start doing instead of just thinking. I just wanted these two things, letting go of ideas about what one should do and "forcing" yourself to use something up, to be equally morally good and acceptable. Not for the latter to feel productive while the former is lazy and unproductive, passive/negative when taking the bull by the horn is active/positive. Both strategies alleviate the "guilt" of having unused supplies and all those energy-draining "I shoulds" as I see it. Sometimes we need to be active, sometimes we need to let go in order to feel good. It's all about where we are and what we're doing and feeling at the time. And for the "I shoulds" to not always be there as a constant reminder, a nagging gulit-tripping mom to make use feel bad for not doing something. That adds such unnecessary stress, albeit just a tiny one, a restless, negative undercurrent that can make you head into a negative spiral if you're at a point where you feel like you've lost your creativity and can't find the joy and positive energy in creating.

About the text, I added a few sentences and adjusted a couple of others as I wrote from the heart yesterday -- with a tired head. This is just a spontaneous text, not some well thought through manifesto or anything, but I still wanted to clarify and add important words that I didn't think of yesterday when I hadn't slept on it.

Etched opalite

Here's another post of things I did before Snuttis disappeared, but which I never blogged about. First because of the camera and then because of how I felt when Snuttis went missing. And then I almost ended up scrapping the idea of taking any photos as the colours and matte, transparent surface made it a tricky bead to take a sharp photo of. And you can't always tell that much of a difference between the etched and unetched opalite on top of that....

It's been a long time since I last etched glass.

I made this bead after having tidied up my worktable (not because I felt like the mess was too bad, but because of cats knocking things over) and looked through the bowl with glass to etch someday. Seeing how etching transformed cat's eye and goldstone beads into something much better than their original look, maybe the etch would work the same magic on another type of glass bead I don't like that much, opalite (a k a sea opal aka "moonstone").

Doesn't make as much of a difference as on cat's eye/fibreoptic beads, but it might partially also be because the etch cream has become weaker so the glass had to be etched twice. Partially it's also because both cat's eye and goldstone have something the opalite is missing: shiny inclusions. Cat's eye has fibreoptic filaments and add a special shine to the bead, even when etched. Goldstone has sparkling copper shavings. Opalite just have, well, a "quiet" opalescence. A slight change of colour depending on the angle of light and against what background it's seen. But etching does add a soft, velvety touch to the opalite and matte is always pretty. It's a rather romantic-looking glass bead now. So it's not a failure, just not a dramatic change in appearance as in e.g. goldstone.

For anyone who likes the opalescence of opal glass and the velvet touch of etched glass, this is something to try.

To oil or not to oil

I've vinegar etched a few more MOP beads this weekend and today I wanted to see what would happen if I oiled one of them. Sometimes the etched matte surface looks great, other times the contrast between motif and etched background feels too harsh. Remembering that I'd read about treating seashells with mineral oil to bring out colours and add a subtle shine, I dabbed a few drops on one of the less successful beads and rubbed it into the shell.

The image is slightly less visible than it was before being oiled, but I think it turned out nicely.
This image wasn't the best to begin with, I should add. (I forgot to take a "before" picture so all you can compare with is the unoiled bead at the top of the post, sorry.) This bead is freshly oiled. I'm not sure how much it will change once the oil has really soaked in and dried. If it does change significally, I'll update this post and let you know.
 
I'll probably be a good method for some of my etchings, especially when the matte background feels too "dry" or white. But other will probably not need any oil. Not for aesthetic purposes at least. Another option I haven't tried is to lacquer the shell. Many MOP pendants and beads I've seen lately have been lacquered, which gives them more of a shine, but I'm not sure how a lacquer or sealant will affect the etched and unetched areas.

Etching mother of pearl, part 2

This is a continuation of yesterday's post about etching MOP with vinegar. This was the last pendant I put in the vinegar bath yesterday, but as I wanted a deeper etch than on the other white pieces, I left it in for almost 24 hours.

Like with my previous attempts to use bleached, white shell, I found it didn't have enough contrast. It's much better than lily-of-the-valley tile and I don't have any obscuring shimmer from the etched areas, but the stiations do make it difficult to see the motif -- unless you hold it in the right angle.

Then I happened to hold the heart up against the light and I saw that the etch was deep enough to create a shadow effect. While the banding still slightly annoying, you can see the floral pattern. Without having to tilt and turn the pendant (as long as it's backlit). So it could be used for, say, an earring. Or some sort of home décor where it'll be illuminated by sunlight in a window or a candle/tea light for example.

I'm now going to see if etching MOP any longer will give better results or not. Looking at this pendant, I'm slightly worried the etch will "eat through" any narrow parts of the motifs. See the stem and how it's just a thin line between the two leaves. (As for the third flower on the right, that's my mistake: I was checking the pendant yesterday and peeled away the sticker in that spot just to see how the ecthing was going and when I put it back, apparantly it didn't adhere as well as berfore and vinegar could seep in under it. So 24 hours be be a more ideal time. I'll know on Friday.

Etching mother-of-pearl

These last few days, summer has definitely turned into autumn. While the rain and wind makes it dark and cold outdoors, I've been so inspired by my experiments I've almost forgot the boring, chilly weather (though not fully as I have to run outdoors in the rain every now and then -- and it's given me a soar throat). This is what I'm playing around with right now.

The other day, I showed some pics of my accidental brass etching (remember it?). As I like the result so much, I had to do some research online to see if I could learn something more about etching metal with vinegar. As I did that, I stumbled over something else. Apparantly, vinegar is used as an echant when decorating eggs. Patterns are created using bee's wax, which works as a resist, and then the eggs are submerged in vinegar until the outer layer is removed by this mild acid. Particularly effectful when using brown eggs as the vinegar removes the pigmentation in areas not covered with wax.

That had me thinking. Wouldn't it be possible to etch seashells the same way? Pearls, seashells, egg shells -- they all contain some sort of calcium compound, which makes them porous and sensitive to acids. And we all know about Cleopatra dissolving a pearl (i.e. nacre, mother of pearl) in vinegar to create the most expensive drink in history. I have to try this, I thought while mentally going through my bead stash looking for something -- anything -- made from mother of pearl.

As I didn't have any info specifically on vinegar etching MOP, it was truly an experiment. I'm sure there are others that have done this and written about it online, but I didn't have any how-tos available at the time (in fact, it probably didn't occur to me to google "etching seashell with vinegar"). So I had to figure things out myself. I didn't know how long to let the shell soak in the vinegar or what other types of resists I could use, which would withstand the effects of the vinegar without damaging the MOP (either when applying or removing it). For my first piece, I simple dripped a few drops of wax onto a MOP bead and submerged it in the apple cider vinegar. Eagerly waiting for a result, I got tired as it took much longer than the recommended times for etching eggshell -- and forgot about it for a couple of hours. When I finally got it out, the vinegar had created a nice, deep etch (se photo above, bead on left side).

I went on to try another resist: white glue, which works with etching liquid for glass (I've used it here). Unfortunatly, the vinegar dissolved the glue -- not sure if I should've let it cure longer or if it'd still be as unsuccessful -- before I could get a good etch. All I got was a nice matte surface (photo above, pendant in middle).

Next experiment was a flop. I don't even have a photo of it. My plan was to do something similar to what you can do when etching on metal: cover the surface with resist and scratch a pattern in it. That would leave a shiny background and an etch-out (matte) pattern. Sounded fab, but maybe I applied the wax too thickly (dripping onto the bead rather than being brushed on) or maybe the wax was too hard: scratching a pattern with my needle, I maybe caused the wax to separate from the surface, leaving room for the vinegar to seep in. Maybe if I'm more careful, it'll work. This time it didn't.

I then when on with another method I've used for glass and stone etching: using peel-off stickers as resists/masks. This was much, much more successful (se butterfly bead above).

So far I'd used dyed shell -- mainly because that's what I had and that's what I was prepared to sacrifice. I went on to etching a few small white MOP mosaic tiles. Etching on white MOP has a big drawback, I discovered: it's really hard to see the motifs. There's not much contrast between the etched and the protected areas. The latter is more shiny, but there's still a pearlescent effect visible in the etched areas so that you must hold the piece at an angle to see the pattern. Just look at the pics below.

What to do? It might be a nice, subtle effect, but I want the motifs visible! On a whim, I took out the only dye I have: alcohol inks. What would happen if I wiped the surface with the ink? Surely the etched areas are more porous than the polished areas protected by the resist, meaning the ink would soak into those areas faster -- thus leaving the pattern in a different colour/hue?

It worked! Not perfect -- not by a long shot -- but for a first try I'm satisfied with the result. So all I have to figure out now is the best way to dye the shell: what dyes to use (e.g. egg dyes?), how long I can soak the shell before the contrast disappears etc.

And then, of cause, I have to come up with a more exact time for how long to I should etch the shell for the perfect result. Because I don't know that yet. All these pieces have been etched a minimum of one hour, but most of them were etched a least two hours, the first piece being etched the longest.

Oops... (but a good oops!)

So. This began like so many of the new things I try. I finally got the things out to try something I've been meaning to experiment with for ages. In this case it was to create a verdigris patina using sawdust and vinegar. No ammonia since the only ammonia I had nearby was cat pee, which I know can be used but I didn't want to go there. Also added a little salt after a while.

As I hadn't done this before, I didn't know how long it'd take or how much vinegar to add. In the end I think that combination led up to the results you see here. First, kept adding vinegar because I felt the process was just so slow. Then I forgot about the jar. When I got in out and inspected the pieces of copper, brass and bronze I'd put in there, I discovered that the brass was not only heavily patinated in various colours (more yellow than verdigris), but the brass had begun to etch.

These two pics above are of a 25 mm brass blank (from Vintaj actually, so it had a brown patina initially which was stripped by the vinegar). I left the front as I found it, but the back (first pic) was polished using extra fine steel wool, removing the patina and exposing the lovely mottled pattern underneath. That's the pattern created by the vinegar etch.

These to blanks are brass (left) and bronze (right). I added the bronze tags much later than the brass blank so you can't compare the two and make any assumptions about brass versus bronze here. Also, the bronze tag was more exposed to the salt than the brass.

After slightly polishing with steel wool, I added some alchol inks to this brass stamping. I used a teal blue ink, dabbed it and added a bit more, which was also dabbed and swiped off. Then I added a small drop of reddish ink on the flower, dabbed and swiped it. It's not perfect and I'll probably add and remove yet more ink before sealing it.

I was quite pleased with the etch pattern on the brass so after I'd discovered it, I began googling "etching metal with vinegar". This is definitely something I'll do again!

Glass frosting: etchant vs. tumbler

I've got a tag on this blog that says "etched glass/stone", though actually it has come to include not just beads, pendants, cabs and glass stones I've frosted using etching cream but also glass frosted in a tumbler. I've been thinking about doing a comparison between these to techniques for creating frosted/etched surfaces on -- primarily -- glass. I'd love to try sand blasting too (small scale, using Sand Etch), but right now I only have experience using the two other methods.

Before I begin discussing the pros and cons of the methods, I'd like to add that I'm still a beginner when it comes to using etching liquids as well as a tumbler. In fact, the tumbler is not even mine so it's my sis who's in charge of it, I just pitch in every now and then with my views and ideas. But so far, this is what I've learned:


Safety and usage
Etching liquid etches not only glass but also skin so you have to wear protective gloves and think about what kind of tools to use etc. It's also said that vapours can cloud mirrors and damage glass in storage. Add to that discussions on whether it really is a safe chemical or not. Besides, even if it claims to be non-toxic, it doesn't mean it's safe if used without care!

The tumbler on the other hand contains nothing caustic. You should of cause not inhale the abrasive powders (if using that rather than e.g. sand) and if tumbling crystal glass in particular, you should dispose of the dross wisely as it can contain lead. The waste can also clog the pipes so it shouldn't be poured down the drain.

The etchant shouldn't be stored or used cold as it forms crystals that has to be removed before etching my heating and stirring the liquid.

Etching cream can also get stuck in holes as well as nooks and crannies on the surface, which are hard to clean. When it dries, it could just as well be cement. That's how hard it can be to remove.

Personally, I find etching creams more messy than a tumbler, but if working with an etchant you just dip the beads into that would probably be easier.

As for the saftey of the younger members of the household, I'd say it's a bigger problem if a kid or pet walks into a room where you have etching cream/fluid on the table than a tumbler.


Time
It takes perhaps 15-20 minutes according to the instructions for the etch cream/fluid to great a good finish while it takes hours to acheive a nice texture in a tumbler. However, especially if using cream rather than a dipping fluid, you have to apply the etchant to each piece individually and make sure it's covered. With a tumbler, you just chuck it all in and let the machine do the work. Likewise, you don't have to thoroughly clean the tumbled glass piece by piece as you have to with an etch cream (you must remove every trace of the chemicals). You have to check on it at intervals to stop the process at the right point, but that goes for both methods.

While i takes weeks to tumble raw stones into shiny, polished cabs and pendants, it is a matter of hours or at tops a couple of days to frost glass. In fact, if you just want to burnish the sharp edges instead of getting the matte finish, it can take as little as 30 minutes.

The barrels for the tumbler comes in different sizes and also the tumblers themselves are made for different volumes, so you can choose a bigger solution for tumbling larger quantities at once.


Finish/texture
With an etchant, you can vary the depth of the etching by letting it work for a longer or shorter periods. Just like with the tumbler. However, with a tumbler you can choose between different abrasive and thus create everything from fine to coarse textures. There's room for experimentation.

With and etching cream you can use stencils, resist gels or stickers to create patterns or motif on the surface, which I doubt is possible with a tumbler where the water and mechanical abrasion would wear down the resists.

There's also one more important difference: the etchant with etch the entire (uncovered) surface while the tumbler usually leaves the recesses untouched. See the fifth picture in this post: notice the oily AB finish still there in the crevices while the raised areas are matte. Here, the alternative to the chemicals would be sand blasting, not a tumbler, if looking for an even matte finish.


Materials
The etchant I used (by EtchAll) works on "soft" glass, but not on Pyrex/borosilicate glass. According to Rings & Things it works most of the time on japanese seed beads, but the coatings seem to weaken the etchant, make it less effective. It also works on some stones, e.g. agates and onyxes, but not on all -- and you might not know which ones works until you test it yourself. Some stones with etch terribly unevenly, with both shiny and matte areas, which looks really bad.

For the tumbler, different abrasive have different efficiency: it shouldn't be too hard to be able and grind down most surfaces, hard or soft.


Economy
To be honest, I haven't really done any calculations. However, I will offer a few points to keep in mind.

First of all, the tumbler isn't cheap and the abrasives will need to be replaced as they're being used. On the other hand, a tumbler can be used for many more things than the etchant. You can work-harden and polish metal, tumble stones, ceramics, polymer clay etc and creating hematite like oxidized finishes on metal. The tumbler is supposed to use a moderate amount of electricity even if it's on for several hours for each batch.

The etchant can be reused many times, while the abrasives for the tumbler, mixed with glass residue, can't be used for a new batch. Buying etchant is cheaper than the starting cost for buying tumblers and abrasives, but I haven't calculated the cost per piece. You can often use plastic tools and protective gloves you already have at home.


Conclusion
Both methods have their pros and cons. Which one you prefer depends both on what you want to be able to acheive in terms of textures and finishes or what materials you want to work with. I use both etchants and tumblers and don't see myself abandoning one for the other. They do a similar job, yes, but in different ways with different results -- and I like them both!

Buying a tumbler isn't cheap and so it might be a decision that needs to be thought over more than buying a jar of etchant (a small jar isn't too expensive) just to test it. You probably shouldn't buy one unless you actually plan on using it more than once or twice. If possible, ask if you can borrow someone else's tumbler for a trial run or buy a used one if you aren't sure of whether you "need" a new tumbler of your own. If you work with metal, make beads or wants to get into lapidary, it might be more useful than if just etching a few glass pebbles once a month or perhaps even less as you can take advantage of the versatility of it then.


The third alternative: Sand blasting
Another alternative to potentially harmful chemicals is sand blasting. There are special set-ups for small items and home studios, such as a Sand Blast kit. I haven't tested it myself, but hope to be able to do it in the future. It could be an alternative to etch creams and a complement to a tumbler as it can achieve even matte finish on textured surfaces and you can use resists unlike in a tumbler.


Your turn
Do you use tumblers or etchants -- or sand blasting for that matter -- to give glass and stone a nice texture or etch motifs? Please, feel free to share your experiences and add to the list of pros and cons.



Footnote: For our experiments, we have used EtchAll etching cream (but not Dip 'n' etch) and a Lortone tumbler with commercial abrasives.

My rivoli coating experiment

 

This is the first pics of my latest experiment that I've been meaning to do for months now, doing my own coatings on rivolis inspired by the many custom coatings available. It's not that easy to find unfoiled rivolis to work with, but eventually I found a couple.

For this first test I used a clear 18 mm rivoli that I painted with size -- an adhesive for leaf metal -- on one side and covered with a variegated leaf metal in gold with pink and orange heat patina. Like with my butterfly, this leaf didn't come as a sheet, but nor flakes either. Rather something in between: a sheet crammed into a small container that crumbled and shred it. So I couldn't make a really smooth coating.

One thing I worried about was whether or not the gilding would look good through the crystal as that's how it's supposed to be view, as a coating applied to the back of the crystal seen through it. As you can see the brush strokes in the size are unfortuneatly visible. Don't know if I can eliminate the problem in my next rivoli by pressing the leaf harder to the crystal or if I should use resin instead of traditional size. After all, size is usually applied to an opaque surface and not meant to be seen. On the other hand, the streaking is more apparent in the photos as they magnify all the details the eye would otherwise not see.

I also had to add some more leaf to areas that became scratched when brushing the metal. Especially the culet is tricky -- I know that from my professionally coated rivolis too: it wears down easily. After leaving it overnight, I applied a sealant both to keep the metal from tarnishing and to protect the delicate gilding. I will add more coats later.

This was my first test and it has flaws -- like the only partially covered girdle, the scratching, transferring size from my fingers to the front of the crystal etc. I have learnt from it and it has far from deterred me from using the rest of my unfoiled rivolis. One thing I'll make for next time is some sort of holder for the crystal so I can have both my hand free and hopefully that'll also help me avoid getting adhesive and foil to the wrong side of the crystal. Some sort of putty would probably be useful.

I also took the opportunity to foil one of my tumbled glass pebbles, as you can see above. The flat back makes it much easier to apply the leaf metal to this "cabochon" than to a faceted crystal stone. Here I used a leaf metal similar to the one above, but with blue and green patterns instead of the rose version above. The matte surface and golden foiling gives it a soft, warm glow. This was my best pic, but it doesn't really do it justice (I keep saying that about almost all my photos...).

Ugly ducklings

Not all things you do turn out as well as you'd like them to. This is one example of that. This is one of my etched pendants. It's difficult to get a good pic of a matte and shiny black pendant, but I think you more than well can see the things I don't like about it.

First of all, when I bought these onyx pendants they were an opaque black and I had no idea that my etching would reveal that classic agate banding. I etched it a little longer than necessary , which made the problem worse. Also, the long etching made the sticker I used to make the bird motif started to lift, probably causing the white lines along parts of the silhouette. You live and you learn, I guess...

It's been sitting like this on my table for weeks, months now. Not sure what to do with it. I've thought about either giving it to someone who likes it better than I do, someone having mercy on it, or to try and etch it again, seeing if I can add a lightly etched surface to the motif. Not that I know whether it'll improve it or not, but I've wanted to test "double etching" and the effects I can make that way. And if this pendant is already screwed up, I don't have anything to lose by using it as a guinea pig.

I feel like I'm bullying the poor bird by complaining about it every time I look at it, but on the other hand, I do call it an ugly duckling, not just ugly. I still hope it can transform into, well, if not a swan so at least a prettier bird than I feel it is now. And if I can transform it perhaps I should just have an ugly duckling giveaway at let someone else provide a better home for it...

More etching: Butterfly meadow onyx pendant

I found this pic on my computer. It's an onyx pendant I etched at the same time I made the bird pendant for Joanna. To make it I composed a scene using several different peel-off stickers or parts of stickers. The stone covered by stickers stay shiny while the rest of the surfaces i frosted by the etch.

I'm still pretty much a beginner at etching motifs like this. When etching on stone it's not just a risk of etching too deep, but also that etching too much can bring out some unwanted surprises like bandning in the stone. That happened to another bird pendant I did in the same batch. And in the pendant above, you can see another problem: the pale lines where the cream (I presume) starts to get in under the edges of the stickers. I hope cutting the etching time will eliminate the problem because these really were etched a few minute more than necessary.

I like the touch of velvet matte stone, but the reason I've made several stone pendants is at least partially because I found it easier to get by black stone pendants than simple, unadorned glass pendants.

Glass etching: mixing shiny and frosted glass

I mentioned, when I reveiled my bead soup, that I'd partially etched the glass buttons Joanna gave me. And I also said I'd write a bit more about that later. Well, this is later. And I'll try my best to explain, though I'm not sure how clear it's end up being.

You can see one of the buttons above, but it's probably difficult to see what the etching did to it. Especially since I etched them all. So I found some glass mosiac I've etched earlier, which will illustrate this post. Unfortunately, I didn't have any transparent glass that was fully etched on one side and left unaltered on the other. The pics are 500-600 pixels wide so you can click on them to see full scale, making the details more visible.



Above you see two clear glass tiles that's been etched using ethcing cream. With clear glass, the difference between the untouched glass and the etched glass is very visible. Clear glass looks like frost (hence why etched glass is referred to as frosted), a transparent white. Light doesn't just shine right through it when the surface, on one or more sides, is matte. Some of it is reflected in a different way, which our eyes see as a colour. If you look closely, you'll actually see the pattern on the paper, not just the colour through the glass. So it's not heavy and opaque, frosted beads still feel light compared to opaque beads, matte or shiny.



Seeing it from the side might help showing the depth. See the shadow? It's the etched parts of the glass that hinders some of the light, unlike the areas left unetched. The grooves and dimples are not a result of the etching, the mosaic tiles came with those marks of air bubbles on the back: in fact, if you etch the glass deeply they'd be removed. Though grinding them down would probably be faster.

Now, with the buttons I figured that etching them would bring out some of the colours, seeing that they were so pale. But I didn't want to take away the shiny surface as the other beads were shiny. So I only etched the backs. As you can see above, etching the flipside gives you the benefit of an etched surface as well as keeping the surface closest to you nice and shiny. Like a glass carving or one of those cast glass stones with relief motifs that are etched afterwards.



When you etch a motif like I've done with the tile seen here, you can choose to use it with the motif on the front or on the back. Flipping it so the motif is on the back gives a feeling of it being encapsulated rather than floating on top of the etched glass. The matte surface above it acts like a haze, softening it (and making it hard for the camera to focus on it).

So there you have it: I etched one side to get more of a colours as the frosted surface reflects more light, while the unaltered surface on the other side still adds a nice shine. I like shiny glass. I like frosty glass. Sometimes mixing the two gives even better results.

If you want to see more glass and stone I've etched -- some of them with motifs, some without -- check out the label Etched stone/glass on this blog. (There's also some tumbled glass under that label: it gives a similar finish on glass as etching does, but there are differences.)


How to etch glass
To add a frosted finish to glass, you either use an etching product or sandblast. I use the former; more precisely Etchall Etching Cream. They do both creams and the much more fluid dips. The latter is perfect for items you want to etch all over -- like beads -- as you just dip them into the liquid, which is as fluid as water. The former is thicker and especially useful when etching motifs onto a surface, e.g. when making pendants, but a bit messier. I've only used cream as it's the product that I've found easiest to obtain in Sweden. Here, you can find it in online craft/scrapbooking shops. Otherwise, you'll find various etching fluids and etching creams from sellers specialising in glasswork (e.g. lampwork suppliers). Some bead shops also sell it. Two common brans are Etchall and Armour Etch.

To make a motif, you cover some of the glass with a protective film, a resist. That can be a sticker, white glue, paint, melted embossing powder, special products from the etch manufacturers (e.g. vinyl, resist gel) etc. After you've etched the glass, the resist is removed. Stickers and glue easily fall off when you wash and clean the glass to remove the etching cream. Etchall mentions some of the options here.

Note: While you can use this etching cream successfully on most glass beads and many (semi-precious) stones like agate, you can't etch borosilicate glass (aka pyrex, boro) as it's too hard.

I've written more about etching (in Swedish) on my other blog.

What Joanna got

More on the bead soup blog party. Joanna just posted a pic of the beads and pendant I sent her. So I thought I'd show some pics here as well.

For a focal, I choose one of my etched onyx pendants. The bird motif comes from a peel off sticker so it's not a fancy hand-drawn picture by me. I like to try making my own motifs in the future, though. And for a clasp, I choose a swarovski crystal button. I wanted to keep the mix metal free and also leave it to my recipient to choose what colour palette she prefers when it comes to metals.

Then there's the rest of the soup, a mix of stone and glass. There's a blend of Miyuki beads featuring matte black 2,8 mm drops, jet black drops (regular size) and matte black long magatamas. Joannas pic shows the shapes much better so do read her post if you want a better look of the Miyukis. Then there's blue luster farfalles and erinite green fire-polished, both Czech.

To that I added stone beads that would match the focal: onyx chips (some of them etched), two big sodalite rondelles, a round matte blackstone bead and three large hole beads in stone. Unsure about exactly what type.

I included chips eventhough many dislike them, either because they feel cheap or because it's a shape that can be hard to use. I nurture a hate-love relationship towards them myself. In this case I included them because they remind med of leaves and that fitted the theme of the focal with the bird on a twig with leaves.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what Joanna will do with this mix. She often uses colour so will she stay with my dark and faded, almost monochromatic, palette or add more colour? What will she do with all de different bead shapes I've presented to her? Which will she use and, most of all, will she use the infamous chips? I'm looking forward to the big reveal on February 26!

Job's tears and flint

Sometimes I'm a prolific blogger, other times I'm not. Right now I feel rather prolific. Perhaps becasue I got the inspiration to bead again? Anyway, I just wanted to write about this pic before I prepare for tonight's handball (it's Sweden vs. Argentina today).

I'm planning to write about Job's tears/adlai/croixseed/pearl barley on my other blog so I got out this thriftstore find for a photo session. Doing so, I passed by the heap of tumbled flint my sis has laying around as we can't decide whether to keep it matte and smooth or go through the next couple of steps in the tumbling process to give them a high polish. And I thought: that flint matches the adlai beads. So I took a pic of them together.

Not sure I'll actually make something using this combination of materials, but I like the soft stone against the silvery white of the adlai. You can't see it in the pic, but several of the flintstones have white patches that even more so make them blend in with the seeds.

More etching

I should do other things than blog here today, but I just wanted to show you my latest etching experiment. This is a handful of cat's eye or fiber-optic beads. Optical fibers cast i glass and cut into beads with that characteristic optical effect that's supposed to mimic the chatoyance, cat eye effect, in certain gemstones. Top grade cat's eye can look nice and is even used by lapidary artists, lower grade cat's eye is just ugly. With a few exceptions this isn't my favourite material.

But seeing how I like silverfoiled beads better when etched, perhaps this could be the case with cat's eye as well? Had to give it a try. And here's the result. Matte glass with a sublime silky shine. Can't really capture it in a picture. I like it. Now I'm thinking about etching the hold strand. [And as I'm writing this I suddenly realised that I should've taken a pic with the un-etched beads next to these for a comparison. D'oh.]

Goldstone/aventurine and cat's eye -- two types of beads that look better when etched. Don't think anyone sells already etched beads of either kind, or do they?

Tumbled glass -- first experiment

Ok, now for something more fun today -- I got a lovely gift with the mail this afternoon so I'm in a better mood now. Thank you so much, Dave and the rest of you at Rings & Things!


So what will I share today? I thought I'd show you my share of the first glass tumbling me and my sis experimented with this weekend. Tumbled glass is similar to sea glass in appearance and it's got the same soft surface as etched glass but with the difference that tumbling also smoothed the edges. Unfortunatly I forgot to get any "before" pics, though... I've washed the grit and glass particles off, but as you can see from the photos they still need to be cleaned a bit more.

We did read tuts online, but the problem was that there were many different suggestions. We did add somewhat coarser grit than the fine to medium that was suggested by most (apart from just tumbling with sand) and on a few pieces I think the finish is a bit too rough. But it's just one of those things you do because you want instant satisfaction -- and it's the kind of things you learn from.


The first pic show a handful of glass pebbles. The kind you find in the flower or home décor section in your supermarket or at the florist's. I sometimes use clear pebbles instead of more expensive clear glass domes/cabochons, but I also had a few with an ugly AB finish that I couldn't use so I tumbled them, which removes the finish. You can't use these to "encase" pictures and patterned papers, but you can add foil to the back for a lovely soft shine and a pinch of colour.

Remember the crackling experiements? The pebble above is one of the glass pebbles I put in the oven and then in ice water to acheive the crackled effect. Tumbling it shows off the crackles in a different way.


You've probably heard of sea glass, well, this is field glass: pieces of glass I've found in the fields when picking potatoes this summer. Thick dark glass with sharp edges that just had to be ground down for use in jewellery.


This is irregular glass mosaic, originally with a transparent, shiny surface. Mostly added these as we needed more glass to fill the drum. Like the new frosted finish, though.



Here you can see an interesting difference between etching and tumbling: on the heart, the thick garish AB finish I disliked has just been removed from the raised areas: it's still there in the crevices and recesses. Like when you oxidize metal and then polish it. If you etch instead, the liquid will pour into these crevices and remove the finish there as well.

The butterfly button is one I thought was nice, but way too crude. It hade hard edges, like the "seams" you often see on Indian lampwork beads. Tumbling it, the butterfly is now much softer. Much more in tune with the motif.


Dare I show this one (knowing the person who fused this cab and gave it to me sometimes reads the blog)? I'm not fully pleased with it. I believe I probably should give it a polish for a softer finish. Frosted but smoother. This cab was previously etched, but I didn't feel the result was even enough and also feared that etching it again might add to injury. So I wanted to see if tumbling it instead would give it a more even frosted finish. It is even now, much better than after I etched it, but it needs a finishing touch.


This is more mosaic. Italian glass mosaic with aventurine. I bought it to use in my jewellery, but the corners were so sharp I ended up barely using the pieces. Tumbling them not only smoothed the corners and edges, but also gave it a nicer frosted finish.



More mosaic? Yes, this is clear glass mosaic, which is often used onto of a picture of some kind. You can also use it as a less clear alternative to small glass tiles for making pendants. As with the pebbles above you can really see a pic through the frosted glass (it's all blurry), but you can add metal or foil for a slight change in colour and added glow.

We used what glass we had. My sis is "fortunate" enough to have dropped many coloured glass bottles, vases and such -- and she's saved the shards so she had a lot of glass she could recycle. Some have the perfect shape for bracelet focalpieces, following the curve of the wrist. She also had a piece of more unusual "field glass", a green shard from a Coca Cola glass, which added pattern to it.

Did we learn anything for the future? Apart from not getting impatient and add coarser grit than recommended, I think it was to drill holes before tumbling so the holes too will be smooth and rounded. We will try that next time. Because there will be a next time.

Etched brown goldstone

I've already shown you my blue/black etched goldstone nugget. As I was pleased with the result, I also felt confident that it would be a good thing etching my other, brown, nugget as well. This one has more copper particles in it than any other goldstone I've seen so naturally it has a different look from my first stone. If the copper became a subtle shimmering faint streaks in the darker stone, the metal gave the brown nugget a very different touch this time. Here, the stone looks like shiny, soft silk. It's matte, but the copper is so much more visible and light-reflecting. But as always, these are hard things to capture in with a camera, especially as still photos.




The darker "ring" on the surface is not an effect of the etching cream, it was there already when I bought it. Two of the sides are darker and two are lighter, as you can see in the pics above.

Etched glass and stone beads

Finally a new post -- I've been working hard in the potatoes fields these last few days so I've been too tired to keep up blogging. But today I'll finally show some more pics of my etching experiments.

First, a look on what the beads looked like before being etched. Note that not all beads are pictured as I added a few "on a whim" later. It's a small mix of glass and stone beads, chosen either because I felt they'd look nicer etched or they were not my favourites so I didn't care if I ruined them.



The black glass drop and stone ovals was my first project. To add patterns to them, I used peel-off stickers as a resist -- an idea I got from Melinda Barta's fab book Custom Cool Jewelry. I also painted a paw using white craft glue, applying it directly from the bottle, a method I found when reading about the etching cream at the Etchall website. Finally, I also tried painting a tree using gum arabic (used as a resist in water colour etc), but it didn't turn out as well, probably due to the old liquid being too thin and thus hard to apply in a thick enough layer to protect the stone from the etch.

It's difficult to photograph these beads so the motifs really show, but I hope you can see the patterns.


The oval stone above (some sort of jasper?) is one of my failed attempts: stone can look nice when etched, but this one doesn't. Silverfoil, on the other hand, is a type of glass beads I most often prefer etched. The foil gives the bead a sort of cold glow from within. The round stone is tiger cherry "quartz" (a glass imitation of stone).


On this photo you can see a few beads where I wanted to try applying the etch cream in such a way it'd create special effects. I tried streaking the drops/leaves, but it didn't fully work. The flowers -- so hard to capture on photo -- got a lighter etching as I applied the creme using a sponge. The result is a lightly etched bead with shinier recessed areas, giving it almost a white opal look.

Etched goldstone

I was given a jar of Etchall Etching cream by a generous fellow beader not too long ago and so I've been experimenting with it a few days now.

One thing I tried to etch was this goldstone nugget that I bought in a new age shop a long time ago. In those days I didn't know goldstone was glass and that sure wasn't the impression the shop gave either. But I loved it for the shimmer, not the material, so no harm done. Since then I've grown less fond of goldstone so I didn't mind "sacrificing" it.

And I must say I'm pleased with the result. I love matte glass and, even more so, matte metal. This have both. The copper shavings give a lovely sublime shimmer now. Kind of like eye shadow made from mica pigments. Not sure how well it shows up in the photos, though. (One thing I'm sure you see in the pics is the dust/lint I didn't see when I took the photos...)


Now I consider sacrificing my brown goldstone nugget too. It has much more copper in it so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. More of my etched glass and stone beads coming soon -- or check out this forum thread it you can't wait.