Photo Paper Quality Matters... Apparently.
I learned something today (Saturday, September 5, 2009): don't use a lower quality photo paper in etching projects.
The "4 out of 5 stars" rating ON THE BOX should have tipped me off, dammit.
My thinking was this: the first project (that totally boss self-portrait on brass, pictured below) went really well, but the paper removal from the metal was a nightmare (visit http://steampunkworkshop.com/electroetch.shtml to learn more about what I mean), so I thought that using a lighter paper weight would make the process go more smoothly. FAIL.
Well, that's not completely true... removing the paper was a breeze. Getting the image to stay on the metal just didn't work. Also, the HP paper has a plastic backing that melted spread all over the exposed metal. And my iron. And the towel I put under the metal.
So while removing the paper might be a pain in my butt, it's much better than the alternative.
(you can see the above images in greater detail on my flikr! page by clicking here!)
I learned something today (Saturday, September 5, 2009): don't use a lower quality photo paper in etching projects.
The "4 out of 5 stars" rating ON THE BOX should have tipped me off, dammit.
My thinking was this: the first project (that totally boss self-portrait on brass, pictured below) went really well, but the paper removal from the metal was a nightmare (visit http://steampunkworkshop.com/electroetch.shtml to learn more about what I mean), so I thought that using a lighter paper weight would make the process go more smoothly. FAIL.
Well, that's not completely true... removing the paper was a breeze. Getting the image to stay on the metal just didn't work. Also, the HP paper has a plastic backing that melted spread all over the exposed metal. And my iron. And the towel I put under the metal.
So while removing the paper might be a pain in my butt, it's much better than the alternative.
(you can see the above images in greater detail on my flikr! page by clicking here!)