Acid Etching BE Glass - test results

[Kitty]

a few years ago i tried to frost some of my earrings using Etch All cream. some colors etched, others didn't. about 10 days ago the topic of etching cream came up here, and i said i'd try a range of BE colors and report the results. the product i used today is called Armour Etch, and the bottle is about 2 years old. i put a thin layer on with a Q-tip, and left it on for about 2 hours. it was totally dry when i washed off my sample pieces.

OPALS: i tested 0112 mint, 0116 turquoise, 0142 lavender, 0220 yellow, and 0114, a green color, too lazy to go look up its name. all of these etched.

TRANSPARENTS: i tried the stuff on plum, turquoise, purple gold, dark turquoise, light orange, red, emerald green, olive green, neo lavender, light amber, regular amber, cranberry, sky blue, lime green, clear, aventurine, and whatever the tint is called that is the same color as coke bottles. all of them etched.

i was going to post my little study in a neat and tidy format, with numbers and names of the colors, thinking some would etch, and some wouldn't, or some might etch differently than others. they all etched, and apparently pretty much equally, too. no need for fact-arranging, you see.

Armour All is made by Armour Product, of Wyckoff, NJ. 3 oz. was $9 about 2 years ago. it contains ammonium/sodium bifluorides. this stuff is considerably more effective than Etch All was five years ago when i first used such a cream.

also, Lynne C. reported that the cream she used would not bite if it was mixed with any water whatsoever. Armour Etch still bites when mixed with some water.

that concludes my unscientific report. it's 6:00pm ... time for a wee dram.

[Tony Smith]

Armour Etch etching cream is available at Michaels. They also have a good assortment of stencils available for etching.

Armour (not the Armor All people) also has a website at http://www.etchworld.com where they sell stencils, kits and discontinued items.

Tony