Etching preparation

I have made a start on the five post sculptural installation that has snake and water motifs.

I needed 15 pieces of 3mm thick aluminium plate - each piece to measure 13cm wide by 39cm long - 3 for each post. I had a remnant of a sheet of aluminium that I had used for a couple of previous jobs. But I was not convinced that I would get 15 pieces out of it. But as you can see from the photo below - with a bit of juggling I worked out how I could cut 15 pieces from the sheet.

I cut the sheet with my angle grinder. This tends to leave quite a burred edge. So the cutting was followed up with grinding and filing the edges which resulted in 15 good pieces.

I gave both sides of the pieces a sand with a light sandpaper; and then painted the back with oil based pain to stop etching on the back of the plates. The painting took place on the gravel pile - left a bit of a silver pattern on the blue-grey gravel.

Then the process of transferring the snake motif began. I cut a template out of grey-board which I painted with a remnant bit of spray paint to stiffen the board. I traced around the template with an oil based paint marker. This enables me to the add the shellac.

A good start - I hope to do the etch of the 15 pieces in the next week or so.