Etched

Despite the fact that I cannot walk into any room of my house without being confronted by giant tumbleweeds of fur dropped from two dogs shedding their winter coats, I have managed to find any number of excuses this week not to do a lick of housework.

Today’s avoidance project is a goodie. I have been trying out Sherri Haab’s new E3 Etch machine on a copper plate whose design I made on yet another day when I rationalized shunning my vacuum cleaner and dust mop. It’s good timing too, because Sherri just put up a YouTube video supplementing the kit instructions. (Sherri appears to be the star of this week’s blog postings, since I also mentioned her in connection with my pre-Mother’s Day barbecue machinations a couple of days ago.)

The E3 Etch not only textures copper but it also imprints fired metal clay and can be used for plating and electroforming. The versatility of this machine means that I can kill a few more days playing with it before I really do have to break down and clean my floors.

The kit includes some pre-printed patterns on Sherri’s ITS transfer paper, but you also can use other resists: oil-based paint pens or fingernail polish, for example. Or you can send blank sheets of the ITS paper through a laser printer and produce your own computer-generated designs.

I’ve already messed with a Sharpie paint pen on one copper plate, as well as some of the pre-printed images. I’m going print one of my own designs and use up some old Delta metal paints before my next go-round with the etcher. That ought to take me through early next week, which will be about the time I start hallucinating buckets of Pine-sol coming at me like the Mickey Mouse in the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”