A new resist for etching silver!

Well first let me say that I have fallen in love with a new magazine. All of you crafty jewelry artists should take note: Belle Armoire Jewelry! I was so pleased with the latest issue's PMC bird article. An what an adorable piece it was.

Let me share just a tid bit of a very cool technique I learned about regarding etching onto silver. Apply a dark colored fingernail polish as a resist! You can also use wax as your resist. This was another one of those little inventive tricks that we crafty people so often come up with. I did test it on sterling and it worked beautifully. Have fun with it!

Anyway, lately I am just in love with birds on my pendants. This was inspired by an 1800's Japanese Wallpaper of a swallow perched on a willow branch. I etched it by hand, however I did experiment with acid etching the initial image, but I wanted more texture so I decided to carve the image out. Anyway it is avail in my etsy shop: http://www.alternatebliss.etsy.com/