Etching copper with salt water and electricity it’s a simple technique used for Delft Clay casting
a pendant.

Salt water etching copper is a great way to make models for sand casting jewellery.
In this video I salt etch copper then sand cast it with bronze.

For more info on the Delft Clay sand casting system i have two previous video that go into more detail … here’s there links…
Part 1 …    • Delft clay casting silver and bronze ...  
part 2 …    • Delft clay casting silver and bronze ...  

**Warning **
I’ve had a few comments concerning the safety of this process
so to try and cover some of the issues I’ve pasted the comments in here …

Oh geez Nick, this process is so f****** dangerous. Cooking salt is perfectly harmless until you run an electrical current through it.

A. The bubbles you see at the anode are gaseous chlorine being liberated into the atmosphere. This is rather toxic.

B. The bubbles at the cathode are gaseous hydrogen. This is rather explosive.

C. The sludgy precipitate is mainly copper(II) hydroxide with some sodium hydroxide and depending on contaminates, other metal hydroxides. This really isn't something you want to try burning, unless you really are into releasing poisonous gases into the local environment.

D. Most of the sodium hydroxide (aka caustic soda) produced will remain in solution, filtering will create a solution of lye... not water. Please don't confuse this solution with water.

E. A much safer, simpler and no waste method would be to use copper sulphate as your electrolyte. Then you would just be transferring copper ions from your piece at the anode through solution with excess copper accumulating on your cathode. There would be no dangerous side reactions and your solution could be reused indefinitely.

I think a warning/disclaimer is a very good idea. I thoroughly support people's right to take risks, but yeah, it is a bit different when you publish for public consumption.

Try out the copper sulphate as an electrolyte. It works well and can be reused. Or, if you want to dispose of the copper sulphate electrolyte, you can precipitate the copper out of solution by adding aluminium foil and a pinch of salt. I use the copper precipitate to make copper clay, or you can just fire it up and melt it back into a lump of copper metal. The left over solution is primarily aluminium sulphate and (supposedly) safe for drain disposal. I still evaporate off the water and dispose of the solids via council approved waste collection.

"Safe" is a relative concept, all etching has inherent dangers, eg. liquids + electricity, exposure to solutions and powders, environmental hazards. Wear safety gear, a minimum of chemical splash goggles and nitrile gloves (not latex), work in a very well ventilated area, keep kiddies and pets away, store and/or dispose of chemicals in approved manner.

Thanks to Jirup for the comments.

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Ps
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   • making silver and bronze jewellery  

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