#electrolytic etching

saltwater etch! Or, prep beforehand. The vinyl sticker was my resist, so anything exposed was etched away.

After the saltwater etch! Everything not covered by the vinyl sticker etched away, and the vinyl lasted juuuuuust long enough at the details on the rose & lettering that I got some beautiful little carve-outs for the petals & leaves & the “VII”. They look so fucking CRISP in these pictures.

First paint: Black paint, w/green and red in the etchings on the rose (vinyl still on, to protect the skull).

Vinyl removed! All that was left to do was paint the skull. The darker fuzzing around the edge of the skull is where the electrolyte etch started etching UNDER the vinyl 😅 and there was some uptake of the black enamel there, but nothing that couldn’t be painted over.