TOPIC: WIP Heart of Darkness revisited: custom Bane

So recently my Bane took a tumble off the wall and a disturbing rattle made me set it aside to take apart later. Having no real desire to repair it, it sat on a shelf until the nagging feeling I get when a project sits unfinished finally broke me.

True to my nature, once I started I had to make it as complicated as I possibly could. So, I said hey! I wanna learn how to etch.



This is the first half, I will document the process on the next for those who are interested.

So the first step is to sand the area I want to etch as it has to be bare metal



I rough in the design with a sharpie using the first half to compare for symmetry. This doesn't have to be perfect as no one will ever be looking at both sides at the same. Next, my daughter was kind enough to donate a truly ugly green nail polish, even if she didnt know that she donated it. I figure I'm helping her out.



I paint the polish over the design as a resist, excess is fine as I'll go over the design and refine the lines with a scraper, in my case, a trusty pocket knife.


As you can see the design sharpens up nicely. This process is what you might call meditative (tedious) but patience pays off. Any bare or mistakes can be retouched at this stage.


I've begun the shroud already also. Once the rest of the parts are finished we move to the etch.

Attach the positive lead to your piece. My etchant is one cup of white vinegar and 2 tbsp of plain salt. Its also good on chips.


Clamp a cotton ball in the negative lead or in my case I found that a small gauze pad out of my first aid kit worked. Bring several as I easily used 10 during the job.



Dab your pad into your etchant and then onto the piece. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds, do not rub.

Repeat across the whole design.