I think I got interested in seeing what the Cameo could do as far as metal etching when I was looking at supplies for the machine over on Amazon. I didn't think much about it at the time, but as time passed, my mind would go back to the accessories. I watched some videos and was further intrigued and when I got enough rewards points for taking surveys, I got the stuff I needed to get started.There are all kinds of blanks with all kinds of prices. If you decide to try this out, don't spend a ton of money to begin with. I'll explain why after my show and tell.
First was the Chomas etching tool. Now I can start, right? Nope. I need something to etch, so I looked at what they had on Amazon and got this kit for bracelets. My first attempt was the thin bracelet. I looked through the borders I'd purchased from the Silhouette Design store and went with a dinosaur border. I had to tweak it a little to get rid of the base and resized it so it would fit on the plate. The original design had only four dinos on it, so I just did a copy/paste twice to make it longer. And then I grouped it so I could work with just one section instead of three.
Now what? I've got my design done, how do I get it on the bracelet? The great thing about crafters is they like to share their knowledge. I found a plethora of information and videos. I went with this one from Our Crafty Chaotic Life on YouTube. In this video, she uses an older model Cameo. She has a short followup video of tips for using the Chomas tool with the Cameo 3. Make sure you view this one if you have a Cameo 3.
So, I got my contact paper, my double sided tape (did you know that tape gets old and doesn't pull from the dispenser, just rips in your hand? I didn't....) And I followed the instructions on the video. And here was the result.
Now, I don't why the dinos look like they are dark in the picture above, maybe just the shadow of how I took the photo. If you look at the one below this, you can see that they aren't dark at all. You can also see the paint on the inside where I did try my hand at filling the etched area in. I tried Sharpies, an ImpressArt enamel pen (I had the whole set of five on my wishlist and realized before I got them all, I should try just one; I'm glad I did, the Sharpies did a better job and that's not saying much) and I even tried just slathering on acrylic paint, letting it dry and wiping off the excess. Nothing worked. Unless you had the bracelet at the right angle, you couldn't see the design.
In the above photo, you will see scratch marks at the top right side (click on the photo to go bigger, click that photo to make it even larger - to get the full size for better detail, click on the little magnifying glass at the top right of the image). This is addressed in the video about using the Cameo 3. The Chomas tool can't be all the way down in the holder when etching, or scratches happen.
Because I couldn't see the dinos to my satisfaction, I started researching different types of blanks. Anodized aluminum (I got some samples of this type of blank, I haven't tried them yet) and another blank by the name of Alumamark, which is black where it's there is etching (more samples waiting to be tested). But, seriously, there has to be something more cost efficient. Back to scouring the interwebs.
Then I found out about filling in text. And I watched videos. Once again, Our Crafty Chaotic Life came to the rescue. And here is the new bracelet.
I need to practice more, do some fine tuning of the fill, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Using the tips for the Cameo 3. the extra scratches are gone and this would be something I wouldn't be embarrassed to give to someone. If you see the finer point Chomas Creations tool, don't bother getting it. The research has been done and the one here does a great job, no need for a finer point.
One of the things I found during my research that intrigues me is spray painting the blanks before etching. There are many available colors. The Krylon Shimmer line has piqued my interest, but for now, I'll just try the paint we have here. I've got gold and Brian has two greens, black, grey, red and orange back in his shop.
So, that's one of the things I've been playing around with. My big project is on hold right now because something I ordered back on the third is just sitting in post office limbo somewhere.
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