The Process of Metal Etching
The etching of metal is a multi-stepped process which imparts texture to the metal. Etching is most often done on metal before it is made into an object. My etching work begins with a picture I’ve drawn or a photograph I’ve taken. The metal is treated by fusing a photosensitive film onto it, and then the selected image is imprinted on the film by exposing it to ultraviolet light. The metal with the imprinted image is then developed in a basic solution.

	In the Spotlight
	Barbara Bowling
	Representing: Boise, Idaho
	Barbara Bowling is an artist living in Boise, Idaho. She specializes in vitreous enameling and metal etching, inspired by the small canvas that jewelry-sized work presents. All of her jewelry pieces are one-of-a-kind, presenting unique opportunities for personal adornment. Her 15 years as a professor of horticulture are reflected in the plant forms and the flowing natural textures and lines of her designs. “I create to connect to the world around me, but also because it is simply in my nature to make things: To bring form to the formless, order to chaos, an evocative object where there once was none.

After this, the metal is floated onto an aerated bath of acid salts: ferric chloride for nugold and copper; ferric nitrate for fine silver and sterling. After several hours, the imprinted image is eaten away by the acid salt, resulting in a very pleasing texture.

What is Vitreous Enameling?

Vitreous enameling is an ancient art, with the earliest known pieces dating back to 13th century, B.C. Finely ground glass is melted and fused onto metal in a kiln with multiple firings, resulting in an extremely durable, yet beautiful surface. The use of transparent enamels results in a surface with complexity and depth, while opaque enamels impart a very solid and dense color. This surface is so tough that it is used for road signs and high-end outdoor commercial signage.

Many techniques are used in conjunction with enamels, including cloisonné, where fine silver or gold wires encase the glass in cells; and champleve, a technique in which glass is packed into etched metal.
Vitreous enamels are not paints, nor are they plastics (resins). Their quality and longevity far exceed these more modern materials.

NuGold is an alloy (type) of brass that has been specially formulated for jewelry. It has a richer, warmer color than most other brass alloys, and most importantly, it contains NO nickel, which many people are allergic to. It offers that rich golden color without the very high cost of gold.

Argentium is a type of sterling silver. Like traditional sterling silver, it is composed of 92.5% fine silver, however the copper in traditional sterling has been replaced by germanium.It has only recently been developed, and has the advantage of being highly tarnish resistant. In appearance, it is indistinguishable from traditional sterling silver.

Artist Statement:
Sewing cards. Remember them? In my first memory, I am on a boat with my dad, who is fishing. I am three years old and threading bright yarn through holes in equally bright cardboard with a blunt needle. A couple of years later, I find old curtains in the basement, and play with them for hours, eventually figuring out how to sew a seam (inside out!), and make gathers (big stitches, drawn tight!). I make a dress for my best-friend doll, Cinderella.

I have been thus driven for all of my remembered life. So it is not so surprising that after fifteen years as a plant science professor, I find myself once again making things full-time, rather than in stolen moments.  In those intervening years, so full of practical considerations, I developed an enormous respect for plant life.  Plants fill the world with function and beauty simultaneously. No life could Be without their primary existence, and yet they live their lives of incomprehensible utility, exquisite beauty and languid grace without expectation of appreciation or recognition. Their sensual, graceful forms and jewel-like colors inspire and inhabit my work, often in abstraction, but still evident to even the casual viewer.

I make things because I am compelled and inspired to. The media I chose changes. The need to create as a means of connecting to creation . . . to express what’s inside to the outside . . . to produce a compelling object . . . never does.

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