Odi et Amo: Crafting Mishaps

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Crafting Mishaps

I'm not sure if folks are generally aware of the fact that sealed granite is not completely indestructible. It is, however, mostly indestructible. If you're curious, the only thing that can really eat away at polished granite is hydrofluoric acid -- and unfortunately, I recently had to learn this lesson for myself. A few weeks ago I was inspired by Eddie Ross to try my hand at etching a silhouette onto a mirror (see his really cool project here). I had some cheap Ikea mirrors already up in my entryway and decided to etch each of them with a small silhouette of my dachshund Olivia. Over the course of a few weekday evenings, I managed to etch all 4 mirrors following Eddie's thorough instructions. I think the finished product is pretty cute, don't you?

Alas, in my rush to clean up, I left a damp rag on my granite countertop that must have had traces of the etching cream I had used. The next morning, when I moved the rag to the sink, I noticed that my granite now looked like this:

It's a bit hard to tell from the picture (black granite is highly reflective), but the Armour Etching Cream left that white blotch right next to the sink. Honestly, if I had given it any thought at all to the matter, I would've realized that anything that can permanently etch glass or a mirror could quite possibly etch other materials (like, say, polished stone) and been more careful. After many applications of marble polish (recommended to us by a local stone dealer), it still looks like this. I am now afraid we'll have to bring in a professional to re-polish that area of the counter. Sigh. Suddenly, my little cheap-o craft project (mirrors + etching cream = $25) is looking like it's going to cost us. So, while I definitely encourage you to try your hand at etching, I would highly suggest you keep the etching cream as far away as possible from your natural stone surfaces.