Etching Brass for a Journal // Custom Made Gift

Hi, everyone!

I’ve not posted in a while. Just too busy with all the things.

I made a custom gift a couple of months ago for my mom on Mother’s Day. She likes to journal and I found a nice one. Then, I wanted to customize it, so I picked up some sheet brass.

I made a video on my YouTube channel about the entire process:

I’ve read on here about people using Cermark on steel and some other metals, but an alternative is Dry Moly Lube, so I picked up a can of that. At the time I looked, one can of Cermark was $80 and I got this Dry Moly Lube for about $11.

After cleaning the brass with some 0000 steel wool, I put on 3 light coats of Dry Moly Lube, letting it dry in between. Then, it was to the Glowforge!

Here’s what it looked like right out of the Glowforge:

(I know…my alignment is slightly off. I’ll live with it.)

Then, I just used some high proof rubbing alcohol and a paper towel to rub off the excess marking spray. This worked really well, and actually gave the brass a cool patina.

I laid out where I wanted the little brass plate and attached it using some contact cement. When I was done, I had a really cool looking, brass-adorned journal. My mom loved it.

Thanks for checking out the project! Let me know what you think!