Chemical Etching Of Metal Jewelry And Artistic Expression

The metal jewelry played an important role in people's life since ancient time. Along with the change of times and the promotion of aesthetic appreciation, using natural color of the metal directly for metal jewelry making has no longer satisfied people's aesthetic needs, however, those skills adopt rich colors and strong artistic expression in the surface treatment process technique are affect more and more people. The surface treatment technique is one of important point during metal jewelry processing; it determines the final effect of surface artistic of the metal jewelry. There are varieties of the surface treatment techniques, and the chemical etching of metal (in this article, the metal etching method include the lack of metal and the change of color on metal surface by using chemical method) provides a special form for the artistic treatment on the metal surface.Chemical methods could change the surface color of metal, increasing the surface ornament or texture, and has the traits of short time, simple operation and low cost, it has the potential widely apply on jewelry and crafts. Based on the understanding of principal of the metal surface chemical etching application, this thesis analyze and summarize recent status and characteristics of those jewelries by using this method. In consider of its good artistic expression, the likely effects of formed color and texture were classified respectively. During the chemical etching process, the possibility of the structure and ornamentation use in metal jewelry designs were also discussed and illustrated, such as the jewelry modeling, color, pattern, texture and other aspects of artistic expression. In addition, based on the analysis of principal and process of metal chemical etching, and combined with jewelry design in practice experience, the author designed and made some finished jewelries related to the metal chemical etching.In China, the attention on the artistic expression and application of metal surface treatment crafts didn't get enough attention, which has restricted the development of metal jewelry processing industry in a very long period. Using chemical etching in metal jewelry design, make us free from strain of traditional precious metal and broaden the themes and forms of metal jewelry. It also fully demonstrates the characteristics of metal materials, and highlights the outstanding beauty of chemical etching jewelry in the form. These characteristics provide the theoretical basis for reference of personalized jewelry design and manufacture, which also afford viable developing space for the commercial jewelry.