Islamic coins - piercing and soldering

Figure 3.17 - Adams, Z., (2019). Coin made from piercing and soldering.

The second technique of coin making that I thought I would try out is to pierce out the word and solder it onto a piece of plate including the outer edge of the coin. The image above shows a prototype of the Arabic coin after the words and outer edge had been soldered on. I like the way the coin has come out because of how clearly in focus the Arabic word is but was too neat to resemble a Bedouin coin.

I thought about making a mould to sand cast this piece. Sand casting for my coin will involve creating a model in metal that will then be pressed into casting sand very well. The issue I was told about that might affect some of the detail of the words was the little holes and smaller details in the writing. Apparently, sand can get stuck in the holes. Hopefully with the use of files and burs, I  will be able to open up the small spaces.

Islamic coins - etching technique

Figure 3.16 - Adams, Z., (2019). Acid etching copper coin

The method of acid etching begins with using heat to transfer a resist (printed out on plastic sheet) onto copper plate and placing it into ferric chloride for a few about 3 hours, depending on how deep you want the etch to be. Figure 3.16 shows the copper plate that has the coin design printed (resist) on and is ready for etching.

The etched prototype proved not so successful because the coin did not etch deep enough, but I also did not like the look of the etched metal background of the coin. The background was very uneven and bumpy, which I felt took a lot of attention rather than the words. So I will move on to the next method; piercing and soldering.