Anodized Aluminum 101

What is Anodizing?

Anodizing is an electrochemical process that converts the metal surface into a decorative, durable, corrosion-resistant, anodic oxide finish. Aluminum is ideally suited to anodizing.

(info from the American Council of Anodizers)

Gottagettadeal on ETSY is now carrying Anodized Food Safe Aluminum. 

We're slowly building up an inventory in a variety of colors and gauges.  

                                  We currently have 

Vintage Aqua

Gold

Leaf Green

Hot Pink (ONLY IN 14G)

These colors are available in 18 or 14 gauge.  

Advantages.......

One of the advantages is the ability to work with a VERY PERMANENT color and texture.

Roll

Sand

After a piece has been rolled, the raised portion of the design can be sanded.  

Begin with a rough grit sand paper to remove the largest portion of raised anodized color.  

Then move to a finer grit sand paper to improve the look of the metal.

This process of sanding off the raised design creates a beautiful contrast 

in color and texture.

Polish

Use a yellow Sunshine Cloth to bring up a shine.

How to polish.........

Place the blank on the table with a piece of paper below to protect the table.

With a lot of downward pressure -  begin polishing the blank.  

Continually move to a clean section of the cloth to get the most polishing benefit.

Disadvantage....

The current method of creating contrast with a thick Industrial Marker will not work well on anodized metal.   

Cleaning the surrounding area with alcohol does not work well and leaves a dark shadow.  


The Solution... is to use an EXRA FINE Industrial Sharpie!  

Mark only on the inside of the stamped letters.  

There's no problem with clean up with this method.  

***Remember... 

you'll still need to bake the markings on the piece at 300 degrees F for 1 hour.  This will set the marker for a permanent contrast.

You may run into darker colors of anodized metal where you will want to use white for the contrast.  You can use an acrylic white paint and apply it carefully with a toothpick.

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As we continue to experiment with the new metal, I'm sure we will have a few more updates to our blog.  

Please let us know about your experiences and what you've learned.  Add a note to our blog or contact me through Gottagettadeal on ETSY.

Enjoy creating!!!
Lizz

at Ear in the Envelope Inc