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Can I etch into a nickel coated copper etching plate?

I recently had my perfect copper etching plate nickel coated. I am worried I lost some of my intricate detail. Can I keep etching into the plate now? Does nitric acid etch nickel? I am upset that I might have destroyed weeks of work on my etching which I was so happy with.

Sophie Dunlop
printmaker - Adelaide, Australia
September 12, 2010

If you decide to strip your plate, there are specially formulated strippers available that are safer than nitric acid and will not attack copper to a noticeable degree. Try in a non-functional area first, since fine detail defects are readily detected by sight.

Guillermo Marrufo
Monterrey, NL, Mexico
September 23, 2010

Go to the Yellow Pages, look up Electroplating Supplies and contact some of them such as Macdermid, etc and see who will help, or go to a specialist electroplater.

Geoffrey Whitelaw
- Port Melbourne, Australia
October 4, 2010

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