This metal coffee cup with a truck is used by truck drivers. Every driver has an integrated coffee machine and uses such a metal cup to make his/her coffee. It is always nice to have personalized items in your truck cabin when traveling long distances. This cup is a present to my friend who is a truck driver.

I used the metal etching with electricity method to transfer a picture of a truck to the front of the cup. This method allows to transfer an image with high precision. It does not use corrosive acids like other metal etching methods, and it is much more environmentally friendly. It is also an inexpensive and easy way to etch metal.

For this project, I took a standard, used metal coffee cup with a plastic handle. As the first step, I removed the plastic handle to protect it from the metal etching process. Then I properly cleaned the surface of the cup inside and outside.

To transfer the picture on the cup you have to apply paint primer on the outside of the cup. Make sure that the layer of the primer is not too thin or too thick. It is a good idea to paint it lightly two times. Before painting, I removed all fingerprints with a paint thinner. I protected the inside of the cup with regular painting tape because the metal etching process can damage the unprimed parts. So, I painted the outside of the cup with the paint primer and let it dry completely.

Next, I printed the image on a regular sheet of paper, cut it out, painted it with a photo transfer liquid, and placed it on the front of the cup. When the image was dry, I wetted it with water and carefully rubbed the paper off. As a result, only the ink image stayed on the cup.

Before starting the etching process, you always need to scratch off the image lines carefully to remove the primer. For that, I used a knife, but you can use any sharp metal tool that allows you to work with precision. At this point, I was ready to begin the etching process. After the image was etched on the cup, I removed the rest of the paint primer with a paint thinner and attached the plastic handle back.

I hope you like this metal coffee cup with a truck. Perhaps it will inspire you to make your own personalized coffee cup.

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This club hammer with forest and raven is one of my favorite recent works. For the design of the hammer I chose a forest theme: one side of the hammer head has a line of trees in the horizon, and on the other side there is a black bird. I decided to cover the wooden handle with black leather to give it a smooth and soft look.

The club hammer with forest and raven is made using the metal etching with electricity method. This method allows to transfer an image with high precision. It does not use corrosive acids like other metal etching methods, and it is much more environmentally friendly. It is also an inexpensive and easy way to etch metal.

For this project I used an old hammer with a broken plastic handle. Before etching the metal, I removed the metal head of the hammer. Otherwise the process would be more complicated: it is easier to work with the metal part only. Then I cleaned the surface with sanding paper to remove rust and smoothen it out.

To get a light 3D effect for the forest I etched the metal twice. In this way I got three layers of depth. When I was etching the metal for the second time, I also transferred the image of the raven on the other side of the head. To make the metal head shiny, as the last step after the etching process I used metal polishing paste.

I attached a new wooden handle to the hammer head and covered it with velvety black leather. First I took an old piece of leather from an old leather jacket and sewed the leather cover as a sleeve. For that I used a sewing machine. Then I wrapped the cover tightly on the handle. To prevent it from sliding, I used universal glue.

The trickiest part was to finish the end of the handle. I decided to fold the edge of the cover as an envelope and then I used a handmade metal nail to secure the edges. As a final step I decorated the hammer by wrapping a thin leather string that I cut out from the same leather jacket at the top of the handle. I used glue to secure the end of the string to prevent it from unwrapping. I hope that you will like it!

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This hammer with a cat was the first project where I tried metal etching using electricity. I was not sure whether a picture will be transferred accurately or if the thin lines would be blurred. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the final result and now it is one of my favorite techniques to decorate metal items.

For this project I used an old rusty bench hammer with a broken wooden handle. Before etching the metal, I removed the handle and discarded it. On one side of the hammer I etched the profile of a cat and on the other side I added an abstract Viking ornament. When the etching was finished, I properly cleaned it, sanded and used a metal polishing paste to make the hammer shiny.

I added a new wooden handle to the hammer head. To add more texture, I wrapped a piece of velvety leather at the top of the handle and glued it to secure from sliding. Then, on top of the leather, I wrapped a thin black string. As a decoration, and also to secure the edge of the leather, I attached a handmade metal nail.

Finally, I decorated the wooden handle by burning a few Viking signs. For that I used a solder. All signs have a meaning. On one side it says: health, energy, strength; and on the other side: man, power, need, water, sun, warrior, wealth.

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