Etching a blade?

[calyth]

I want to know some basic information about etching a blade.
Not that I'm doing it, but I'm asking my friend (who's great at drawing) to design some artwork to be sent to a local knifemaker to have a blade etched.
Can the etch span across the grind and the (somewhat) flat part of the blade? How much more expensive to have color etching? Are there special maintanence to take care of? If the etch cna span across two differently angled surface, then would it be hard to make the artwork look the same way?

Thanks very much in advance.

 

[Gollnick]

Do a little searching and you'll find a thread where one of the members used naval jelly (available at auto parts stores) to etch a design onto a blade. He masked off the design using, as I recall, duct tape. I think that maybe plastic packing tape might give cleaner edges. But, he had good results.

 

[calyth]

The thing is I don't want to mess up the blade, because it's not for me, besides I'm paying quite a bit (in comparison to what I have) for the knife already, and if I mess it up that way, I would not be able to get a replacement on time, if not at all.
I'll probably look into that and try it out on some POS.
Searching with naval jelly yield a much better result.
Someone self-etched his blade with naval jelly, some with PCB etchers, others with vinegar and some even with coke... Hm... I think I'll get some POS blade and really try it out.
Any ideas as to what kind of paints are used for color etchings?

 

[calyth]

oh, 40 minutes in heated and slightly diluted tomato paste did yield some good result. For those of you who don't like to mess with some chemicals, this might be a good solution...
I'll probably try masking off my initials on some other POS and try again. But still I probably wouldn't work on the blade for my friend like that.
Also, does beadblasting or other satin finish affect how well the blade etches?