First make a pencil drawing on paper of the lettering to be etched; plain block letters will be the best for the purpose. Then get a brass plate of the size required and about 1/8 in. thick, and coat its polished side with white wax or ordinary beeswax. To do this, heat the plate and rub the wax evenly over the surface; then transfer the lettering to the waxed surface of the plate by means of carbon paper placed between the plate and the sketch, and marked with a pencil. The letters will then appear plainly on the plate. Then carefully scrape away the wax inside the outline of the letters, care being taken not to remove the wax from any part of the plate not to be engraved. A wall of wax is then put round the plate to retain the acid, which is then poured on the plate and left there until it has bitten deeply enough, when it is poured off and the plate washed in clean water. The plate should then be polished and the letters tilled in with black japan varnish.