My friend Sarah is multiskilled, but one of her recent blog posts has inspired me byeind all her others. You can find it here - be warned - you might be sidetracked for quite a while if you start looking round her blog.
I even talked to my jewellery teacher about it and lo and behold, there are facilities to etch at my class so I'll definitely be having a go before we break up for summer. Just a chain and possibly another shawl pin to do at the same time....