Vendors tend to have a lot of damaged or irregular merchandise that they need to dispose of. Try contacting one and ask them to save these goods for you, such as an unsellable award that has a tiny chip in the corner – it makes a wonderful piece for you to practice on.
Also, although most manufacturers would recommend using a water-based duct tape to cover the area on the object not covered by a photoresist film, we use plain masking tape. We’ve never had any problems with it, and it costs less.
-Jean Chen, Crystal by Design