Metal Embossing

I brought home three cherished peonies from the store the other day, an extravagant purchase, but I NEEDED them!  In each state we have lived in, I planted a row of peonies, and have left a peony trail behind me.  Here in Texas the climate is too warm for them, so I can't grow them anymore. Lucky people in a number of states are benefiting from my labors!  Peonies are my favorite flowers and have an unbeatable, heady fragrance.  So, because I had these lovelies, I just had to draw them.  Decided to try it on metal.
Here it is with my etching finished - as you can see, it's pretty thin and floppy.

This shows a close up of a little section so you can see the detail a little better.  Because the metal is so reflective (and because I'm not great with cameras) it's kind of hard to show what I want, but you get the idea.  Peonies are so multi-petaled, that I wanted it to be complex, and metals really beg to be heavily etched to show off their reflective qualities.

My next step was to gesso it to a board because the metal needs support.  I used a LOT of gesso and laid it thickly on both board and metal, filling in all the indentations to preserve the etching.  It'll probably take three years to dry.

Here it is sitting on my workspace drying.  I haven't measured it but it's probably 11x14 or so.

My next step will be to paint it; I think I'm going to paint it in some pastel tones.  I'll take some pics of that and post it very soon.

Let me know what you think of it so far, and if you've had any experiences with metals.  I do these every year (on a smaller scale) with my art students.  The younger the student, the smaller the piece.  They invariable LOVE it!