Abstract: A method is disclosed herein for forming characters, figures, logos and the like on the surface of an article such as a record which is produced from a pattern. The pattern is formed initially according to customary techniques, and the characters are then chemically etched into the surface of the pattern so that the characters will appear in proper form upon the article produced from the pattern. The pattern may be formed from any metal or other material which may be chemically etched with sufficient resolution. The article formed from the pattern may be produced by a number of known processes such as molding, pressing or stamping. A particular application for the method of the present invention is in forming the general and proprietary information in the central portion of a phonograph or video tape record which may, for example, be stamped from the pattern.