And as for chemicals it is just table salt and water for the etching solution. The added copper sulphate is optional and only about £3 on ebay or amazon.
As I've said before though this can be done with a paper laser toner printer to the same effect, and heat transfer the image to the metal before etching. Someone did this years ago and made a guide here: http://www.instructables.com/id/A-Stainless-Steel-Bitcoin-Wallet/
There are easy ways to avoid the setup costs, the easiest by having access to the office printer at your work would do it.