Blackening bulino (sterling silver tiger pendant)

Dani Girl · Jun 3, 2017

Hey all.

I'm thinking of how to blacken the engraving on this for the best visibility

I tried oil paint but i didn't like it so washed it back out.

Would it be a good idea to patina it and carefully sand the top off. (it's already been lightly sanded to knock off an burrs)

How's my bulino going? More dots?

SalihKara · Jun 3, 2017

It looks very good to me,

Also, its darknes looks very well, why do you try to make it darker ?

JJ Roberts · Jun 3, 2017

Dani Girl, :thumbsup:

J.J.

Dani Girl · Jun 3, 2017

In a photo it looks great, in real life it's all shiny and sparkly and hard to see until on the right angle.

peteb · Jun 3, 2017

I have solved the problem of blackening using platinum clad niobium. I have mentioned and shown numerous of my pieces on this forum and will share my experiences to any who are interested. My progress may be viewed at http://www.iconobium.com

Roger Bleile · Jun 3, 2017

Dani Girl said:
In a photo it looks great, in real life it's all shiny and sparkly and hard to see until on the right angle.

That is the nature of all the Italian bulino work I have seen by the famous names. The photos of their work does not represent the actual article.

Southern Custom · Jun 3, 2017

I'm right there with Roger. We see photos just like the one you took and think that this is what bulino engraving looks like but the examples I've seen are visible only at a particular angle and is shiny and sparkly at other angles. It's the nature of the work. I remember last week I mentioned that Sam is able to achieve an incredibly dark even finish throughout the cuts on his work. He immediately let me know that the engraving in the photo had no ink whatsoever.

Guicho Sanchez · Jun 3, 2017

Wow look good to me

mitch · Jun 4, 2017

there's not only no ink or paint in this, i cleaned it before shooting the photograph. at just the right angle, properly cut bulino is a sharp black & white. and at every other angle it's a sparkly unrecognizable mess.

SamW · Jun 4, 2017

Instead of "bulino" I call my dot process scenes "stick and pick" or even "lotadot". I use a sharp round tool and am more aggressive with the depth...cleaning off left over burrs with my fingernail and also with a paper towel. The scenes can be viewed over a larger range of angles. I like Renaissance wax with a bit of lamp black for "inking the cuts/dots.

By the way, that is a great looking Tiger...Corbett would be proud of you.

PS...I have run my finger over Austrian and Italian bulino work and it has as much or more roughness than my process...in fact one Italian piece made me check my fingertip for blood!

dave gibson · Jun 4, 2017

Are you using 'Gloss' paint? Maybe a flat black would be less reflective. Another engraver recently told me he's getting good results using waterproof India ink.

gcleaker · Jun 4, 2017

Liver of sulfur will blacken silver. You can buy it at Rio Grand.
Skill comes from diligence.

Dani Girl · Jun 5, 2017

Thanks SamW. I do what I call power bulino like that when I am not wanting to spend the time doing it the old fashioned way. I just want to know I can... not sure which I prefer yet. Where do you get lamp black?

Dani Girl · Jun 5, 2017

Thanks Mitch. I was admiring your work the other day... incredible 3d and marveling at how you got the inlay to stick into that gold bolster. Had an almost success with inlay I will post shortly. Should finish it tomorrow.

zzcutter · Jun 5, 2017

Here is a duck I did and no darkening agent was used. I always try to make all things darker as it tends to show and wear better from my exp.
I mainly use all lines with some dots to tone things down.
Your work looks great and I wouldn't worry about darkening it.

SamW · Jun 5, 2017

Danae, I got a small jar (several lifetimes supply) from one of the guitar/luthier supply houses such as lmii.com or stewmac.com and I would think there are similar businesses in Australia.

Dani Girl · Jun 5, 2017

Dani Girl · Jun 6, 2017

The Elk (it's an elk right) had some oil paint wiped over it. I am getting to the point where it's not getting better with more time spent so leaving it here unless you see something that can be improved. I inlaid this 24k wire into Sterling silver one line at a time. You can see the lines still a bit, and some lines of silver got pushed up through the gold. But not a bad first attempt I guess, pleased overall.... wish I could see it blued (steel) but doing anything to the silver probably wouldn't be an improvement.

Thanks SamW

Dani Girl · Jun 6, 2017

http://www.engraverscafe.com/showthread.php?22961-Inlay-into-silver-pendants/page11

speeedy6 · Jun 6, 2017

Dani, I love your work. I think the elk is your best yet. The only thing I can see is the finish on the piece. I can see the sanding marks pretty clearly. I've gotten some pretty thorough spankings about my finish in the past so, maybe I'm a little wary of things like that. Thanks for posting, Mark.

Blackening bulino (sterling silver tiger pendant)

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

Elite Cafe Member

:::Pledge Member:::

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

Elite Cafe Member

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

New Member

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

Attachments

:::Pledge Member:::

Attachments

Elite Cafe Member

Elite Cafe Member

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

Elite Cafe Member

:::Pledge Member:::

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

Elite Cafe Member

Sponsors