Greetings & Question about Transferring Designs onto Silver

[Poimandres]

Greetings,

I am new to engraving and recently decided to work on a project to engrave a design onto a piece of silver. I've been looking around for solutions to transfer the design, and came across these:

http://www.amazon.com/Lesley-Rileys-Transfer-Artist-5-Sheet/dp/1607052539

Does anyone know if such "iron on" transfer paper could be used to transfer a design onto a piece of silver prior to hand engraving?

Apologies if this is coming off as an ignorant question, as I mentioned i am new to this.

 

[monk]

welcome to the forum. i have never used such, but would think it not very useful to an engraver. check the tips section on transfer techniques . a requirement for good engraving is good drawing. perhaps you'd save a lot of fiddling and just draw direct on the piece.

 

[Poimandres]

Hi Monk!

Thank you for the reply. I've been checking the various transfer techniques here...lol there are a ton of different methods.

I was asking about this particular iron on sheet since it seemed like a good way to transfer a complex pattern. My design has a lot of lettering that I needed spaced out precisely, something easily done in Adobe Illustrator but much harder to do by hand

My biggest concern is that it appears to leave a think polymer layer on the surface and I was unsure as to how that would affect the silver. I also wanted to see if anyone had tried anything along these lines.

It seems my best option might be to use a carbon paper trace method.

 

[KCSteve]

As monk said, you probably won't get the best results with products made to put images on things other than metal.
But there are many threads on how to do transfers.
The simplest method is to print the image reversed on a laser printer (or copy it with a standard photocopier) and then place the image face down on the clean metal. Daub the back with a paper towel dampened with acetone and the toner with melt off the paper and stick to the metal. See the threads for more tips and info.

 

[Chujybear]

Can use the blue paper used to transfer circuit board patterns.

 

[Poimandres]

Thanks everyone!

Looks like I am still on the newbie probational period on the forum so my responses are taking a while to propagate until approved by a moderator.

After doing some more research, I'm leaning towards the method you mentioned KCSteve.

Reading through the previous threads I am seeing so many different methods and just want to make sure I do things correctly.

I have access to a laser printer and copier, so I should be good on the printing front.

Should I put any wax or coating on the silver prior to taping the paper over it? Also, any particular type of acetone, or will simple nail polish remover work?

 

[Roger B]

As far as transfers go I've had a lot of success with the parchment/baking paper method. You can probably use your laser printer but print in reverse. Clean the metal first with acetone and then coat with the Damar varnish and lighter fluid solution - this will allow the transfer to take place. If you have a concern that the transfer will rub off when working it spray with art fixative. No doubt you will have read this already through your research.

Roger

 

[KCSteve]

Thinned damar varnish helps the transfer stick but all you really need is clean metal - use the same bottle of acetone to clean the metal before you do the transfer.

A lot of nail polish remover is just acetone, but some of the 'nicer' ones have other things mixed in that make them not work as well for transfers. Go for the cheap stuff and get a small bottle for your test.