Japanese beauties

[santos]

I’ve just finish two little pendants for my dentist and her assistant . They provide me lots of diamond and carbide burs and I want to give them a little present.

Under the scope :

I’ve been inspired by Utamaro’s wooden prints ( Ukiyo-e) I found them in the Boston MFA a great source for models . You can zoom and get an incredible definition of every print . Boston MFA

Thanks for viewing


Jean

 

[Jim Kelso]

Lovely Jean. Thanks for sharing those.

Jim

 

[Barry Lee Hands]

I like it, good work. .

 

[Tira]

Beautiful Santos! What metal is the engraving on? Titanium? Niobium?

 

[KCSteve]

Your use of Titanium's ability to anodize to different colors in combination with your engraving is just outstanding.

It's really an artform in and of itself.

 

[gluckie]

Jean, c'est nous montrer un bijou artistique réelle!. Cordialement.
Jean, This is showing us a real artistic jewel!. Best regards!:thumbs up:

g.luckie

 

[Dmitry Martinov]

Beauties indeed santos !!!! Very elegant !

 

[jetta77]

Gotta love your local dentist, they through those burrs away like nothing...

Awesome work...

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi Santos

They are absolutley beautiful!!! They just keep getting better and better!!!

The colours you are getting are so vibrant.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[John B.]

Wonderfu talent, thank you for sharing.

 

[pilkguns]

嬉しい
ureshii

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

These are really beauties, if I remember well, it was you who showed the Titanium trick to colour the Titanium using a wooden stick?
I have a Rhodinette that I use for gold plating and Rodining. I want to try it for colouring Titanium, can you again tell what chemical is used to oxidise the Titanium?

arnaud

 

[Montejano]

I like a lot this effect of engraving. You utilize very well the coloring of the titanium and the result is surprising. Thanks by showing it.

Antonio

 

[santos]

Thank you all for your nice comments

I’m happy you like this kind of engraving

Gracias tambien Guillermo y Antonio. Halagos de artistas como vosotros me enorgullecen


Arnaud , I don’t know exactly what is a Rodinette , I suppose it’s an electrolytic bath for gold plating ?
I don’t think it would work because of the value of voltage.
For anodizing titanium , you need a direct current power supply as you can find in electronic labs . The voltage to anodize is very high and dangerous and you may have shock hazard .
You can only use the kind of power supply shown in this site :

http://www.medawebs.com/knives/tutorials/anodizing.htm

I will show you the process I’m using for selective anodizing :

First I had classically cut the pattern with a push graver
Then I put a mask in the parts that haven’t to be anodized with the same colour
Here I’m using fingenails varnish but the varnish used for acid etching works also very well.

In this example ( the little prince) I have put the varnish around the planets , the hair and the clothes . The face and arms that will rest at the Titanium natural colour, are masked.

While the varnish is drying I prepare the electrolyte : I mix 1gr of ammoniumsulfat in 10 ml of water .I’ve read the electrolyte can also be Cola but I’ve never try it.

The tool for anodizing is a toothpick, I’ve wrapped a telephonic wire at 5 mm from the tip .The copper of the wire is insulated by a plastic sheath to prevent short-circuits if touching the plate. The wood is porous and will retain some electrolyte when the toothpick is soaked in it

You have then to choose the value of voltage corresponding to the colour you want to obtain .
I have a probe plate of titanium , you can see that the blue of the planet needs 30 volts and the yellow of the sun and stars approximately 65V .

You can set this value on your power supply . The positive wire is connected to the plate and the negative wire to the toothpick

Here I’m anodizing , it’s like using a marker . The colour will appear very quickly. As you can see the plate is insulated from the vise by means of leather and I wear rubber gloves.

After anodizing I remove the varnish with acetone

Here are the first colours obtained : red and yellow . Then I will continue with lower voltages.
The first colours wouldn’t be affected by these lower voltages , so I don’t need to put a mask on the first anodized areas.

Here I’m going to bath the entire plate in the electrolyte to do the blue of sky . The wire - is connected to a titanium plate and the wire + is connected to the pendant. You can notice I’m not wearing gloves because the voltage for blue is only 30 Volts.

You can erase errors on little areas where the colours have smeared . I’m using a toothpick turning slowly with 1µ diamond compound on the tip .

Voilà, here’s the result . as you can see , it’s nothing difficult . You have only to be careful when using electric current and only use a professional power supply . These are insulated from mains and protected against short-circuits .

I’ve not still explored all the possibilities of TI anodization . It’s really funny to do it . And if you don’t like the colour you can erase all with sand paper, polish again the plate, and try another one . Here’s my work in progress, a knife for my son with Saint Exupéry theme. I’m not satisfied with the blue of the sky and the red of the fox and have to erase it . I’ll soon show you the finished knife.

I expect you have enjoyed it, thanks for reading


Jean

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Jean, thank you so much for this very clear Tutorial on anodizing Titanium.
Tomorrow I will use my voltmeter to see what Volt the Rhodinette produces.
It has a scale from 0 -10 and is a cheap way for anodizing with Rhodium silver gold or whatever.
It also uses a sort of pen where one can put a felt tip that absorbs the liquid.

Thanks again and I will inform you if it works or not.

The Rhodinette you can see here


arnaud

 

[leroytwohawks]

WOW I love the one with the child on the moon, that is just such a neat picture.:yes And thanks for the tutorial!!!

Kevin

 

[KCSteve]

Excellent tutorial!

I especially like the tip about making yourself an example plate showing what colors you get at what voltage with your set up.

If I ever get to dabble with this I'll have to remember to do that.

Just wondering, have you ever inlaid a bit of gold into the titanium, just to add another element?

 

[santos]

Hi Arnaud,
Tell us what is the range of voltage output on your rhodinette .

Hi Kevin , thank you . It’s not exactly the moon but an asteroid , B 612 if I remember.

Hi Steve,

I have inlayed gold into a practice plate with the same scene . Then I’ve anodized it without problem . Gold colour is not altered by anodization.
I was using Titanium grade 2; It’s quite soft and for me it was not really easy to inlay something into it.
Here’s is the result, I’ve inlayed the stars, the hair and the sun. The sun was too sanded and you can see TI between the wires . This process took me much more time than anodizing.

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Santos, yes I will tell the output of it, but it is probably only 0-30 volt
But I have been googling a bit and also found that Coke, especially the light works as well as it contains phosphor too.
Also batteries can be used, it look safe to me but the batteries sure will not stain long.
But I will tell you my experience

http://mrtitanium.com/index.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Color-Titanium


arnaud

 

[John B.]

Jean,
Thank you so much for the great tutorial and for sharing you knowledge and skill.
Wonderful photographs too.
Merci beaucoup.