Damar varnish alternative?

sanch

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Clarksville,Tennessee
has anyone found or tried an alternative to damar varnish? if so will you share? having a bear of a time finding some locally! Hobby Lobby is closed......
 

Brian Marshall

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One summer we had a class... everyone ate lunch outside under the grape arbor.

A gal knocked over a glass of apple juice. There were practice plates on the table.

There were no napkins that day, so I jokingly told her to let it dry and we'd see if it would take a transfer later...


It did.


So, the answer to your question is that yes, there are probably a lot of other substances that will work.

Some will attract ants...


Brian


Do you have a "Michaels" store where you live? They'd have damar.
 
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monk

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white, liquid shoe polish--- to that begin adding gum arabic. the stuff works really well. both are water soluble. i don't know the ratio, just keep adding the arabic until you get it to work. the gum arabic is found at michaels. about 9 bucks a bottle. that will provide enough for your great, great grand babies to continue your legacy. you will want to transfer all the shoe polish into a more suitable bottle. the bottle it comes in is not too useful once you open it. this provides a nice, flat white. takes transfers & pencil rather nicely. and doesn't rub off too easily. doesn't flake during cutting.
 

Sam

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Blaine Lewis uses jolly rancher candy to hold stones in place. Would probably work for transfers.
 

monk

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i looked for apple juice in michaels-- they threw me outta the store !
 

didyoung

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here is what I use and have great success with.
dissolve bull rope rosin in rubbing alcohol

the color of the solution should be a light yellow color.
this solution works very well.
you can use it with any type of printer.
you do have to use the correct type of transfer film.
(ebg-32 plus)
engraverstransfer
ink jet film
clear
the rosin can be bought on the net.
a bag will last you a lifetime.

add the rosin to a clear bottle along with rubbing alcohol until the rosin has dissolved and the color looks good.
apply to surface that you want to transfer to.
print your drawing to transfer film.....tape down and rub the image until it has been moved to the surface that you want to engrave.


carlos send me your address and I will give you a small sample along with a sheet of paper.
 
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sanch

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2014
Messages
224
Location
Clarksville,Tennessee
here is what I use and have great success with.
dissolve bull rope rosin in rubbing alcohol

the color of the solution should be a light yellow color.
this solution works very well.
you can use it with any type of printer.
you do have to use the correct type of transfer film.
(ebg-32 plus)
engraverstransfer
ink jet film
clear
the rosin can be bought on the net.
a bag will last you a lifetime.

add the rosin to a clear bottle along with rubbing alcohol until the rosin has dissolved and the color looks good.
apply to surface that you want to transfer to.
print your drawing to transfer film.....tape down and rub the image until it has been moved to the surface that you want to engrave.


carlos send me your address and I will give you a small sample along with a sheet of paper.
The paper is no longer available from the company I just received an email from them
 

atexascowboy2011

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Feb 13, 2012
Messages
997
CAREFUL Carlito !!!
You may want to take a whiff of that stuff BEFORE applying it.
Being from Montana, it just might be horse ....!
Ya just never know what kind of low down dirty rotten tricks Brian suggests to others to get at us Texicans. :shock:
 

Andy

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Dec 31, 2006
Messages
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Location
Ohio
I have been using a mixture of Bullseye shellac and isopropyl alcohol. I can't remember the exact mixture but you can try 50-50 as a start. I get excellent transfers as you can see. The bottle in this picture was mixed almost 5 years ago and it's almost empty. I used it up one Q-tip at a time. I don't post much but I do a lot of engraving. It's almost all production engraving on high dollar flutes. You can see the results on a 22 carat gold Head joint. I will admit that I use the Epson transfer sheets. I bought a huge stock of them back when they were available. There are other films that still work well. I believe Tom White sells some. And this solution is not toxic like some of the other solutions I have heard about.





 
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