Engraved "Court of Appeals" seal

[Deland]

Here is a engraved printed seal that I made for the Court of Appeals. This seal is made using 8 engraving dies and one foil die. This is a little different than most of the posting on this site but I thought some would like to see it.

 

[AllanFink1960]

Hey Deland
Great work. How is this colored? Colored foil? paint? enamel?
thanks.

 

[Deland]

The color is actually different colored inks printed onto the paper one color at a time. So this certificate had to be run through the press nine different times and that is just for the crest then it still has to be texted and engrossed(personalized with a person's name on each certificate).
Each run has to register with all the previous dies printed. So not only do I have to make several good dies that fit each other but a press person then has to set it up and run each color perfectly to get the quality job that was obtained.
Only the very outer ring is foil all the rest of the crest is engraving ink. This die is large compared to most crests I make, usually a crest size is about 1 1/2" to 2" across.

This crest doesn't show it very well but the gold ink has little metal particals of brass in it so when you re-stamp it, it shines like foil. I will try and get a picture of a different gold ink die I did to show what I mean, it's kind of hard to understand until you see a sample of it.

 

[Lee]

Great stuff. I would be interested in seeing the tools used and what and why for each. I've done sculpting but not true die work.

 

[sam]

Deland: Could we see a photo of the dies you cut? This is very interesting stuff, and a beautiful job.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi Deland

I'd like to see a lot more of your work and the steps you take to get to the final article.

You said "run through the press 9 different times"...........That must mean that your registration would have to be perfect?

Was it you that mentioned that you mainly use round gravers because of the ink?

A fascinating subject by the looks of it.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Mike Cirelli]

I with Sam & Andrew show us more it is very interesting and looks very precise.

 

[Deland]

Here are the dies that make up the multicolored printed crest

Here a sample of a gold ink die with a burnished sample (it has been stamped "burnished" a second time to smooth out the metal paritcals in the inked crest making it shines like foil)

Here a picture of the front of the engraving press. Right under the "8" is where the die gets stamped onto the paper.

This show the back of the press with the ink pan and rollers, the two arms reaching out toward the ink fountain hold the roller that rolls the ink onto the die. The die is then moved forward as the excess ink is wiped off the die by the brown strip of paper as it continues to move to the front of the press to be stamped onto the paper.

Andrew,
Yes, I was the one who uses round gravers. This is due in part to the "burnishing" of the metalic inks and that the paper conforms to curves better then sharp angles. Also the ink has to stick on top of the printed foil and the round cut holds that little extra ink. And yes, the registrations does have to be near perfect not only for me but the press person who runs them. A true team effort.

 

[Mike Cirelli]

Deland
This is good stuff. The main crest for the seal looks to be engraved the other segments look to be etched am I correct? Is the other die done on a pantograph then finish by hand?
This stuff reminds me when I was a kid, my father was a Linotype operator and I would hang around the printing company.

 

[Peter E]

Great pics. Very interesting to see the process of creating that seal.

Peter

 

[Deland]

These dies where engraved and then a screen was etched onto the areas where large amounts of ink needed to be printed. The screening produces metal points that stick up and holds the paper off the bottom of the die allowing the ink flow to evenly over the entire surface.
No I don't use a pantograph, I just use the same "film positive" on all the dies so all the dies will match and be centered exactly the same.