Transfer tip

[Kim L.]

I don't know if anyone has tried this before, so maybe it's not new...but it's something I discovered today. I was having a heck of a time getting a good laser print on parchment paper to transfer using the damar varnish mixture. So I tried spraying a light coat of hairspray on the parchment paper prior to printing and dried it with a hair dryer. I got a WAY better print and transfer. The first pic is the print on parchment and the second is the transfer onto a 2 x 2 practice plate using darmar varnish.

 

[vdrum4250]

be careful with hairspray on paper .. your rollers can get messed up quick in your laser printer..

if you want your parchment paper to roll in the laser tape leading edge to regular paper so it pulls the parchment with it..

 

[vdrum4250]

also try 1:3 damar to lighter fluid. easier to work with and thinner layer

 

[papart1]

speaking of transfers.......has anyone found that the latest batch of TW's magic in the clear form is giving them fits? I personally can't get squat to transfer with it, pap

 

[vdrum4250]

i find if you shake it more it helps, i think it has sat awhile.. maybe has settled

 

[allan621]

I order a few things from TW designs but I no longer order the transfer liquid for the same reason. Here's my fix. Go on amazon and order this : ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00. Crush it with a hammer, it crushes pretty easily and add it all to the transfer liquid. It might seem like a lot but add as much as possible. Shake it up. Should solve the problem. Now if you do a lot of transfers you should buy two of the violin rosins and a jar of 90% alcohol from the local CVS, Walgreens type place. When the liquid gets low add in more alcohol. When the transfers start getting light add in more rosin. I've been doing this for a year or so and works pretty well.

I had a student I sent to work with Ray Cover to learn scroll cutting and design. I'm a jewelry engraver and have never done any scroll work. Actually, can't do any scroll work, I've tried and looks crappy. No patience for it. Anyway he came back with two things I held onto. One was using hot glue to hold work instead of metal holding jigs. The other was violin rosin in alcohol. For me those two things were worth every penny of what we paid Ray. And the student came back a much much better scroll engraver. Worked out well for both of us.

Allan

 

[vdrum4250]

dark or light? does it matter?

 

[Memorymaker]

Allan ......... can you make your own by just combining the rosin and alcohol

 

[papart1]

is the "order this" link violin rosin please?

 

[papart1]

sorry disregard last question

 

[allan621]

I've tried a few of the different rosins and this is the one I use. Its amazing how many different rosins are available. There may be a better one out there but the linked is the one I use.

Yes you can make your own using alcohol and rosin. This isn't perfect but for me its perfect enough.

One more thing I do which may be unusual. Because I engrave jewelry I put a layer of this ref=sr_1_2 on metal before I draw on it. Usually this is referred to as Chinese White which is an actual name of a watercolor. But this just works much better. And I did try more than a dozen different whites before I settled on this one.

It has to be dried to use. And to use put a little bit of water or spit and rub it on the white. And pat it thinly on the metal so you can draw on it. So when I do a transfer and its burnished on the metal, I use a little bit of the white and pat it on the transfer. This makes the dark transfer stand out a bit more.

I got the idea from buying a bottle of transfer magic with white water color in it. It was difficult to use. This is the same idea but works a bit better.

One last thing. I just traded a GRS power hone for a TW designs hone. The variable speed rocks and to me is a step above the GRS hone I had. So I'm not knocking TW designs, in fact I placed two orders with them the last two weeks. But there are times you just have to find a better way.

Allan

 

[JMiller]

I second the the rosin and alcohol... use pine rosin and 99% isopropyl with Pictorico transparency film. Got that tip while at the FEGA show a few years back and have never had another issue with transfers.

 

[vdrum4250]

learn new things. awesome. Thanks all for sharing.

 

[FANCYGUN]

Gee guys I thought i was going bonkers trying to figure out what i was doing wrong all of a sudden trying tomtransfer using the transfer magic all of a sudden it just stopped working Now that i hear that some of you were having the same problem makes me feel more at ease guess in the morning i go,hit the art store for some damar varnish

 

[vdrum4250]

I felt the same..

 

[Kim L.]

I felt the same..

I can't get mine to work either. Expensive stuff too.

 

[FANCYGUN]

OK Gang
With diligent research and sheer dumb luck, I solved my transfer problem.
As it turned out my black ink cartridge was almost empty and getting weak. It was not due to be replaced yet but it was getting low. I replaced it with a new one and now getting multiple transfers using transfer magic or Damar varnish mixture
So check your cartridges first then panic. One helpful hint I picked up from Sandy Popovitch that might help everyone make the transfers with less hassle is when you print onto the transfer sheet, dont go trough your computer to print black ink only Place your pattern sheet onto the scanner and just do a black copy onto the transfer sheet. SUNUMAHGUN it works pretty good