What do you do for labeling?

[acehobojoe]

I've been using waterslides from the very beginning (after I realized hand-painting pedals is only a good idea if you're a decent artist  ) but I think I may make the switch to regular sticker paper. I hate having to paint the tops a different color or not paint them at all if I'm going to do artwork on a dark or non-white surface.

Give stickers a try. Make sure you clearcoat it well and use a good topcoat.

[duck_arse]

I've been messing with the inkjet in medium method. shown is an etched and painted hack test panel. postage paid was from a printed address label, printer's ink? the transistor/duck was done with pencils on v.old "bond" tractor-printer paper. the medium is Phoenix brand "Artist's acrylic liquid medium". the bottle is not marked as matte, but the result looks matte-ish, and there is another bottle "Acrylic transparent gloss medium".



some observations. printers ink produces an excellent result, riding over the etched "hi" nicely. there is still some scabby white areas of un-removed paper visible, and the edge of the medium is clearly visible.

the pencil was a real surprise. the npn is 2b graphite, some coloured is "chinagraph" greasy type, the others just lakelands. layering can be seen in the graphite and the red//green stripes. some scabby paper still to be removed, and some has gone too much, blue near the 3 circles. the bond paper is much lesser quality than ordinary photocopy paper, much coarser grain.

looking at the edges left by the paper suggests the whole panel needs to be coated with medium, and the paper needs to cover the panel to its edges, the finish will then at least be consistent. there is some overstrokes of medium visible like snail trails on the left pic. there is some puckering visible from unflat paper. neither area has a finish coat over.

so, post something to yourself, or get your kids scribbling. I'm next going to try butcher's white paper and some kodak "xtralife II", see what happens. oh, and the inkjet? it all disappeared with the soaking and rubbing, leaving only an idea of the print. probably better results with ink settings fiddles.

[seedlings]

If you put the medium on the graphic instead of on the enclosure, careful to stay 'just outside the lines', and then place carefully, the clearly visible lines of medium will at least be near to the graphic.  This may be better than having a large square of medium foelr a small graphic.

CHAD

[davent]

With toner transfers i use just enough medium to account for the image and then use a brayer to smooth out the image once placed on the enclosure, the brayer flattens out most of the edge of the medium puddle. Always have your image paper much larger then the medium coverage so there's no paper edge in contact with the medium, an edge will be loaded with paper fibers and be a very distinct edge, hassle to eliminate.

[acehobojoe]

With toner transfers i use just enough medium to account for the image and then use a brayer to smooth out the image once placed on the enclosure, the brayer flattens out most of the edge of the medium puddle. Always have your image paper much larger then the medium coverage so there's no paper edge in contact with the medium, an edge will be loaded with paper fibers and be a very distinct edge, hassle to eliminate.

Or, you can try to make an edge that is clearly visible, And cut the shape out. For my paper, I basically used the shape of the 1590bb and cut around a black line of paper. That can kind of give the illusion of evenness. Not sure if that helps.

[deadastronaut]

you can always just iron toner on, scrub it free from any fibres, then clearcoat...(etching cheat)

[vigilante397]

you can always just iron toner on, scrub it free from any fibres, then clearcoat...(etching cheat)

I always wondered if that was against the rules Looks great, I'll have to try that out on the next box

[deadastronaut]

yeah its a cheat , but for a quickie its pretty cool,

i usually etch every build , but couldn't be arsed with this project. (its my own )


tip: scrub the hell out of the toner with warm water sponge and soap, or it will go grey after clearcoating..

i did this about a year or so ago, and its still black...


might look nice with transparent paint too..


edit: to avoid fibres you could use sticker paper..but be really careful with the image