How to print on Ivory

[Ian Grant]

I need to make some new camera/shutter manufcaturers nameplates. British wood & brass cameras/shutters used circular Ivory plates.

Via ebay I've some old bits from piano keys now I need to know how to print onto them, any Ideas ?

Ian

[Vaughn]

Does ivory etch? (w/acid?) I am thinking along the lines of a photo-resist, then fill in the etched parts with paint.

[Rick A]

Scrimshaw then fill in with enamel paint? Take them to a shop that inscribes plates for trophies and such, say like a jeweler who does inscriptions on jewelry pieces.

[Steve Smith]

I could laser etch the material then you could either leave it as it is, probably dark brown in the etched areas, or fill with paint and wipe off as is done with traditional machined engraving.


Steve.

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

I think they were completely hand engraved and than hand painted , I think factory craftsman did them. There is one Texas air pressure hand engraving machine manufacturer , they sell a laser printing paper which printed image can be transferred from transparent plastic to metal or plastic. They also sell engraving patterns for transfer to metal and than hand machine engraved.

But easiest and most stable merhod is to order laser engraving on to ivory. There are lots of laser engraving services which burns small dots and so the images on to glass to wood to metal and whatever you want. Result is excellent.

Another way is to order laser crafted hand stamps and use them and than for method 1 and 3 , coat them with clear polyurethane sprayed.

Good luck ,

Umut

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

http://www.customengravingcompany.com/

[VaryaV]

Couldn't you use photo emulsion and expose it, like they print on bottles and stuff without the screen...?

just a thought.

[Ian Grant]

Interesting replies.

I worked in the Jewellery trade for 20 years and the originals aren't etched.

Vaughan may be on track they may have been a resist, I could do that with bichromated gelatin, a negative and UV light, and then a black dye. The reverse though of the acid etch, just dye the remaining resist, I have done that commercially on a larger scale & slightly different process.

Steve's laser etch might be the simplest though - I'd hoped he'd answer

Plenty of the white stuff to experiment with

Ian

[Steve Smith]

Steve's laser etch might be the simplest though - I'd hoped he'd answer

If you have a spare piece you could send me, I could experiment with the laser for you.

I also have some white phenolic resin sheet which might be suitable. It's 0.7mm thick, a dark brown core and a white coating on both sides. I can selectively laser etch the white away to leave the text, logos, etc. in brown. I use this to label test fixtures and manufacturing jigs at work.

If the labels you are referring to were made in sufficient quantities, it is likely that they were screen printed. This isn't very practical for small quantities as the setup time would be much greater than the production time.


Steve.

[Ian Grant]

I'll take you up on the offer Steve (will PM you).

Couldn't you use photo emulsion and expose it, like they print on bottles and stuff without the screen...?

just a thought.

I had thought of just using Photo paper and a thin coat of varnish on top. The alternative is etch-bleach which works well when emulsion is on a non prous base.

Etch Bleach is very similar to screen printing and at one time Rockland Colloids made a special photo emulsion for making screens by enargement to trans. One beauty of etch bleach is the emulsion can be used to transfer a dye to another support.

Ian