Nessism

I could use some assistance in getting this piece of artwork recreated in head tube badge form. Kenai is an area in Alaska where my father is from and the rendering is a native totem figure/face inside a parka. I'd be happy with a decal which I could apply to a piece of aluminum turning which then would be attached to the frame with screws. Are their printers that employ fade free ink these days? Even if there is some fading since the badge will be removable it can be occasionally updated. I know there are companies that make professional decal's but those are typically too expensive. I only plan to make a few of these badges.

20181013_172949 by nessism, on Flickr

wsteve464

fietsbob

very old world, Cloisonne is a time tested way of creating a vitreous ,
meaning heat fused like ceramics enamel
in a piece of metalwork that you make with outlines to keep the colors of what will be glass
from blending, that jewelry makers and metal artisans use ..

by now maybe CNC can replace etching with acids ..
or carefully sawing out outlines and silver soldering them on a background piece.

I think polyester powders can be printed , like a decal ,
Or stencil-masked and deposited carefully,
but then heated to their melting point and fused to a metal backing.

Bike Friday has nice head badges ask them where they get theirs made.



....

CliffordK

@gugie had a few custom badges made that look very professional. I think he ended up with 20 or so for some reason. Not a huge order, but a few.

I think you can print quality print onto decals with laser printers, and maybe ink jet.



Maybe it was a decal and not a badge.

Andrew R Stewart 

There was someone who was offering to make custom head badges a while ago. I don't remember who. But they were at the Philly show a couple of years ago and took part in one of the seminars. IIRC they also did art painting of frames. I hope I'm not confusing two different people...

Me, I did a simple letter "S" in SS plate. I used EMachineshop.com to design it and source a job shop to waterjet it out. I got about 15 done and it cost about $200 a bunch of years ago. I still have to curve them and polish after brazing on. Andy

David Tollefson

Look up Gus Salmon Decals (https://www.facebook.com/gsalmondecals/) on Facebook -- he's done my frame graphics in water slide decals. He specializes in antique frame restoration graphics, but did both my clean-up artwork and printing. Great guy to work with.

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These look to start at $45. https://www.headbadges.com/store/c1/..._Products.html

A quick Googsearch turned up others, but most of them are quite $pendy.

Were it me, I'd try to make my own using the salt-water etching and fill paint....but then I'm a glutton for punishment!

Keep us posted, these are art (or at least can be)

Andrew R Stewart 

I thought of photo etching but I suspect it's too shallow an effect to be easy to paint within. One aspect of graphic design that isn't obvious to many is the ability to reproduce the design at the volume and cost the client requires. When I had my shop's logo designed I had the advise of my late wife, a product designer, and the actual art work done by a pro. The pro created a number of different sized art works as at different sizes of reproduction some fine details wouldn't show, or would look too thick.

When I first saw the proposed head badge I thought of how expensive it would be given the 9 colors I see. It's a pretty cool image and one with a great story. Both are very important in one's branding. But I strongly suspect that with some color reduction the story would still hold strong and the cost would reduce by a fair amount. Also if this were to be used over a range of sizes (like on water bottles, letterhead or posters) the little triangles surrounding the boarder might become either lost shapes or distracting.

Do you know any graphic designers? Students in said classes? Many companies that do this reproduction work (water bottles, Tee shirts, decals {SSSInk** ) have designers on staff for these reasons. I suggest that you seek out professional advice. Like when buying a house the results often are worth it in the savings of later costs and the extended life span of your choice. Andy

Nessism

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I'm exploring one and all...

Regarding the number of colors, that could easily be reduced.

Etching and paint fill sounds intriguing. Decals will suffice though.

Nessism

Wow! I like the work shown here. Makes me think I can my own too...

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Judging from some of the pictures of your framebuilding I think you are up to the task!

rhm

I made some badges for @gugie; he has photos.

They were 3D printed in brass-- that is, 3D printed in castable wax, then cast by the lost wax process.

Here's photos of a couple reproductions I've done:

That's what the 3D printing company sends me; it needs to be finished by hand. As you can see, true relief modeling is possible, but I'm not good at it.


Here I've sanded it smooth, added paint, and curved it to fit the head tube.


Where no 3-D modelling is involved, things are easier.

rhm

These are water slide decals I made in a laser printer. I print them mirror image, paint by hand, then apply them to the bike backwards... i hope that makes sense... it's a bit tricky.

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Most excellent!

BigPoser

Looks great! I'm going to DM you shortly.

GrainBrain

That's awesome, I love the look of stainless used for accents. Do you know the grade of stainless, or if it was (non)/magnetic? Just curious.

You hand painted that from a black/white picture? That looks incredible, and cheap! Major kudos on the investment cast badges!!

OP, have you thought about laser etching? A small machine shop may have one, they're fairly affordable. A cool trick is to anodize or plate the badge, then laser etch. You'll have two colors at least.

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3D printing these on metal can't be too far off for the average person.

unterhausen

except a 3d printer for metal costs $100k plus or minus

CliffordK

That lost wax 3-D printing looks SWEET, and wouldn't be that expensive to set up.

Of course, if it is a single plane, then one would simply have to print a positive in a durable material like plastic, then make a mold to do the metalwork.

Andrew R Stewart 

GrainBrain- Sorry but the order was so long ago I don't remember. The "s" is non magnetic, no even minor attraction. They are pretty rough in the surface texture, like a course sand blasting. It takes a lot of finishing to get the shine. I wanted a simple look that was going to be forever. I tried to match the font of my decals. Next time I might have them pre curved as doing it myself leaves the vertical portions still somewhat flat. I need to file these spots to gain a matching curved surface. Andy

eno

I made a badge for my Dawes by the Photoshop - inkjet print on self adhesive vinyl method. Cheap if you have access to a few thousand pounds worth of computer, software and printer. I was very pleased with the result and with a couple of coats of spraycan lacquer it looks as good as new after nearly three years. I haven't posted enough to upload photos but if you are interested you can probably get to my flickr from this: flic.kr/p/2aYrAT9
William.

eno

Better link: flickr.com/gp/27344909@N02/9U13U1

William.

unterhausen

one more post and you could do this yourself, very nice work
Dawes Head Badge 002 by William Chitham, on Flickr

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Yeah. Now maybe. Wait a coupla years....
Or if you've got the skills there are maker-shops and maker-sites you can upload your design to and bingo!

rhm

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This technique that I use for making decals is pretty much a pain in the neck, but it is good for my purposes, which is usually to make a single set of decals for an old bike that has been repainted. So the above photo is a sheet of decals I printed out for this ca 1950 Armstrong Moth I have. T. The frame came to me without any graphics, and I like the crazy graphics English bikes had at that time, so I went to town reproducing stuff I saw in photos. More photos here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskVvVWJ4

Anyone who's actually interested in trying this might want to look closely at these photos, you'll see many examples of what can go wrong. I haven't clear coated over these decals on the Moth, thinking one day I'll scrub them off and try again, but even without clearcoat they seem to hold up pretty well.

To explain the photo, if that's even necessary... the missing piece is the headbadge decal that I had already put on the bike when I took this photo. As you can see, I printed the down tube decals with a large black background; this gave me room to be sloppy when applying the gold paint. First I applied the blue stripe (for this I used a Sharpie paint pen). When the blue was dry, I did the white; this too may be Sharpie paint pen (I don't remember). The white completely covers the blue. Then I did the gold, which again covers the white and blue completely, and goes over the black a little. Obviously this technique wouldn't have worked quite so well on a bike that wasn't black!