graphics and screens

The graphics on the lid and the screens have probably been the most difficult thing to do of this whole project, just because of the amount of time it takes to create them and the problems of what materials to print them on to.
for the screens it is just a matter of tracing over a photo of the original the filling the area with a block colour. the screen is actually on more than one level, which means i will create the screen in several layers which i will then print on to acetate. i will use a sheet of acrylic in between the two layers of acetate to create the depth of the original screen.


with the lid graphics i cant print on to acetate it would be too thick and the results would look terrible there are several other options including decal transfers, rub downs or masking and spraying after much research i have chosen to try decals these will be the cheapest and easiest to
make. Rub downs cost about £30 per colour and spraying would be too fiddly and take too long i am hoping the decal will be the answer.


some testers printed on paper just to make sure the sizing is right.


lasercutt stenciling tests i'm not sure how good these stencils are going to be, i will do some spray tests first before spraying the final ones. also some paint colour test, the off white is a good match but the brown is not correct it needs to be redder and lighter.



the Decal water transfers have been a success they worked very wel,l really good on the lighter backgrounds but not so good on darker ones, the lid graphics have worked very nicely they worked so well i decided to use it for the lettering in black.


before a apply the decal to the aluminum lid insert i needed to spray it with a tinted lacquer to give it the colour of the original which is a golden yellowy silver, i mixed yellow, red and some of the brown in to the lacquer, i sprayed 4 coats so building up the colour bit by bit without covering the texture.



this is a tester done on to clear acrylic, it works very nicely.


the screens have worked well the hard work of all the tracing has paid of. i printed one set off but the colours where too dark so i lightened them and adjusted them to make them closer to the originals. the screens them selves are made up of four sheets of material, a base sheet of acetate sprayed a golden silver then another sheet of acetate with the chracters and some of the scenery, then a 2mm piece of acrylic with a final sheet of acetate with the top bits of scenery printed onto it.