ABNC Transfer Die

Hi Saltysam,

Krispy and Greg are looking for information on the ABNC trandfer Die I picked up and not the note Pennywise bought from the same seller.

Best Regards ~ Darryl

 

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ABNC put out a series in the '70s called Historic American Currency, in conjunction with International Silver. They're quite scarce, but you see them on eBay now and then. There were six sets, each with a printed proof of an old banknote and a sterling silver "plate" with the same engraved image. I think those plates might be print-worthy, though you'd get a reverse image.

I'm not sure how they created a positive image on metal--not from a transfer die. I wonder if a hardened steel printing plate could be used to stamp an image onto silver, which is softer. If I can figure out how post photos I'll put them on the forum.

 

How To Post (upload) Photos

Would love to see what you have described! :smile

 

This has kind of gotten off-topic from Darryl's original post. Should I start a new thread? And how does one do that?

 

ABN Historic Amer. Currency

I'll try posting a shot anyway. This is what was included in one of the sets.

 

Ooooh! That is a very cool set! Thanks for posting the pic!

 

HAC images loaded

I have uploaded all my images and info regarding ABNC's Historic American Currency set. Check my album. I dropped several of the images into this forum's photo archive, too. Enjoy!

 

Great looking set, thanks for sharing!

 

Found it!!

Darryl, I found a certificate with your image on it! Sorry it's not a higher resolution pic, but I'll keep looking. This is a rare bond, btw, retailing for nearly $400.

Greg

 

Even better

Here's another with a better image.

 

Great work finding that gsalexan!

 

Here's a close-up of the vignette on the bond.

 

Those are great! Thanks!!! Can you please tell me where you found them? Hopefully tomorrow or Saturday I will give printing a try! Best Regards Darryl

 

Remember the hair spray.

Dave

 

Well I gave it a try this morning. About as good as I could hope for given it is a reverse image. The image if transferred to a plate would have groves where the ink would rest and then transfer to the paper. Printed 7 times and #3 was printed on the back side of #2 just because I didn't have another page ready and the first two didn't print so well. After the third print I felt I could do better so tried 4 more. You can make out the main train and one of the sailing ships on a couple. It's all very rough but I think about as good as I can do with the die. I hope I can find someone with a transfer press to try transferring the image.

 

Darryl, I'm not sure how familiar you are with hand printmaking techniques but you sure look to be adventurous and into experimenting, which is a great thing!

I hold a Masters of Fine Arts in traditional Printmaking and can help you with questions if you have anything specific, however there's much too much to attempt to type out here not knowing your set up and abilities at this time.

For your consideration and perhaps to inspire further ideas about intaglio printmaking techniques, check out the Expert Village videos on YouTube.com. There are several videos in the right column that feature press techniques, inking methods, and tools typically used. While these are all the formal approach of plate printing, you might find some ideas for bending the rules and pulling a better print from your cylinder by hand without the necessary pressure.

I would be curious to hear how you applied pressure for these prints, as that and whether the paper you used was wet or dry greatly effects success. Another trick you can try is to wrap a very thin paper around the cylinder, fix it in place with a little tape that you can easily remove but enough to hold it there, then gently rub a graphite pencil over the paper to try to get a 'rubbing' style image of your die image.

 

Krispy,

I had a little coaching as far as what I needed. In the first picture you can see I cut the box the paper came in to rest the die while I inked it. I used a wet process with Akua Intaglio ink. Spread it on then removed as much as possible with a Tarlatan cloth. Used a wood dowel a little smaller than the hole size to roll the die. As you can see I created a fixture to keep me straight as I rolled. Under the paper I had a thin wool sweater with cardboard below the sweater. I cleaned the die after the third print to get ink out of the groves that may have dried. Kind-of it in a nut shell. The chalking might also be a good idea!

 

That's a very inventive jig/system you set up! Keep trying ideas with it if you think you can improve on the results. Perhaps having the soft surface of cardboard underneath protected your floor at the expense of a better impression/transfer of ink. Also those Akua inks being water soluable are nice for clean up and are non-toxic, easy on the environment but may not be of a suitable consistency out of the jar for printing from your die. I don't know much about the inks they would have used in the era of printing from the die, but most likely it was a very thin, carbon-y, oil based ink, which may have been kept somewhat warm during print runs. Wiping with a talc-ed palm of your hand or a cheese cloth / tarlatan will really pick up the harder to remove ink from the flat/clean areas instead of transferring the ink to the paper. I'm very impressed to see what you've got going here!

 

At first glance I thought these were rubbings. Intaglio really does require a lot of pressure -- probably more than you weigh, Darryl. I think a very hard, flat, untextured surface might help, too. Fun to see your first attempts!

 

Sheez Krispy you are a jack of all trades