Hi everyone! I'm new here, and new to the world of jewellery and metal working in general, so please bear with me as I ask an utterly newbie question!

I've been trying to use the printer ink / acetone transfer method to stencil images to be engraved onto metal, mainly copper and reticulation silver. But. It's. Not. Working.

I have tried copiers at newer print centers, the old copier at the library, the old (and really bad) printer at the corner convenience store. I've tried full strength acetone, nailpolish remover, etc.

I've burnished the image with a spoon while the paper is saturated with acetone.

It just won't transfer, not one trace, not one iota.

Can anyone think of what I'm doing wrong here? I suppose I could choose another transfer method, but they all seem more difficult than this one... except this one is turning out to be way more difficult than anticipated!

The next method I may try is printing out the images onto transfer paper and then applying acetone to that.

This is annoying because the transfer method is the only thing that stands between me and starting my first engraving project.

Any help would be most appreciated!!