Etching - Printing the design.

[Eleftheria]

Hello

A while back I got myself some Ferric Nitrate for Etching, and so far have been using a resistant and hand drawing the design. But I have a few photos that I have altered which I would like to use on some pieces, but I dont understand the printer thing.

I am not really a printer person, or paper person, so everything I read about printing designs means nothing, so I came hear in hope someone could explain in basic lol.

So I believe I need a laser printer, or copier? How do you know what your printer is? Mine does scanning, copying, and printing, its a HP photosmart, I have poked it and searched all over it but it wont tell me if its inkjet or laser lol So if it turns out to be inkjet, do I need a new printer or is there somewhere you can go to get printed on laser?

Also what paper do you use? Read that newspapers do the job?

Thankyou in advance

[Dennis]

Hi E...
There's not much to understand: To use print as a resist, it has to be toner, not inkjet. If your printer has inkjet cartridges, you can still find a print shop to do it for you.

Your pictures must not have shades of grey (half tones) they must be in black and white only.

At its simplest, you can print on acetate as used for overhead projectors and transfer that onto your metal with an iron. You get a more perfect result if you buy blue PNP, and even better if you use UV activated film.

Much of this has been discussed here before. It is advisable to read up on it first to save wasting effort by winging it. Welcome back, Dennis.

[LydiaNiz]

I scan the image I have drawn, then invert it so it is negative, and flip it horizontally 180 so it'll be the right way around.
I then save an A4 size page with multiple copies on. I then take m' memory stick with the files on to Staples (the only place I could find locally to do it) and ask them to laser print it onto acetate.
It costs £3 and then 50p per page.
I've tried pnp pens, which have worked well for short etches, but diastrously on longer, warmer etches.

[Eleftheria]

Thankyou both for your replies.

I shall take a trip to staples, it can only be easier then trying to work out how my own printer works haha.