Transferring designs from your computer to metal

By Shawna Kulpa

When training to become a jeweler, there are many skills to learn and master: sawing, soldering, setting, and so on. One skill not often taught to jewelers is freehand drawing. For those without innate talent, sketching out designs by hand can be a challenge. Recently, a member of the Orchid forum (ganoksin.com) who admits to struggling with drawing freehand was wondering how he could transfer a design he created on his computer onto a piece of sheet metal. After initially trying to use contact cement to bond a printout to the metal, he turned to the e-mail forum for advice.

Fellow Orchid member Judy Hoch of Marstal Smithy in Salida, Colorado, had a quick and easy solution. Because this technique will result in your design being reversed when it is transferred to the metal sheet, Hoch recommends reversing the image using your software before printing it out. Once your design is finalized, print it out with a laser printer or copier. Hoch uses a Canon laser printer but says that any brand will do except for Brother printers, which use a toner that doesn’t work with this trick. Next, clean the metal sheet you’ll be transferring the image to with acetone. She recommends that the metal not be highly polished otherwise the image can easily smear. If the metal is polished, you can use a 3M Scotch Brite pad, a pink 3M bristle disc, or very fine sandpaper to give it a bit of “tooth” that will help hold the image in place.

Once the metal is clean, lay the paper with the printed side facing the metal. You can tape the paper to the metal but Hoch usually finds this unnecessary because the process is so quick. To transfer the design, soak a cotton ball or paper towel with acetone and wet the paper with it. Rubbing will smear the image so Hoch recommends using a dabbing technique to apply the acetone. You’ll want to use a minimum amount of acetone to keep your design lines as fine as possible. To check if the design transferred, hold down the paper and peek under one of the corners. If the design did not completely transfer, dab with a bit more acetone and check again. If the paper slips or the design gets messed up during transfer, clean up the metal with acetone and start over. Once the transfer is okay, pull off the paper and you’ll have a perfect, non-moving image that will survive handling while sawing.