[newone2010]

This is the one I made today:

the scanning is very bad

it left so much dust on the image and lose lots of details

it looks much better in fact

I still have problems in cleaning the rouge and plate polishing

but I am so glad this one looks so great in fact

I will try other technique of digitalizing a dag.

Hi Greg,

Do you find at the right bottom of this dag has “stains” on the plate. It came out when I gilding it.Is it the “stains” which others mentioned in the process of gilding or it was just caused by the rest rouge?

I left some rouge back of the plate after polishing.It came on the image after I fixed the dag.It left pink color on the edge of the plate.I thought it polluted the image and left “stains” or “water marks” on the plate.

best,

Li Junyi

[newone2010]

I changed the color in PS.Now it looks like more close to the right color in fact.

[newone2010]

Okay,I will try another today,stop gilding in about 3 minutes.I will make a gilding stand too.Thank you so much!

[newone2010]

Hi Greg,

You are so humorous.

I can not gild the plate well. I don’t know what the time point to stop.I watched the “stain” carefully,but it didn’t disappear when I continued to heating.I thought it caused by the dirty plates(still red rouge left and bad silver electrofacing which left some dirty black and grey water mark and spots between the silver and brass.

That’s why I always gild the plates too much.

Thank you for your help. I will be back soon with the next problems and questions. 😆

best,

Li Junyi

[newone2010]

Here are the two dags I made today.

The color is golden color.The scaner change the color a little bit green.

They looks much more better in fact than the images after scanning.

So I am considering of that I take photos but not scan them.

How do others digital dags?

Over-gilding,these two.

I make the gilding solution sodium thiosulfate:gold chloride 4:1.It really worked,though I gilded them too much.

[newone2010]

Hi Greg and Pobborasky,

The plates just have one side silvered.As greg said,maybe I need a tradional gilding stand.

Before that, I am considering of that let a plate has back filmed,then put it into the solution for gilding.

Yesterday,I just tried the mixture 4:1,it looked work well.I do not know whether the yellow color caused by gold or copper.I need more practise.If 4:1 mixture dose work well,I will let you know,and all of us can save money from the expensive gold chloride.

I polished brass plates well this time,they will be sent to be silvered the next 3 days.I think I will get Hi-Q silvered plates this time.

Making dags are really difficult,only the first step,polishing cooper(brass) plates needs much practice to get good conditional plates.

I am really happy I have progress and get so much help by the members of dag fourm.

Thanks a lot to all of you, I will be back soon!

Li Junyi

[newone2010]

this is the one I made yesterday

the plate was not been polished well.The left side and the bottom of the plates has Unqualified folding.

Gilding too much.

So I think about change the mixture of gilding solution.

I used 4g sodium thiosulfate in 500ml water and 1g gold chloride in 500ml water.Mix them 1:1.

I did not use gilding-stands but a small pan,so the solution is much more than traditional gilding stands.I think that is why my plate was over-gilding.

I decide to mix sodium thiosulfate solution and gold chloride solution 4:1 next time,I will tell you how it will work.

PS: I do not know why we must need thoulfate solution in gilding? How does it work? What’s the function of it?

Li Junyi

[newone2010]

Hi Greg,

Thank you so much!I will upload the dag which I made yesterday 10 minutes later and back to you.Are you still here?

[newone2010]

Thank you,Greg

The small white spots just look like frost( or dusty)on the plate.I tried another one yesterday,longer time than above,and there are 3 white shiny silvery spots.I think the shiny silvery spots was caused by too long mercury time. Is the white dust(or frost) caused by the rest Chemical Substances?

You mentioned you use alcohol to rinse after gilding.I can’t obtain 100% alcohol because of that it can be used for illegal production.I can get 95% alcohol from hospitals.Can I use that?

Li Junyi

[newone2010]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Li Junyi,I am from China.I think I am the first guy who make dags in China,so I have no one can be asked for any help.

Mr.Spagnoli and Mr.Takashai Arai told me this website, and I found useful info from it.I tried hard to learn this technique and made all the equipments by myself.They are ugly but useful. 😆

I am so glad to join all of you.I think I will have much fun.

all the best,

Li Junyi from Chongqing City,China

[newone2010]

Before gilding

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

after gilding

I took these two pics by my Canon 5D markII.

one under 3200K light,another under sky light.

What do you think about these two pics?Thanks a lot!

[newone2010]

there are small white spots left on the plates.

Cause by the rest rouge?over mercury time?

who can tell me?

The plates had lots of scratches,and the washing water left some water marks on the plates.

I scaned the plates by a cheap scaner and the color was more yellow than it was.

As jgmotamedi said,I will upload some pics without gilding later.

Thank you so much for your help.

[newone2010]

Okay,I will try 2 or 3 plates without gilding in next 3 days.My mercury pot is too big,so I must take longer time for Hg.The two plates above: 16 minutes at 70c.I think I also can let the Hg time to be longer.The image above is a little faint before gilding.As I said to Greg,I have not seen a real dag but on webpages,I do not really understand what a dag look like. Greg kindly suggest me to buy a cheap dag from Ebay,but I am in China,I can not buy sth. from ebay.All I can do is just that I make my own dag,and let the members of dag fourm to criticize.

My English is not good. If I had some improper words,hope you do not mind.

PS: Can I ask your MSN account?Mine is mengart@live.cn

Thank you so much!

[newone2010]

Thank you so much?I followed you to your web pages,and know you did not use deerskin but velvet.I will buy pieces of velvet and try later.

I still have some problem in silver electroplate too. I will make some new plates several days later.

[newone2010]

there are two dags I made today.

Bad polishing,bad silver coating!After polishing,the brass looked like to come out of the thin sliver.

I can not clean the rest rouge on the plates too.

As Greg said,I use industrial alcohol to clean it with small medical cotton balls before Br and I,but after that no image came out!

I use two deer skin. One with rouge for the first polishing.One without rouge for second polishing,but the second polishing without rouge left some scratchs.

Do someone can tell me how to clean the rouge “detailedly”?

[newone2010]

I use a cheap scaner to digital it.

As I said,it is more darker after gilding.

the background was a piece of black cloth.

PS: I know too much rouge and marks left on the plate after polishing.That can be correct later.

[newone2010]

this is the dag

[newone2010]

Hi Greg and others,

I tried another one last night,as you said,I let the plate staying above Hg longer and it was far better than the one above before gilding,then I was confuse with the final step “gilding”.

This is how I done:

make the solution,

take the plates out of the pure water,and put it into a stainless steal pan,

pour the solution into the pan and cover the whole plate,

heat the pan with a induction cooker and remain the solution’s temprarure on near boil and steam form,

the plate begin to turn to slight yellow,then deeper yellow,some white “wave form” on the surface of the solution. I keep heating,some part of the plate turn to blue color and the plate turn darker.Keep heating again,some “dust” from as little scale deposits in the solution,and the plate turn back to B/W without yellow color,and more more darker than un-gilding.The “dust” didn’t disapear after keeping heating.(this is the step confusing me)

After that,I wash the plate using distilled water and a blow dryer for drying the plate.

The plate is more more darker after gilding but clear and no stains left,just looks like under-exposure few steps,though it was nice as had a correct exposure before gilding.

Was there something wrong in my “gilding”?Too long,too strong? As no others mentioned the “dust” forming,whether the “dust” is the “stains”?

I do not hope finally I will get dark plates although the images are clear.

all the best,

Waiting for your reply.

[newone2010]

Hi Greg,

How do you clean the left rouge and polishing paste on the plates after polishing?

[newone2010]

PS:When gilding,I used a pan and induction cooker.I think the temperature of the solution was 70 celsius. small air bubbles came out on the plate’s surface and disappeared when I took the plate out of the solution.

[newone2010]

:-)Hi Greg,

I tried another one just one minutes ago.

Mercury 65-70 celsius 3 minutes.No image came out!

So I think the mercury was not too long but too short!the “fog” which I thought was always turned out in white areas first.Is it the high light areas which come out first? Will it form the whole white areas but not white small white spots if I make the dags stay above mercury longer?

When the mercury done,can I see visible image just by red lamp?or it will be visible after fixing?

look forward to hear from you. (Or we can talk it in MSN)

Thank you very much!

[newone2010]

I will stay here for waiting answers.

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