Reproducing foil allwin Win Lose labels
Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 5:07 pm
Copied from First timer to the forum, first time Allwin owner! HELP! Site Admin.
I remember seeing embossed foil tabs for sale in the UK years ago but they were quite expensive so I never bought any, especially as I've needed hundreds of the bloody things! Can't help you with the embossing but real foil backed decals and tabs are not too hard to make at home. Just head down to your local office supply and buy a pack of the Clear Adhesive Labels paper for printers. You will need to mess around with the brightness and intensity of the colors and ramp them up as they print semi transparent on the clear decal paper. After printing your art then carefully lay out a large enough section of aluminium cooking foil shiny side up, or down if you need a more matte finish for something. I tape the corners down pulled tight and usually buy a brand new roll so it's super smooth. Then the fiddly part is carefully laying the sticker over the foil so as not to get any wrinkles. Worth experimenting but easy once you have the technique down. I cut the waxed backing paper in the middle and work out each way rubbing down the sticker with a soft rag. On the prewar machines I use some slightly darker blue lose tabs and faded red win ones, brighter for the 50's machines. I also age them for older machines by painting over slightly with wood stain and shellac. Hard to photograph but good shine from the foil.
I actually own a big pile of original NOS Win tabs but the silvering is buggered! And in an envelope dated 1955 addressed to someone named Mr O. Whales.
I remember seeing embossed foil tabs for sale in the UK years ago but they were quite expensive so I never bought any, especially as I've needed hundreds of the bloody things! Can't help you with the embossing but real foil backed decals and tabs are not too hard to make at home. Just head down to your local office supply and buy a pack of the Clear Adhesive Labels paper for printers. You will need to mess around with the brightness and intensity of the colors and ramp them up as they print semi transparent on the clear decal paper. After printing your art then carefully lay out a large enough section of aluminium cooking foil shiny side up, or down if you need a more matte finish for something. I tape the corners down pulled tight and usually buy a brand new roll so it's super smooth. Then the fiddly part is carefully laying the sticker over the foil so as not to get any wrinkles. Worth experimenting but easy once you have the technique down. I cut the waxed backing paper in the middle and work out each way rubbing down the sticker with a soft rag. On the prewar machines I use some slightly darker blue lose tabs and faded red win ones, brighter for the 50's machines. I also age them for older machines by painting over slightly with wood stain and shellac. Hard to photograph but good shine from the foil.
I actually own a big pile of original NOS Win tabs but the silvering is buggered! And in an envelope dated 1955 addressed to someone named Mr O. Whales.