Hi Gareth,
Thanks for the background. I can most simply reciprocate by sending you to www.fanmaker.co.uk.
Somewhat out of date, but will give you a taster !
So far, I’ve been pursuing alternative routes, by trying to utilize my weird collection of background knowledge in novel ways, trying to design and make a fan based on the Staffordshire Hoard gold/garnet work.
Slowly getting there, and learning new techniques on the way.
'Twas ever thus !
John
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Hey John,
That’s interesting, one of my degrees is in forensic archaeology and when there wasn’t any forensic archaeology to do I was looking at domestic archaeology. I love history. Even in Afghanistan i got a bit of downtime, so I would dig some hole and see what would come out.
I want to do a Swarovski effect style pen. But, firstly I want to start off by doing a “Royal” pen for the king’s coronation and I want to use my GF+ to engrave the pen barrel with some key dates.
Stay safe John. Here if you want a chat about good old Blighty.
ATB
Gareth
GARETH W ROBERTS
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Just a recent interest - Prehistory.
We’ve become very interested since we came across “Standing with Stones” a film on YouTube.
We’d like to get to view more US sites, but age is getting in the way of mobility !
Just visited my website, and I’d forgotten that I had deleted most of my background details.
My military was electronics in R.Sigs, with 5 years in Malaysia with Gurkha Sigs.
Interesting times !
John
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You would have to seal it but mica would work. It is possible to use it with gum Arabic and get a paint- like substance but it would still need sealing.
I’ll have to look for that video. My degree was in Classics (ie Greek and Roman mostly) but pre history and paleontology are fascinating.
I totally get the moving around part- besides not being able to fly due to circulatory problems (5 ports and way too many other lines) I’ve broken both hips and had 3 back surgeries. Travel is mainly a dream.
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I’ve just had my high hopes dashed by another failure. I found a product made by(?) LabelOutfitters.com, in 8.5 x 11 sheets. When it arrived this morning, the appearance was exactly right - slightly matte gold.
Problem is, Goldfinger can’t cut through it !
Thinking about it, I begin to suspect that the ‘gold’ products that do laser cut, are vacuum deposited films, only a few hundredths of a micron thick, deposited on a plastic support, whereas this product has an aluminum layer measured in tens of microns, or thousands of times thicker.
Ho hum, back to research.
My next attempt is the ‘matte’ the surface of material that is too shiny for my taste, using 'Bar Keeper’s Friend.
No, that didn’t work !
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You might find this interesting:
Cutting from the back works pretty well with that cardstock, and the pieces “punch out” very cleanly.
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Like it !
I’ll give that a try tomorrow.
John
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I’ve just realized that as part of my design, the ‘gold’ has to be engraved from the front, as well as pierced, so this isn’t going to work for me.
John 
It’s a lot of labor but you could gild with gold leaf or deco foil- apply paper tape masking, cut the pattern, weed out the parts that should be gold, apply gilding adhesive, remove masking, apply gilding, brush away excess.
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Yup !
The fundamental reason that I moved past gilding is the effect that all liquids have on such thin pieces of wood, namely they warp in unpredictable ways.
When I first considered the whole project, I assumed my ability to gild with either water gilding or oil gilding would work.
Many months later, having gone down many rabbit holes, but learning a lot along the way, I can finally see a way forward.
When I’ve got there, I’ll post the whole process on a new thread.
John
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What if you stabilize the wood first with epoxy resin under vacuum?
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Stabilized woods are generally pretty difficult to laser. Some resins can also contain PVC (so I’ve read), so you’d have to be careful there.
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The woman I learned from about doing French Cloisonne pointed out that most of the time mercury gilding was the easiest if not the healthiest way things were done at that time, and that to get that same effect you needed to use the same method.
So she built an elaborate chamber that would capture the mercury/air mixture and collect it in a filter that could be disposed of as hazardous waste. This was over 50 years ago and might not even be legal now. but might be a direction to think about to achieve what was done without destroying the world.
Another part of my background was to frame oval mirrors. A local mirror company would cut the glass for me, and I made ‘Wedgewood’ style frames for them in white/colored frames, cast in polyester resin.
As part of that period of my life, I did investigate ‘fire gilding’ (silver/mercury amalgam) as a possible way of producing my own mirrors !
I had previously worked as a lab technician in a grammar school, and having my hands immersed in a mercury bath was no big deal, when setting up various experiments for demonstrations.
During that period, ‘Health & Safety’ became a new horror show, but as my boss, the head of Chemistry Department put it, “they seem to have overlooked that the vapour pressure of mercury is a function of how dirty the mercury is”.
The regulations were based on pure, clean mercury, nothing like the real world situation. The mercury in the lab would always be covered in a layer of dirt and dust, no matter how often I filtered it.
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Hey John, I can’t remember if you ever tried a htv metallic vinyl like this one: CAD-CUT® Metallic | Metallic Heat Transfer Vinyl | Stahls’
Stahls carries a ton of specialty htv vinyls that are metallic in appearance. They are polyurethane based so should be safe to use in your Glowforge.
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I tried that rabbit hole, but yes as the woman’s expertise was art history, and hands on knowing the techniques, I would guess that Her awareness was pre 1970 when her lectures were in the early 1970s.
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Hi Cynd,
Thanks for all the help you’ve sent. You’re a mine of information !
I’ve been told about htvs, but I’ve not yet investigated them. The fact that they are pu based is good, and a quick look at that site tells me that I can get samples. Excellent.
Regards
John
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Getting good results from combining/inlaying dyesub ‘garnets’ with ‘gold’ htv.
Next problem - there appears to be a small amount of adhesive residue from the carrier film of the htv, left on the surface of the htv foil.
Has anyone got a suggestion of a suitable cleaning method ? The adhesion of the htv to my basswood fan stick looks really good, so I don’t want to use anything that might endanger that !
A bit of hand sanitizer on a melamine sponge? The thickness of the hand cleaner keeps it (a bit if not soaked) from leaving the sponge, but allows it to dissolve adhesive residue.
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Thanks for that tip.
You’ve now sent me down another rabbit hole, checking out magic cleaners and melamine sponges !
John 
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