Thinking about decals

[ike milligan]

What if I photographed decorations on old accordions and had them made
into decals, which I could then put on the metal grills and cover with
clear enamel?
Would there be a way to put the decals permanently on the plain white
celluloid with out dissolving it and have them be permanent?

[Excelsior960]

hi Ike,

regarding decals, it may help you to have a look at the Piano
industry use by (mostly) rebuilders

https://www.piercepianoatlas.com/decals.html

the Pierce Atlas has been around forever, it's where we reference
serial numbers to find the date of manufacture for a Piano etc.

there are other suppliers and sources of info as well

regarding painting metal accordion parts some factories in Italy
now have paint shops, they use car paint and spray it on in a booth...
body painting needs an additive that keeps the paint somewhat
flexible (they use it when painting the plastic bumpers)

do you know anyone with an airbrush and a modicum of skill
for painting? otherwise, stop at MAACO and let them paint
your part whatever color they happen to be using today on
someones Toyota

painting enamel out of a spray can is fine, just make
certain the surface is prepped right - we use'ta be able
to get the paint-mixing shop to fill a couple spray cans
for us to have for touch-up - dunno if the local paint
supply places still do that - last time i got a can of
Capri Red was 10 years ago in Columbia

ciao

Ventura

[ike milligan]

Post by Excelsior960
hi Ike,
regarding decals, it may help you to have a look at the Piano
industry use by (mostly) rebuilders
https://www.piercepianoatlas.com/decals.html
the Pierce Atlas has been around forever, it's where we reference
serial numbers to find the date of manufacture for a Piano etc.
there are other suppliers and sources of info as well
regarding painting metal accordion parts some factories in Italy
now have paint shops, they use car paint and spray it on in a booth...
body painting needs an additive that keeps the paint somewhat
flexible (they use it when painting the plastic bumpers)
do you know anyone with an airbrush and a modicum of skill
for painting? otherwise, stop at MAACO and let them paint
your part whatever color they happen to be using today on
someones Toyota
painting enamel out of a spray can is fine, just make
certain the surface is prepped right - we use'ta be able
to get the paint-mixing shop to fill a couple spray cans
for us to have for touch-up - dunno if the local paint
supply places still do that - last time i got a can of
Capri Red was 10 years ago in Columbia
ciao
Ventura

Yeah I have an airbrush kit now. Wondered what color it should be,
instead of the clashing bronze enamel I brushed on it with a brush.
Making decals looks hard to do, and I thought there might be people who
could make them from good photos by printing the picture, and I am sure
those people exist, but who does it commercially? I have an old Hohner
48 bass with pretty brown flowers I thought to decorate my ugly grill with.

If you took a look at the Guerrini I just now posted, you might notice
that all the pictures of the bagpipes look absolutely identical, and if
they are decals, this was 1924.