Serious question from outsider

Greetings,

I don't know who to turn to so I looked around and found this group. I
hope you can help. Those of you who have some experience using the color
copiers found in copy centers may be my best source of help.

To understand my problem please take a look at this site about creating
paper veneer for the restoration of old radios;

http://pages.cthome.net/ptf/photofin/photofinish.html

I am working on updating this site and I also want to provide free
woodgrain images for other radio restorers to use. I'm an artist and
retired art teacher and this is not for a business. I simply want to
contribute to the old radio hobby.

Here are before and after pics of my hand painting when restoring woodgrain;

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=acyhqa&s=2

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=16h6qs8&s=2

I can find small woodgrain images on the Internet, print and mofify them
with hand art work if I wish, but when I enlarge them with Photodeluxe
and print them out on my ink jet the pixels show. I have to tell you
that I am not too savvy about computers.

Please keep in mind that I want to create a woodgrain image that I can
enlarge up to 11" x 17" on a color copier, so;

What is the best physical size I should make my image?

Resolution?

Type of file? - Tiff, jpeg, Gif?

Any help I can get will be much appreciated because it will save me a
lot of time and some money running to the copy center to learn this.

Stewart Schooley

On Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:31:38 -0400, Stewart Schooley wrote:

I can find small woodgrain images on the Internet, print and mofify them
with hand art work if I wish, but when I enlarge them with Photodeluxe
and print them out on my ink jet the pixels show. I have to tell you
that I am not too savvy about computers.

It's not a problem about lacking computer 'savvy'. You need to
learn more about digital cameras. The small images you've gotten
from the internet have a correspondingly small number of pixels.
This is why they are so obvious when you enlarge them.


Please keep in mind that I want to create a woodgrain image that I can
enlarge up to 11" x 17" on a color copier, so;

What is the best physical size I should make my image?

If you download small images, you won't be able to make good
11"x17" prints. You need to either find higher resolution photos on
the internet or take your own pictures. Do you plan to take
pictures, and if so, describe the camera if you already own one, as
well as how the pictures will be viewed. That will allow us to get
an idea about what you'll need to either make 11"x17" images, or
determine the largest practical size to make prints with a specific
camera.

Stewart Schooley wrote:
Greetings,

I don't know who to turn to so I looked around and found this group. I
hope you can help. Those of you who have some experience using the color
copiers found in copy centers may be my best source of help.

To understand my problem please take a look at this site about creating
paper veneer for the restoration of old radios;

http://pages.cthome.net/ptf/photofin/photofinish.html

I am working on updating this site and I also want to provide free
woodgrain images for other radio restorers to use. I'm an artist and
retired art teacher and this is not for a business. I simply want to
contribute to the old radio hobby.

Here are before and after pics of my hand painting when restoring
woodgrain;

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=acyhqa&s=2

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=16h6qs8&s=2

I can find small woodgrain images on the Internet, print and mofify them
with hand art work if I wish, but when I enlarge them with Photodeluxe
and print them out on my ink jet the pixels show. I have to tell you
that I am not too savvy about computers.

Please keep in mind that I want to create a woodgrain image that I can
enlarge up to 11" x 17" on a color copier, so;

What is the best physical size I should make my image?

Resolution?

Type of file? - Tiff, jpeg, Gif?

Any help I can get will be much appreciated because it will save me a
lot of time and some money running to the copy center to learn this.

Stewart Schooley

I like your concept.
I wish I had thought of that a few weeks ago.
I wanted to make 2 lamp stands with an exotic woodgrain look.
I couldn't afford to make the stands out of exotic woods, so I looked
around for some pretty wood veneers,....but without success.
I finally decided to cover the pine wood stands that I built with a Faux
Leather Wallpaper. It turned out very well and I am happy with it.
Had I thought of it, I could have gotten some samples of wood flooring,
laminate, Formica etc., and brought it to Kinko's to make color laser
prints of the material. Laser prints are essentially waterproof whereas
dye based inks from inkjet printers will smear if they get wet with
Elmer's Glue. I'll keep your idea in mind for my next project. Thanks.
Bob Williams

On Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:31:38 -0400, Stewart Schooley wrote:

Greetings,

I don't know who to turn to so I looked around and found this group. I
hope you can help. Those of you who have some experience using the color
copiers found in copy centers may be my best source of help.

To understand my problem please take a look at this site about creating
paper veneer for the restoration of old radios;

Get a piece of hardwood of the size you want to record (or close to) get
a good finish and take a photo of it and download to your computer.

The variety of hardwood could be mahogany, rosewood or very rarely a
darly dyed oak -often called black oak.
--
Neil

On Sep 26, 2:07 pm, Carl Neil Ellwood wrote:
On Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:31:38 -0400, Stewart Schooley wrote:
Greetings,

I don't know who to turn to so I looked around and found this group. I
hope you can help. Those of you who have some experience using the color
copiers found in copy centers may be my best source of help.

To understand my problem please take a look at this site about creating
paper veneer for the restoration of old radios;

Get a piece of hardwood of the size you want to record (or close to) get
a good finish and take a photo of it and download to your computer.

The variety of hardwood could be mahogany, rosewood or very rarely a
darly dyed oak -often called black oak.
--
Neil

With wood grain, it's a lot simpler to find a scanner of the
appropriate size, pay a few bucks to have the wood scanned and go from
there.

I've been a woodworker for something over 50 years, and I have heard
of black oak, but as a local name for a growing tree, not a particular
wood (there is no "black oak" species, though, that I can find; of
course, a company can call a stain anything it likes). Oddly enough,
most of the oak radios from the '30s and '40s were done in a stain
that is today called golden oak (the stain is available at most places
that sell such things, under the Minwax brand).

Bob Williams wrote:

Stewart Schooley wrote:

Greetings,

I don't know who to turn to so I looked around and found this group. I
hope you can help. Those of you who have some experience using the
color copiers found in copy centers may be my best source of help.

To understand my problem please take a look at this site about
creating paper veneer for the restoration of old radios;

http://pages.cthome.net/ptf/photofin/photofinish.html

I am working on updating this site and I also want to provide free
woodgrain images for other radio restorers to use. I'm an artist and
retired art teacher and this is not for a business. I simply want to
contribute to the old radio hobby.

Here are before and after pics of my hand painting when restoring
woodgrain;

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=acyhqa&s=2

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=16h6qs8&s=2

I can find small woodgrain images on the Internet, print and mofify
them with hand art work if I wish, but when I enlarge them with
Photodeluxe and print them out on my ink jet the pixels show. I have
to tell you that I am not too savvy about computers.

Please keep in mind that I want to create a woodgrain image that I can
enlarge up to 11" x 17" on a color copier, so;

What is the best physical size I should make my image?

Resolution?

Type of file? - Tiff, jpeg, Gif?

Any help I can get will be much appreciated because it will save me a
lot of time and some money running to the copy center to learn this.

Stewart Schooley

I like your concept.
I wish I had thought of that a few weeks ago.
I wanted to make 2 lamp stands with an exotic woodgrain look.
I couldn't afford to make the stands out of exotic woods, so I looked
around for some pretty wood veneers,....but without success.
I finally decided to cover the pine wood stands that I built with a Faux
Leather Wallpaper. It turned out very well and I am happy with it.
Had I thought of it, I could have gotten some samples of wood flooring,
laminate, Formica etc., and brought it to Kinko's to make color laser
prints of the material. Laser prints are essentially waterproof whereas
dye based inks from inkjet printers will smear if they get wet with
Elmer's Glue. I'll keep your idea in mind for my next project. Thanks.
Bob Williams

Bob,

If you are interested in this you should know about the Acrylic Transfer
method. This is a method where you glue a laser print face down and then
soak and remove the paper leaving the ink on the wood.

If you're interested, e-mail me and I will send you the details.

Stewart

In article ,
Stewart Schooley wrote:

Greetings,

I don't know who to turn to so I looked around and found this group. I
hope you can help. Those of you who have some experience using the color
copiers found in copy centers may be my best source of help.

To understand my problem please take a look at this site about creating
paper veneer for the restoration of old radios;
snip
I can find small woodgrain images on the Internet, print and mofify them
with hand art work if I wish, but when I enlarge them with Photodeluxe
and print them out on my ink jet the pixels show. I have to tell you
that I am not too savvy about computers.

Stewart,

The Acrylic Transfer Method is covered at:
anent
http://www.ebsqart.com/artMagazine/za_513.htm

Upsizing (new term for enlarging) is iffy at best. It starts to lose
definition at about 150%. Maybe more with higher resolution. You
mentioned that you used web images which are usually 72ppi. This will limit
the ammount of resizing you can do.

Have you considered copying wood grain contact paper and then modify that
print and re-copying?
--
While its true that "you can't fix stupid", apparently you
can package it up and sell it.

Bob in Central California

Stewart,

The Acrylic Transfer Method is covered at:
anent
http://www.ebsqart.com/artMagazine/za_513.htm

Upsizing (new term for enlarging) is iffy at best. It starts to lose
definition at about 150%. Maybe more with higher resolution. You
mentioned that you used web images which are usually 72ppi. This will limit
the ammount of resizing you can do.

Have you considered copying wood grain contact paper and then modify that
print and re-copying?

Bob,

I've been aware of the acrylic transfer method since the early 1960s
when a student in my art class accidently "discovered" it. This was when
acrylics were first coming into use as art materials. I used it in many
art projects until I retired. Others have figured it out and today you
can buy kits in art and crafts stores for doing it.

Woodgrain paper is made by the tons, but they are almost always common
woodgrains like those found on furniture sold in WalMart. Antique radios
require exotic woodgrain patterns like walnut burls.

The best source for these is the Internet and that's when enlarging
becomes a problem. I think the only course open to me is to make
several samples in different sizes and file types and take them to
Staples to be enlarged. I'll see what I find out and If I learn anything
significant, I'll come back and report it here.

Stewart