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TIPS |
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TIPS |
COMPUTER GENERATED FLAGS
Anyone who has been building ship models very long will have learned that flag making is one of those problems for which there are no easy solutions. I will describe here yet another approach, this one based on an old technique involving the use of kleenex as the base material. The old procedure involved drawing the pattern on the kleenex and then carefully painting the flag with water colors or acrylics. I will describe a method whereby the pattern and colors are applied by means of your PC.
1. separate the two plys of a piece of kleenex and select an area that is free of defects.
2. Find the design of the flag of interest in a book or on the internet, or draw and paint the flag design several times the desired size on illustration board.
3. Scan the flag into your computer and resample it to the desired size.
4. print the flag on an ordinary 8-1/2 by 11 piece of paper using your color ink jet printer.
5. cut a piece of the kleenex separated in step #1 a little larger than the flag will be.
6. Place the kleenex over the flag printed in step 4. Carefully paste the edges of the kleenex to the paper, covering the area where the flag was printed. Be careful not to get paste on any part of the kleenex that will eventually be part of the flag. I used highly diluted carpenters glue as paste.
7. After the paste has dried, print another copy of the flag using the assemblage made in step 6. This time the flag will be printed on the kleenex.
8. After the ink has dried thoroughly, cut the kleenex flag out. You will find that the ink has completely penetrated through the kleenex, and the flag will be on both sides.
9. The flag can now be shaped, and stiffened by spraying with dullcoat or similar material.
This method will work for a wide range of sizes, and for intricate patterns. For US flags, it solves the problem is painting stripes with straight edges and making small stars on a blue background. For miniature ship models it might be a useful technique for making sails with appropriate seams, etc.
You probably wonder how long these flags will last. The short answer is "I don't know." I did read that Epson is now making a type of ink jet that they say will last for 200 years on archival paper. No word on how long it would last on kleenex.