.....enapsulate a photograph into a reelseat insert using Joe Emig's method? ( I haven't seen the article yet, but curious to know if it been tried before).

gotta be... If nothing else..print it on white decal paper...or label paper..stick it & mold over it. An Alps printer would probably be an asset here...I've printed tiny photos & put them in the buttwrap area with good success.No reason it can't be done on a seat insert.

Michael, I believe it is possible although I have not done it. You need to brush on a product called Ultra-Seal which will seal the photograph and prevent wet out. Or, you can mix up your own sealer using four parts white glue and one part water.

Good Luck

I have taken colored photo's out of a magizine and if put in water for a while the film will separate from the paper. I used to put them on motorcycle tanks. Don't know if a regular photo will do it as well.

Michael, One thing I would worry about is the photograph fading. I don't know what you could do about that. I think anything you could put on to block the UVs would amber over time.

Joe - my Dad is in the process of retiring, and is pursuing a retired career of digital photography. One of hte big deal's he makes, is that the photos are printed on some sort of paper which protects them from fading & ambering for like 200 years. I do not know how they tested this, or exactly what the details are -if you are interested I'll find out more info from him & let you know.

Joyce - you should figure out how to make a Bud Light can into a reel seat, that would be a classic. lol.

Archival inks and papers are said to last that long. However, they aren't necessarily intended for long term exposure to sunlight. They're likely to last longer than standard inks used for printing and developing, but they will fade in time too. How long? There's only one way to tell - you're going to have to try it and see what happens. If you can sit one out in the sun for about 6 months and it still looks good, then I'd think it would have plenty of staying power for use on a rod that really isn't going to see daily outdoor use 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Most of these things are going to outlive us anyway.

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Thanks for your replys....since seeing Joe's inserts, its been something thats been milling about in my head. I'll give it a go sometime and see what happens. Everything fades in time I suppose.

Vivona- tried that with a Miller Lite, put a good gash in my finger cutting the aluminum and gave up! probably be safer to use the label off a bottle?? No?........hmmm

As you see in some of the pics of my Drying Box, I used to put Olde English labels on everything, I even have a couple of labels sitting around my desk at work. I had one taped to the inside of the brim of my Baseball hat, I even overlayed a logo on a Baseball bat it was a Gold/Maroon Easton, perfect match, and where the bat listed the specs, 34in 31oz, I changed it to 34", 40oz with a label off the OE bottle, lol. I bought the Black Cherry GUSA's in hope I could make an OE rod out of them, expecting the colors to match, close but no cigar.

I have been putting photos on rods since the late 70's, I put them in my encapsulated grips all the time now when requested and I'm using Flexcoat, you need to have a slick or photo type paper as regular paper will absorb the finish and turn dark. I haven't received my copy of Rodmaker yet to compair Joe's method with mine but am looking forward to it. Jesse

I used to be a professional photographer and custom printer. When Cibachrome was first introduced to the US market, there was a lot of hype about how the prints made directly from transparencies would last many tiems longer than prints made on Kodak paper. I bought and made two prints of the same transparency on Kodak paper and two on Cibachrome. I put one of each under a peice of plexiglass and put in on my roof. I lived in Denver so there was plenty of UV radiation heating those things every day. After 6 months the Kodak print was had faded to the point that it was beyond hideous. The Cibachrome print looked just like the one I had in my darkroom paper safe, plus looking about 10x richer and brighter than the Kodak print that was also in the paper safe. I never used the Kodak paper again. I believe that Cibachrome is no longer available, the chemicals could do some serious damage to plumbing, but I think Ilford makes a comparable product. The trick would be getting things printed on that paper. If six months continuous exposure wouldn't fade a photo, I doubt it would happen on a reel seat.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2005 12:55PM by Gerry Rhoades.