Welcome to The Hand Lettering Forum!
This is an interactive Bulletin Board on the topics of Sign making, design, fabrication, History, old Books and of coarse Letterheads, Keepers of the craft. The Hand Lettering Forum features links to resources, sign art history, techniques, and artists profiles. Learn more about Letterheads at https://theletterheads.com. Below you'll see Mchat has been added as a live communication portal for trial, and the Main forum Links are listed below.

Buying Asphaltum in the UK - question 2019

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

Moderators: Ron Percell, Mike Jackson, Danny Baronian

Post Reply
Anthony Bennett
Posts: 352
Joined: Tue May 11, 2010 4:50 am
Location: England
Contact:

Buying Asphaltum in the UK - question 2019

Post by Anthony Bennett »

Hi all,
I have a question that I am hoping someone will know the answer to. I appreciate most people on here don;t live in the UK and very few live in Europe.

I was wondering where I could source Asphaltum without having to ship it in from the USA.

I have looked around and found that Asphaltum, as used in the etching trade for intaglio prnting and other forms of etching on metal.

However I don't know if it would be sutabe for glass.

I found it originally on amazon here :- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stop-out-varn ... way&sr=8-3

I then searched the manufacturer and found them here in Germany. :- https://mungolux.com/asphaltum-hard-ground_3


Can anyone tell me if this is the right asphaltum to buy please and if not what I should be looking for and from where?

Thanks in advance
Danny Baronian
Site Admin
Posts: 638
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2004 2:16 am
Contact:

Re: Buying Asphaltum in the UK - question 2019

Post by Danny Baronian »

There was a post a while back by Doug Berhardt on this forum that suggested Bitumen, a material used in the UK that serves the same purpose.

In the US, a company by the name of Henry's makes caulking and roof sealers in quarts and gallons. One of their products was 108, and I believe Rick re packaged and sold as asphaltum. 108 has been replaced with 200, but has additives of fiberglass to add strength for the roofing trade.

If no luck with bitumen, check with a roofing supply that might have a similar product, but without any additives as fiberglass shards, which is unsuitable for your purpose.

Danny
Danny Baronian
Baronian Mfg.
CNC Routing & Fabrication
http://www.baronian.com
Anthony Bennett
Posts: 352
Joined: Tue May 11, 2010 4:50 am
Location: England
Contact:

Re: Buying Asphaltum in the UK - question 2019

Post by Anthony Bennett »

Thank you for the reply Danny.
Last edited by Anthony Bennett on Sat Oct 19, 2019 3:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
Marc Bodewes
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2018 9:10 am

Re: Buying Asphaltum in the UK - question 2019

Post by Marc Bodewes »

Hi,

In september I did a workshop with Dave Smith. We used Charbonnel lamour black covering varnish . I found a supplier in The Netherlands, https://www.polymetaal.nl/contents/en-u ... ishes.html (250 ml #331278) and has stock at the time of writing.

Marc
Anthony Bennett
Posts: 352
Joined: Tue May 11, 2010 4:50 am
Location: England
Contact:

Re: Buying Asphaltum in the UK - question 2019

Post by Anthony Bennett »

Marc Bodewes wrote: Fri Oct 18, 2019 10:44 am Hi,

In september I did a workshop with Dave Smith. We used Charbonnel lamour black covering varnish . I found a supplier in The Netherlands, https://www.polymetaal.nl/contents/en-u ... ishes.html (250 ml #331278) and has stock at the time of writing.

Marc
Hi Marc,
Thank you for the reply, that's realy interesting . Presumably you used Charbonnel as a resist in the same way as Asphaltum, or am I wrong please?
Marc Bodewes
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2018 9:10 am

Re: Buying Asphaltum in the UK - question 2019

Post by Marc Bodewes »

Hello Anthony,

For the acid etching we used orafol 651 vinyl as a resist, screenprint the artwork and handcut the etching area's.
The charbonnel was used for tinting the gold. If you follow Dave's Ludow project on Instagram or Larry White's Banknote project on this forum you will see some examples.

Marc
Post Reply