drusselmeyer
Master Member
To be correct, I believe that warner was only the distributor and the ownership always resided with the BR partnership.
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Interest Blade Runner ID Card from Earl Hays Press
- Thread starter PropsToHistory
- Start date
Completely understood and fair enough.
Interested
I am late to this conversation, but I can’t help it. I ask what was wrong with the ID badges you purchased?
jheilman
Sr Member
I purchased a badge from their website before I found this thread. Oops. I wonder if the amberlith backer is still being retained on all the badges? I'm not surprised they didn't know since there's probably no one at the company familiar with it. I used it over 30 years ago to create masks for shooting camera-ready art for compositing multiple images. For that purpose, I would carefully cut through the amber (or ruby) layer and peel it off the acetate. Leaving only the mask I needed on the acetate backer.
I think a deciding factor on whether they offer replacements will be how much amberlith they have left.
I think a deciding factor on whether they offer replacements will be how much amberlith they have left.
drusselmeyer
Master Member
Once it is laminated, I doubt the problem can be corrected. Deconstructing laminated items rarely goes well.
A "kit" of the elements like the printed blanks would be nice to have.
A "kit" of the elements like the printed blanks would be nice to have.
jheilman
Sr Member
It would be pretty tricky to peel that X off the backer and position it without tearing or wrinkling it. In my experience, the pieces you wanted to use would always be left on the backer. I wonder if they did that too for Blade Runner? Instead of cutting through the backer to create the X, what if they used the material as designed and only removed the amber layer. Then they would have had a clear, ID-sized sheet with an amber X on it. Laminate that entire sheet to the ID. Maybe?
drusselmeyer
Master Member
Good point. If lamination did not damage the Amberlith, it could be reused. Laminators are finally affordable now.
Tt is tricky to do badges with the amberlith backing removed, like they did for the screen-used badges, you have to be very patient and very minutious to apply the amberlith X without it's backing, but it is definitely possible. i have done over 100 badges that way!
I cut all the X with a custom template I had laser cut, with the backing still on. Then using an X acto knife, I carefully take one of the corners of the X and peel it carefully and uniformly, as it will make wrinkles if you stop in the middle or don't peel uniformly.
then I apply it on the uncut badge, put cleopatra glue on each corner of the amberlith so it sticks. Then cut all the sides of the badge + amberlith with a cutter. Then cut the corners, then put it in the laminating sleeve, then laminate it in both directions to make sure all the glue is perfectly heated.
Yes, this is extremely time consuming and you get a LOT of rejects. So it has always been funny to me when I saw people saying for my badges, 33€ for a badge? that is crazy expensive! no it is not, proof is this run where they explained numerous time that it was an extremely complex and long process to do the badges, and they didn't even remove the amberlith backing! lol! They have no idea how difficult it is to do this until they actually remove the backing.
alright, that being said, the last answer to this thread, the very definitive "There isnt a peel layer to the amberlith" was more than 2 months ago and they have kept selling defective badges all this time. I sincerely doubt they will nicelly come back here and say they will replace all badges for free!
I have tried my best to stay out of this subject as much as possible because it has been a very sadening things for me to spend all that money for something this exciting and get something so underwhelming in the end. I even personnaly felt pretty insulted as well when they released that video with ASavage and explained (with the same definitive speech as the "no backing on amberlith" speech) how no one ever got the correct bleed on the sector 8 logo on their replicas, when I always had this on my badges, and in the end, using the actual machines and printing plates for those badges, they didn't manage to get it themselves!! all the badges I have seen, including the one I received have a very clean 8 with no bleed at all on the black...
Just a sad sad run.
I cut all the X with a custom template I had laser cut, with the backing still on. Then using an X acto knife, I carefully take one of the corners of the X and peel it carefully and uniformly, as it will make wrinkles if you stop in the middle or don't peel uniformly.
then I apply it on the uncut badge, put cleopatra glue on each corner of the amberlith so it sticks. Then cut all the sides of the badge + amberlith with a cutter. Then cut the corners, then put it in the laminating sleeve, then laminate it in both directions to make sure all the glue is perfectly heated.
Yes, this is extremely time consuming and you get a LOT of rejects. So it has always been funny to me when I saw people saying for my badges, 33€ for a badge? that is crazy expensive! no it is not, proof is this run where they explained numerous time that it was an extremely complex and long process to do the badges, and they didn't even remove the amberlith backing! lol! They have no idea how difficult it is to do this until they actually remove the backing.
alright, that being said, the last answer to this thread, the very definitive "There isnt a peel layer to the amberlith" was more than 2 months ago and they have kept selling defective badges all this time. I sincerely doubt they will nicelly come back here and say they will replace all badges for free!
I have tried my best to stay out of this subject as much as possible because it has been a very sadening things for me to spend all that money for something this exciting and get something so underwhelming in the end. I even personnaly felt pretty insulted as well when they released that video with ASavage and explained (with the same definitive speech as the "no backing on amberlith" speech) how no one ever got the correct bleed on the sector 8 logo on their replicas, when I always had this on my badges, and in the end, using the actual machines and printing plates for those badges, they didn't manage to get it themselves!! all the badges I have seen, including the one I received have a very clean 8 with no bleed at all on the black...
Just a sad sad run.
I don’t think they did use the actual machines because the corner trim radius is off on the new ones compared to the surviving original. The new ones are bigger too;
But I do agree it’s all a bit sad.
drusselmeyer
Master Member
Thanks for showing this. The printed area looks like it is identical in size, but the original card is trimmed smaller. The machine in the video looked like it might be adjustable.
There may even be a forgotten machine setting to cut the exes. I bet the trimmer does more than just cut curves.
There may even be a forgotten machine setting to cut the exes. I bet the trimmer does more than just cut curves.
jheilman
Sr Member
Hmm. They would have used a corner cutter to round the corners. They usually have different blades you swap out to get different size cuts. The original has more exposed lam all around, which you would expect to have the lam encapsulate properly. So, they would have assembled the badge backer and amberlith, then cut the corners, then add the photo, place all in a pouch of badge-sized lam with rounded corners and run it through the laminator.
The new run appears to be assembled, laminated between large sheets, then cut right to the edge and then corner-cut as the final step. With no lam overlap around the edges, the amberlith will, basically, not be attached to anything beneath it. I also wonder, are they using a cold-press lamination? In other words, just adhesive backed lam on both sides running through a press that just uses pressure? A badge laminator machine takes the various sized pouches and uses both heat and pressure. I would think it would better conform to the layers of the amberlith and polaroid than using pressure alone. Plus, you would have that exposed lam on all sides that would seal everything inside.
The new run appears to be assembled, laminated between large sheets, then cut right to the edge and then corner-cut as the final step. With no lam overlap around the edges, the amberlith will, basically, not be attached to anything beneath it. I also wonder, are they using a cold-press lamination? In other words, just adhesive backed lam on both sides running through a press that just uses pressure? A badge laminator machine takes the various sized pouches and uses both heat and pressure. I would think it would better conform to the layers of the amberlith and polaroid than using pressure alone. Plus, you would have that exposed lam on all sides that would seal everything inside.
Ouch, the amberlith alignment compared to that is way off, I imagine that Deckards might not be exactly aligned to the surviving original, but what do we have to go on?
Sorry to double post but to try and give them credit for the machine.
Corners 1, 2, and 3 look similar with 2 and 3 most similar maybe turned 90 degrees. 4 definitely looks like an outlier amongst these.
Also another side tangent, after seeing Adam’s video yesterday on Earl Hays props, it’s getting a little more infuriating that they are offering the other props uncut, when some of us begged for a kit rather than what we ended up with. And the price discrepancy, nothing else even cracks $100 dollars. I’m getting petty now I believe.
Corners 1, 2, and 3 look similar with 2 and 3 most similar maybe turned 90 degrees. 4 definitely looks like an outlier amongst these.
Also another side tangent, after seeing Adam’s video yesterday on Earl Hays props, it’s getting a little more infuriating that they are offering the other props uncut, when some of us begged for a kit rather than what we ended up with. And the price discrepancy, nothing else even cracks $100 dollars. I’m getting petty now I believe.
I'm not watching videos but it is a bit confusing that Adam Savage is making more advertising for those guys after all the controversy and total lack of communication to address anything. Not like they need or even deserve the advertising at this point...
ThreshKeller
Active Member
Honestly, it would be really nice if they at least acknowledged this conversation is taking place and maybe even become part of the discussion.
This is all pretty sad as others have already said. The exact opposite feeling and response one would expect when spending this much on a paper prop replica. Very sad indeed.
I haven’t followed this closely because I’ve been a very happy eethan badge owner for years now and saw no need to buy one of these.
But sadly it seems all too often this is what happens when scale and profit enter the equation. Doubly so when someone or some entity try to cash in on glory from long ago. Elstree Precision seems to have done a very good job with some Boba Fett pieces, but this episode with EHP ultimately doesn’t surprise me.
I won’t question anyone’s intentions, but once a run gets too big to be “for the love of the game” problems invariably creep in, especially when the “vendor” has a core business to distract them.
But sadly it seems all too often this is what happens when scale and profit enter the equation. Doubly so when someone or some entity try to cash in on glory from long ago. Elstree Precision seems to have done a very good job with some Boba Fett pieces, but this episode with EHP ultimately doesn’t surprise me.
I won’t question anyone’s intentions, but once a run gets too big to be “for the love of the game” problems invariably creep in, especially when the “vendor” has a core business to distract them.
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