Early Easter Bunny

[mariok54]

Hi,
Just want to pick your brains again. I bought this cute little bunny in one of those spontaneous bids on Ebay. She was described as 99% positive to be silver, but I was fairly sure that she wasn't from the pictures and size, and so must have all the other bidders been because it didn't fetch mega bucks.
It stands just over 4" tall and has absolutely no markings on it at all to suggest that it is plated. However, she does have what looks like a signature on the side of her foot, but for the life of me I can't make it out.
Any ideas how to bring out the relief in a photo? Tried breathing over it, but no better.

[hosman321]

Cute little bunny, hopefully someone will have a good idea cause I can't think of anything. Maybe turn it on it's side and use sand/baking soda/baking powder in the name area? I don't think that would work. No idea. 

[cogar]

Mario, photograph it it outside in "natural light" but not direct Sunlight.

Say under a covered porch, .... turning it up n' down and left n' right and round n' round  until the "signature" shows up the best.

"Natural light" (aka Sunlight) is polarized light, meaning all the light rays are parallel to each other and thus produces very distinct "shadow lines" ....... whereas incandesent or fluoresent light will always produce either "fuzzy" or no shadow lines at all.  

[mariok54]

Thanks Cogar and Hosman... I'll try both those and maybe even combine them, but no fear of any direct sunshine today ... Autumn has truly arrived!!   

[mariok54]

Hi,

Tried both methods, outside, but the baking powder seemed to be just too thick and buried the detail 
Then tried turning it through all sorts of angles to the 'sun', but these are the two best shots, don't seem much better than the ones taken by the window 

[wendy177]

 just a few ideas don't know if they will work. Try to do a rubbing with paper (try diffrent thicknesses of paper & charcoal ,pencil, ), we used to use this for grave stones. or try to  press in silly putty or playdough and maybe hold to view in a mirror. good luck

[mariok54]

Hi Wendy,

Thanks for the ideas .... The 'signature' was far too small to use paper and pencil. I did try 'plasticine' but the impression gets distorted as it is lifted. I then even tried dripping wax and lifting that for an impression, but it was too brittle. 

[waywardangler]

You could try smoking it with a match or candle...if you hold the flame at the right distance, carbon will be given off and it will transfer to the object.  It might help with the highs and lows.  Do not try this with any object that is affected by heat.

[mariok54]

Thanks wayward... I had a go, but no joy... I'm beginning to think that the 'signature' is just too indistinct, and illegible, even with my loupe it's very vague, a bit like my own signature!! 

[KC]

Does a magnet stick to it?

[fancypants]

Another set of suggestions for attempting to get some more clarity with the sig might be :

Using a small amount of black shoe polish in the sig area

+

Over & under exposed/lit macro images , till you can see something clearer than you can now .

In addition/conjunction with the above , I sometimes get results via 'photo-shoppin' images to greyscale .

I'm curious to see the sig , myself .

[cogar]

Mariok, I uploaded your picture and played with the brightness, contrast n' color and I think it is a "signiture" ....... but it is not written in English.
 
Maybe Arabic, Chinese, etc., ....... who knows?

[mariok54]

Good Morning all,

Thanks for all the suggestions, and to answer some of your questions. A magnet doesn't stick to it. I tried some shoe polish, even a bit of soot from the fireplace mixed with water, but it didn't help much. I did play with the photo as suggested, but as I'm no expert with photo software I probably didn't get a brilliant result, but it is posted for what it's worth.
Thanks for playing with it, Cogar, I didn't think it was English, but for some reason I was thinking French. It almost looks like a stylised flower at the end...??
I suppose the most important thing is my wife liked it!!