Hey guys
Anyone had success with home printed waterslide decals?
Im refinishing a chravel spectrum atm and im in need of a Black headstock decal to put over the orange candy finish
Ive had a quick poke about various auction/esty type online stores and only managed to locate the charvel toothpaste logo i need as a waterside from a US based seller and im sorry but there's no fecking way im paying £9.53 to have a small slip of paper posted across the pond....
Im vectored the logo myself in about 20 mins so that's good to go.
Just wanted to check if anyone had feedback about home printing decals on a standard inkjet or if i should get some waterslide paper then head to the local printers to get it laser printed?
I did find a vinyl sticker printer on ebay who could print me 45 logo's for £6 but i don't fancy burying the headsock in 2mm lacquer to make it sit level.
Cheers
Gizmo
Comments
I create a whole page of logos at a time so that I don't waste any waterslide paper. Lettering is printed in bold to get good density. Once the ink is dry I spray the whole sheet with two thin coats of polyurethane varnish. Otherwise the ink disolves when you put it in water. Two coats gives you the thickness you need with less risk of it running.
Once transferred to the guitar let the transfer dry overnight. The substrate absorbs water, and this needs to evaporate out. Then overspray with varnish to seal, even if using an oil finish. If you don't then the substrate will soak up oil, swell, and crack.
As above print a whole A4 sheet of 'em. It covers you for printing hickies, smears etc, and bits landing in the clearcoat. As you're using 1k acrylic I think, use that. Let the decal sheet dry pref overnight, dust the first coat on. After 5mins go a bit heavier. Just enough to cover is all you need.
I float them off with as little water as poss, and let them sit overnight or all day on the guitar before clearing over (again, mist the first coats or you risk wrinkling the thin coat on the decal). Time for the moisture to go away.
With your candy I'd lay a thin coat of clear on the headstock first and if needed flat & polish that, the decal clear border will vanish then when it's cleared over.
A disadvantage with home printers is the black can be see-through over light colours, but it can be a nice effect itself. very bright sun pic, see the smiley -
http://alleykat.co.uk/images/stuff/mods/ecstasy_1.jpg
An alternative but no cheaper is use Rothko & Frost custom decal template, if you can do Photoshop files (if not chuck me your vector file and I'll sort it out, I've got their PSD template here). Good thing is super-thin good quality decals than bury easily, with a solid black. They'll give them a seal of acrylic if you want, I use them uncoated, they're thin as anything that way.
but quality was very nice istr
wetslide transfer paper is readily available these days
Next time I'm going to try the rub-on (letraset-style) paper.
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Great info many thanks for your feedback it will be very useful Im just off to my local sell it all store to see if they have any waterslide paper instock if not look like its ordering pack from evilbay.
will post result once ive had a play
In my experience it's worth paying a bit extra and getting a decent one.
Still need's to be let dry fully & then get buried in clear coat to hide the edges but im happy with the blackness of the print and there was no lift or distortion on the ink/logo..i think it looks pretty good
Came out pretty good i think