Two more water slide questions

[punkin]

Ok..first..I did do a search. I was motivated to do a lot of homework before shelling out for the cost of that stuff but, I didn't find an answer to my questions.

I'm finding the water-slide decal stuff at my local hobby store. I can only find the 1/4 sheet stock. I'm wondering if anyone has run this through their printer. It seems a bit lightweight.

My second question is, if I print off a logo onto the slide paper and I don't need to use all of the sheet up, how can I get the use of the remaining material after I cut the image off the sheet? Can you run it through in pieces? That seems a recipe for disaster. I wonder if I could tape the remaining bit to a full sheet of paper then run it through again later?

[Vitrolin]

i would cut it to the size needed tell the print the dimentions of you piece and print it

[waltk]

You can find better deals on ink jet waterslide paper on Ebay (search on "ink jet decal").  They usually sell it in full 8.5X11 sheets.  If you have any doubts about your printer being able to handle smaller sheets, just try printing on a small sheet of regular paper as a test.  Some printers are better than others for handling small and odd paper sizes, although most should go down to at least 4X6 (like for photos).  There is definitely a limit to how small you can go.  I usually try to fill up a half page of stuff before printing, so as not to waste it.  In a pinch, you can try taping or gluing your waterslide paper scraps to a regular-sized piece of paper - whether that works is dependent on your printer.

P.S. Don't pay the gouge rate for that special "fixative" spray at your local hobby store.  Any decent clear acrylic spray will do nicely.

P.P.S. The temporary tattoo paper they sell is kind of fun too.  Know any kids?

[davent]

Hello,

Take a regular sheet of paper, pencil an X in one corner then put the paper in your printer so you can see the X.

Print your artwork to the piece of paper.

Take your decal film and cut a piece big enough, with some to spare, to cover your artwork. Use something like a few piece's of Avery label, (you want something very low tack- not tape,  that if it came off in the printer would make a mess in there), attach the decal film to the print you just made so the it covers your artwork. I just attach it on the leading edge of the decal film, two little pieces of label.

Put your paper with the attached film back in the printer so that the X (your registration mark) you drew earlier is facing the same way as the first time through the printer.

Print again and you now should have a decal that is only slightly larger then the size you actually needed. Now you'll want to give it a couple light mist coats of whatever clear you'll be using, letting it dry between coats.

Running laserjet film through my printer more then once darkens the film so it would always be visible on the finished project, not what i want.

Take care,
dave

[punkin]

 

Thanks very much to you all...fantastic advice. THANKS!

[Al Heeley]

I use the same process to print PCB's onto the blue pnp paper and also the much more fiddly to use Dry-rub decal paper. If you are careful you can make one sheet go a long way!