clear water slide decal

[copachino]

hi all, i got some powder coated 1590A for my baby boards from MBP but, yeterday i tried to labe them with a water slide decal, seems pretty easy, but its not. i was trying on a black sparkle powder coated enclosure, but my experince was negative, first no matter the color i print the decal the letter bacame invisible on the enclosure, then the decal always star to folding itself, and while it was drying star to fold more and more bubbles became to show off, in the end, the decal was really bad and words invisible...

im not sure what am doing wrong in fact but its pretty hard to work with, maybe i need to get another way to label my pedals

[bcalla]

Black or dark enclosures are tough to work with.  My standard decals have clear background so they are useless on black enclosures.  I recently bought decal paper with a white background and only used it on one enclosure so far.  The enclosure was a medium green and the color seems to bleed through the decal a bit (in other works the decal isn't completely opaque so the white areas aren't the pure white I was expecting).  But it is still a pretty good solution.

Before I bought the white decals I was using white polyester labels (http://www.labelsbythesheet.com/items/water-resistant-polyester-labels~laser-/white-water-resistant-poly-full-sheet-laser-labels/list.htm).

These are perfectly white and completely opaque, but because they have an adhesive back they are much more difficult to place.  Someone on a forum recommended wetting the surface of the enclosure with one or two drops of dishwashing soap diluted in water.  This lets you move the label a bit before you squeeze out the water.  This does help.

The problem with white decals and labels is that your sparkle finish won't show through.  And it's really impossible to match the color of your enclosure (even black) with a laser printer.  My answer to that is to design using complimentary colors rather than trying to match.  And sometimes I spray clear sparkle finish over the labeled enclosure.

[mgwhit]

Yeah, transparent waterslides only work effectively on light-colored enclosures.  If you have a dark enclosure the simplest solution is rubber stamps with Staz-On ink.  Or paint, or laser engraving, or a more complicated opaque decal system.  I tried to do a light color on a dark purple sparkle for my first enclosure, and, after I realized that I was doomed to failure, switched to black on light blue.

Also note that, even on light-colored enclosures, the colors on a waterslide will be slightly translucent and will combine with the color of the enclosure.  If you really need the colors on a waterslide to show true, put it on a white enclosure.

[Hogharry]

For anything with a transparent background if you want to print colours white is ideal but silver usually works well and adds sparkle.  If you only want to print in black then coloured enclosures work as long as they are not too dark. I have also used combinations of the same colour such as dark green print on a lighter green enclosure. I'm mainly using self adhesive decals onto bare metal at the moment.

[copachino]

i got a blue sparkle and a red one im going to try today, but the other matter its why the edges of the decal fold?? even on the watter the edges fold

[Jabulani Jonny]

Edges fold when it dries?  That sounds like you might be leaving it in the water too long and some of the adhesive is getting washed off.  It may also be your decal paper. Not sure what brand you're using, but I've had great luck with Papilio brand paper:  http://www.papilio.com/inkjet%20waterslide%20decal%20transfer%20paper%20media.html

Use like warm water, let sit for 30 seconds, wave it around a bit in the water until you can start to slide the decal up off the backing. Put the top edge of decal on the pedal, hold and slide backing down and off decal. Use wet sponge to smooth out decal and press down edges. Allow pedal to dry in a climate controlled area (inside).

That's about all there is to it.


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[copachino]

im using small bear declas, im sure they are not bad quality, but may be the water was too cold or too hot

[davent]

I'm with Jonny, i'm thinking soaking too long, as soon as you can move it on it's backing paper apply it to the enclosure.