# Custom Waterslide decals, How, Where?



## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Well, the thread title is what I'm considering.

I'd like to design a simple peghead logo and have that applied to some waterslide decals.

Have any of you done such a thing or can you point me in the right direction please?

Thanks as always


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## numb41 (Jul 13, 2009)

Milkman said:


> Well, the thread title is what I'm considering.
> 
> I'd like to design a simple peghead logo and have that applied to some waterslide decals.
> 
> ...


Try user Telebluze on The Gear Page. I’ve gotten a few from him


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

numb41 said:


> Try user Telebluze on The Gear Page. I’ve gotten a few from him



Thanks, but I've been permabanned there. They're a bit sensitive. I posted a cartoon that was widely posted elsewhere including here, which made light of the closed borders and since then I've been Persona Non Grata.

I'd be happy to deal with "Telebluze" if there's an alternate way for me to reach him.


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## DaddyDog (Apr 21, 2017)

I asked Brad at Shyboy & Tex once, and he said he made his own. There is waterslide paper you can get from a place like Michael's. Design and print your own. Then I think you put a protective clear coat on it.

You could ask at StickerYou in Toronto. StickerYou Store
A couple of summers ago, we had temporary tattoos made up. That's a waterslide, isn't it? I don't see them on their web any more. Ask them.

You could do the same at Sticker Mule. They're US based but I see they now offer free shipping to Canada. StickerYou Store


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

If you have a printer you can buy waterslide blanks. Staples etc...


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

knight_yyz said:


> If you have a printer you can buy waterslide blanks. Staples etc...



Thanks Ray,

I did a bit of digging and have ordered some waterslide paper and clear acrylic spray to seal them. I have an Epson ET-2720. I think it will work.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Keep in mind that printers can't print the colour white. Some other colours, like gold, don't show too well on the decal sheet either, unless you're applying it to a white background.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

laristotle said:


> Keep in mind that printers can't print the colour white. Some other colours, like gold, don't show too well on the decal sheet either, unless you're applying it to a white background.



I was planning on black. Most of our pegheads are maple so far. Black script on a maple peghead should be ok. Some of them we plan to do matching paint on the faces of the pegheads so I think the logo may go on the back of those ones.

And, by the way, thanks again for the great suggestion!


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

I had some printed at a local print shop that has since closed. They had an ALPS printer that could print white & silver. I’m sure they also cut them. They printed a whole lot of them, my luthier had a ton of trouble and used them all.

The model railroad hobby is the place to look.

lightindusties.ca says they are in rural Ontario. Seems sketchy.

Have you seen the Cricut cutting machines? Could be an alternative to die-cutting.

Relic CustomShop is advertising on Kijiji.

I had an idea to inlay a piece of art marble glass in a headstock in place of a logo.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Hammerhands said:


> I had some printed at a local print shop that has since closed. They had an ALPS printer that could print white & silver. I’m sure they also cut them. They printed a whole lot of them, my luthier had a tons of trouble and used them all.
> 
> The model railroad hobby is the place to look.
> 
> ...


A laser cut inlay would be pretty slick.


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

You would think it would be easy enough to create a stencil and ink or spray paint, then clear coat it. 

Everyone does waterslide, there must be a reason. What did Peavey do?


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Hammerhands said:


> You would think it would be easy enough to create a stencil and ink or spray paint, then clear coat it.
> 
> Everyone does waterslide, there must be a reason. What did Peavey do?


Even Laser engraving could be made to work.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I would also recommend getting the Micro Sol liquids for appli action. Blue and the red


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Milkman said:


> Some of them we plan to do matching paint on the *feces* of the pegheads so I think the logo may go on the back of those ones.


Eww.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

I had great success with a colour laser printer and decal paper.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Frenchy99 said:


> I had great success with a colour laser printer and decal paper.


Unfortunately I don't have a laser printer. I have an Epson Inkjet.

I've ordered the waterslide decal paper, the transfer chemicals and the recommended acrylic clear coat.

Even if I f%$k up a few, I can print quite a few on each sheet. I'll give it a try.


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## nnieman (Jun 19, 2013)

Milkman said:


> Unfortunately I don't have a laser printer. I have an Epson Inkjet.
> 
> I've ordered the waterslide decal paper, the transfer chemicals and the recommended acrylic clear coat.
> 
> Even if I f%$k up a few, I can print quite a few on each sheet. I'll give it a try.


Where did you find the decal paper?

I have been searching staples dot ca and not finding anything.

I have been told that you can print out an outline of a decal and print it - then use a paint pen to infil the colour.
I managed to find some paint pens at micheals pre lockdown but no decal paper.

Nathan


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

nnieman said:


> Where did you find the decal paper?
> 
> I have been searching staples dot ca and not finding anything.
> 
> ...


Amazon









Stampcolour Waterslide Decal Paper For Inkjet Printer,20 Sheets Clear Water Slide Transfer Paper,Transparent Printable Water Slide Decals 8.5"x11"for DIY Tumbler, Mug, Glass Decals. : Amazon.ca: Office Products


Stampcolour Waterslide Decal Paper For Inkjet Printer,20 Sheets Clear Water Slide Transfer Paper,Transparent Printable Water Slide Decals 8.5"x11"for DIY Tumbler, Mug, Glass Decals. : Amazon.ca: Office Products



www.amazon.ca





And there's an acrylic clear coat they recommend which I also ordered.









Deco Art 12-Ounce Americana Acrylic Sealer/Finish Aerosol Spray, Gloss : Amazon.ca: Home


Deco Art 12-Ounce Americana Acrylic Sealer/Finish Aerosol Spray, Gloss : Amazon.ca: Home



www.amazon.ca





Knight_YYZ recommended two transfer chemicals which I also ordered.









Micro Sol Setting Solution, 1 oz, Learning & Education - Amazon Canada


Micro Sol Setting Solution, 1 oz in Learning & Education.



www.amazon.ca













Micro Set Setting Solution, 1 oz : Amazon.ca: Beauty & Personal Care


Micro Set Setting Solution, 1 oz : Amazon.ca: Beauty & Personal Care



www.amazon.ca





I'll let you know how I make out.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

We have a cricut and it may be a decent alternative. You could also use the cricut paper to go over existing pickguards for custom options.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Budda said:


> We have a cricut and it may be a decent alternative. You could also use the cricut paper to go over existing pickguards for custom options.


Sorry, a what?

I tried to google it. Is it a vinyl die cutting thing?


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Milkman said:


> Sorry, a what?
> 
> I tried to google it. Is it a vinyl die cutting thing?


Michaels sells them. Label printer kinda thing? We've done shirts (iron-on), glassware and I think she's done a couple other things too.


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

The Cricut can cut all sorts of different material. It will cut your waterslide paper.

It will cut some type of copper foil, which would make it useful for making shielding or little electronic parts. I tried to make some copper foil circles with an Xacto and that was not easy.

You can draw with it.

It looks like a printer, works like a plotter. I guess it is a CNC cutting machine.


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## THRobinson (Jun 29, 2014)

I've done a few waterslide decals... bought from eBay for laser printing. Paper type, I usually set to something like overhead projector paper because it helps push the print out faster to avoid melting. I have a Samsung laser and they run a bit hotter than other brands. 

For stuff like gold, white, colour.... print a mirror image and use something like waterpoof acrylic and paint over the surface. Then slide it off as usually on the other side to make it face forward again. Works great for doing solid colours because printers (most) can't print solid white so you need to add it after. 

What I find works well also is, when time to slide the decal off, I add a bit of water to the surface with my finger with a few drops of waterbased poly. I had once before where the decal made an airpocket under the decal and when sanding between coats it just shattered and fell off. The poly with water acts like a bit of glue.

I did this for the nephew a few years ago... logo, custom shop decal, and the stiches were all waterslide decals. Logo was painted with gold POSCA paint markers, and stiches were printed in beige, and then white POSA on the back.

If you have a colour laser google how to print rich black. It makes the black come out thicker and deep rich black, not dull black.


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## Farmboyjo (Aug 26, 2016)

THRobinson said:


> I've done a few waterslide decals... bought from eBay for laser printing. Paper type, I usually set to something like overhead projector paper because it helps push the print out faster to avoid melting. I have a Samsung laser and they run a bit hotter than other brands.


 Nice work there! That level of quality is great and as good as I would need for anything.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Mine isn't nearly as nice as that, but thanks to Knight_YYZ's suggestions for additive chemicals, I'm getting better.

Thanks man!










I'll cut it to this shape eventually, and clear coat et cetera.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

the red and blue stuff make a huge difference


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

knight_yyz said:


> the red and blue stuff make a huge difference



I used the Red. Still waiting for them to deliver the Blue, LOL. Supposed to arrive sometime in the next couple of weeks.

But yes, the red stuff made all the difference in the world.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

You're supposed to use the blue then the red. The blue is applied directly to the surface (usually paint on a plastic model.) The blue makes the paint more slippery so you can slide the decal around, and also helps remove any air bubbles. It will also "melt into the paint a wee bit." Then wick up any excess with a tissue or a sponge. The red really softens up the decal and forces it to melt into the paint even more. For this reason you should not apply the decal to bare wood. Even a sanding sealer or coat of shellac will be better than nothing. If you are putting lacquer or poly over top you are probably fine. Micro Set "sets the decal" where Micro Sol melts the decal slightly into the finish" . Using the red alone on bare wood will probably result in the decal falling off eventually. 

But I have read that most people only use one or the other. Blue for flat surfaces and red for irregular surfaces as the red softens the decal more than the blue. I used blue then red and got amazing results. I put my decal on tru-oil then when the decal had time to really dry out i put a few more coats of tru oil over top.


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## THRobinson (Jun 29, 2014)

Go figure, after 10yrs as soon as I posted about my laser printer, it died.  

I was thinking of grabbing a black only instead, and learning basic silkscreening. Use waterslide decal paper for inkjet, and silkscreen logos. 

Problem I always had with printers was you can't print solid colour or metallics like Fender logos have. For singles maybe not great but full sheets would be fine. 

Anyone have any experience with a Cricut cutter? I wonder if you can silkscreen a sheet of logos and have the cutter do a decent cut around. The poorly cut decals always stand out under the lacquer.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

knight_yyz said:


> Using the red alone on bare wood will probably result in the decal falling off eventually.


How so?

I'll be putting four coats of poly over the decal. How is it going to fall off?

To clarify, that's not sarcasm. I want to be careful.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

decals on bare wood will fall off with no top coat. The decal is meant to be melted into something. It doesn't melt into bare wood. It might not fall off tomorrow or the next day. But next month or next year? Just going by what I have read about the product.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

knight_yyz said:


> decals on bare wood will fall off with no top coat. The decal is meant to be melted into something. It doesn't melt into bare wood. It might not fall off tomorrow or the next day. But next month or next year? Just going by what I have read about the product.


So with four coats of polyurethane over it I should be ok I would think?


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

You'll be fine.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

knight_yyz said:


> You'll be fine.


I have two other necks in process. For those two I'll try applying the waterslide over paint and then apply poly.

Better is better.

Thanks for the tips as always.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

Tru-oil, shellac, sanding sealer, poly. Anything is better than bare wood


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

This might be too much work for some but if you want gold or silver infill it’s the method I use.

1. Buy a whole bunch of decal paper and find the one with the heaviest clear film
2. Print your artwork and clearcoat the face with same material you will spray on the guitar 
3. When it’s dry drop it in water and flip it over on the backer sheet so it’s good side down 
4.infill your artwork with a metallic ink pen
5.When dry float it off the backer and flip

YMMV but I apply mine after the first clear sealer coat, I use a cup of warm water with 3 teardrops of white glue dissolved in it, that’s my technique


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## VHTO (Feb 19, 2016)

THRobinson said:


> Anyone have any experience with a Cricut cutter? I wonder if you can silkscreen a sheet of logos and have the cutter do a decent cut around. The poorly cut decals always stand out under the lacquer.


I bought my wife one for Christmas and I am impressed with the precision cutting that it will do. I haven’t yet tried it for making logos, however, I have no doubt that it will do a superb job.


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