Questions on Decal Printing

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VirgilJ

Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
116
Location
Brooksville, Florida, USA.
I recently have had a lot of interest from customers in printing various logos on pens. After reading up on the technique of putting waterslide decals on pens I made one using The Free Masons logo. It turned out ok (I posted a picture of it in the Show Of your Pens section), but I'm not really happy with the quality of the decal.

I used a logo downloaded from the web, Testors decal paper, and an Epson NX625 printer on the highest quality photo settings. I reduced the size of the logo using Photoshop Elements.

My question is how do I improve the quality of the decal? Should I get a higher quality decal paper? If so any recommendations? Should I look into a better printer? Should I be looking for a higher resolution picture of the logo than the one I downloaded from the web? Is there a source for buying high resolution graphics.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
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hewunch

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Joined
Aug 5, 2008
Messages
4,657
Location
Albany, GA
I use a color laser printer and I get my decals from "robin's eggcectera" on eBay. She has clear and white. And that gets to blank color, if your blank is too dark, it will wash out a clear decal.
 

wouldentu2?

Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2011
Messages
897
Location
Oak Creek WI
I have found that the quality of downloaded graphics can vary, be very picky about the ones you copy.

Laser printers are a step up from inkjet and the brand of decal does not matter.
 

Pjohnson

Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Messages
278
Location
Plympton, MA
Did you use the clear label or the white?
I have 2-3 labels under my belt - so not a ton of experience. What I did determine is that for colored graphics to really pop I needed to use the white label waterslide decals.
 

navycop

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
2,334
Location
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
I've done a few decals. I usally just print them in regualr setting. Saw someone mention setting the picture quality higher like printing a regular picture..
 
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