First Try With Water Slide Decal

[Fine Engineer]

There has been some discussion about using water slide decals, and varying degrees of success with them. This was my first try and it worked perfectly. Expect more of these in the future. This one is Bamboo and Black Walnut, PSI Designer kit.

The process was pretty straight forward. I printed the image on the water slide sheet. Then used a hair dryer for 60 seconds to really dry the printer ink. I applied a coat of Rustoleum 2X Clear Gloss, then dried that with the hair dryer again for 60 seconds. I did a second coat and dried the same way. Then cut out the decal, and placed it in some slightly warm water (I don't think this was necessary, but warm seemed more effective than cold) until the decal began to slide off the paper when held between thumb and finger. I took it out of the water, and carefully slid the decal onto the pen, then carefully dried the decal with a towel. To make it permanent, I then went back to the hair drier for a minute or so, and it was done.

This was all done before assembling the pen. I put 3 coats of thin CA to the cap section then removed it from the lathe to add the decal. After the decal was applied, it was back on the lathe and added two coats of thin CA, sanded lightly to smooth, then added two more coats and finished as normal. And this is the result. The base film of the decal simply disappears and it looks like printing directly on the pen. I see lots of possibilities with this technique.

Jeff

 

[magpens]

Very BEAUTIFUL ! ! ! ! !

Thanks for showing !

 

[Joebobber]

Great execution on the decal! Looks great! Beautiful wood choices as well.

 

[KenB259]

Perfect execution. I gotta ask though, what does it say?

 

[Fine Engineer]

Great execution on the decal! Looks great! Beautiful wood choices as well.

The decal is the symbol for the Tao Te Ching, and the recipient of this pen is very into that philosophy. Given the Asian reference, the Bamboo seemed a natural.

For the contrasting wood, I thought the Black Walnut just looked really cool. Nearly black in dim light, it shows it's colors in bright light. And the gunmetal hardware always looks great with light wood.

Jeff

 

[Fine Engineer]

Perfect execution. I gotta ask though, what does it say?

Thanks Ken.
The symbol is the Chinese word Tao, signifying "way", "path", "route", or "road". The recipient of this one is very into the philosophy of Tao Te Ching, so that is why I used it.

Jeff

 

[egnald]

Very cool in execution and choice of materials. Waterslide decals has now become something for my bucket list! - Dave

 

[sorcerertd]

Looks great! I've been wanting to try this also. Have had some on my Amazon wish list for a while now. I wish they made smaller sheets, say maybe 4x6 photo size.

 

[Fine Engineer]

Looks great! I've been wanting to try this also. Have had some on my Amazon wish list for a while now. I wish they made smaller sheets, say maybe 4x6 photo size.

The way I was planning on handling this (it does seem wasteful to use a whole sheet for a 1" segment) is to print this on the top of the sheet, then trim off that strip, leaving a square edge on the remaining sheet. Then just put that at the front of the sheet feeder for the next use. Use the paper an inch or so at a time.
One could also cut the sheet into quarters (basically a 4 x 5 sheet), and then configure your printer for that.

 

[cmiller]

This looks really nice, Jeff. Beautiful work. Couple questions: what water slide supplies are you using and where did you get them? Also, you mentioned that the clear part of the base film disappears. Is there truly no visible line where the film transitions to the rest of the pen? I can't see anything in your picture. It looks fantastic.

 

[Alan Morrison]

Looks like a first class job, Jeff.
Hope that it's not just first time lucky and we see more from you.

Alan

 

[RichAldrich]

Great process and really nice pen!

 

[Fine Engineer]

This looks really nice, Jeff. Beautiful work. Couple questions: what water slide supplies are you using and where did you get them? Also, you mentioned that the clear part of the base film disappears. Is there truly no visible line where the film transitions to the rest of the pen? I can't see anything in your picture. It looks fantastic.

Colin,
The Water Slide material is Inkjet Waterslide Decal Paper from Jecqbor, purchased from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098KYH7R9?ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details&th=1) $10.98 for (20) 8.5 x 11 sheets.

I coated this with Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultracover gloss clear spray paint from Home Depot.

I printed the image using the 'best' quality setting, dried this with a hair drier for about a minute. Then put 2 coats of clear, with hair drying for 1 minute for each coat. Cut out the decal with about a 1mm border, then submerged it in water until the decal began to slide on the backing when holding between thumb and finger, then transferred that to the pen segment. I carefully slid the decal to exactly where I wanted it, then carefully patted it dry with a clean paper towel. Once it was dry and smooth, I went back to the hair drier and gave it another minute of warm air to fully dry.

Now the pen segment was sanded smooth, then had two coats of thin CA applied. After the decal was applied, I put it back on the lathe and added 4 coats of medium CA and then finished normally. After the second coat of medium, the decal backer disappeared completely. It is really thin and absolutely clear, so any clear finish would hide it.

I'll be doing another one pretty soon, and I'll document it a little better. Give it a try!

Jeff

 

[cmiller]

Thanks for the info, Jeff, I'll give it a try
Colin

 

[sorcerertd]

I'll be doing another one pretty soon, and I'll document it a little better.

This would be great! I am reading that you paint the sheet before you print, then again after. Interesting. I'll watch for the tutorial and pics