Waterslide Process?

Hello all,

I have been a member here for awhile now, but don't get around to the forums much these days, and when I do it's mostly to browse, I don't do much of any real posting. I wanted to reach out to see if anyone could point me in the right direction on something.

I have recently become interested in learning more about waterslide decals, from how they are made, to what equipment is needed to finishing and all. I have casted some wide nets on google but never seem to land any solid information. Generally when I get fascinated by something, I tend to want to invest in a semi-professional way of doing it, and a lot of what is out there are folks who are buying the media at office supply stores and doing things on their home printers. I am a designer professionally so print quality and resolution is high on my list of what I want my equipment to be able to achieve. At the same time, I'm not a full time business, so I do have to avoid options that are in the tens of thousands of dollars.

I own a Roland BN20 which I really love, but in all my talks with my Roland guys, this process cannot be done on a solvent based ink solution like the BN20 is capable of. I also assume any printers that carry aqueous based inks is out because you have to soak the transfers in water.

I'm not looking to compete with anyone selling anything here, I just want to be able to do these types of decals for personal projects.

Any links or information anyone could provide would be appreciated.

Also if this is not the right section of the forums to post this in, I apologize, I didn't see any other categories that seemed like a fit.

Thank you in advance!

I have made waterslide decals before with a LaserJet printer. You have to first seal the ink once printed by spraying on a clear coat to seal them. I used to just use a gloss acrylic varnish if you do a couple of light coats this seals the ink without it running. Then simply cut out and apply. Make sure you apply them over a gloss surface as this way they sit really flat and once they are set you can get them to blend in really well with another clear coat over the top.
Have a look on some of the scale modeling forums as there are loads of great tutorials out there. Those guys really know their stuff when it comes to decals.

I've used waterslide decals a lot in the past and have actually always just used an inkjet printer. You just have to make sure that you get the right kind of decal paper for the right kind of printer.

I find that the clear decal paper goes on better and tends to be thinner than the white decal paper. So, whenever possible, I use the clear in place of the white. I've even purposefully painted the area under the decal white just to be able to use the clear decal paper.

One trick when applying the sealer coat on them is to lay down the first layer very lightly, or may get some bleeding with the inkjet decals. After the first layer is down, there shouldn't be any bleeding issues, though it's best to keep the sealing layers as light as possible while still getting full coverage, to keep the decals nice and thin.

I've attached a pic where there are decals on every figure. Captain Hammer's hammer, the file folder and iphone in the Dr. Horrible hands, the Dr. Horrible jacket logo, and the petition paper on Penny's clipboard. All of them were inkjet printed and applied after the normal water soaking.

Those look fantastic, thanks for the information. So it sounds like it's one of those things that if you were to buy your laserjet from say, Best Buy, the best is you are going to get in terms of quality is best buy printer resolution, and if you buy a high end photo printer that has a high resolution, that will translate as well. So it's more about the quality of the printer itself and what it's capabilities are rather than the media type, correct?

I also did the inkjet and spray technique. I think the first coat I laid down -- based on long and friendly experience with the stuff -- was with Blair spray fixative. Unlike a lot of clear coats, the Blair stuff is intended to be used on fragile drawing materials like charcoal sketches and is generally non-reactive.

That said, although the final result was sturdy, I find the look of the final gloss spray slightly objectionable. For some reason the Krylon crystal-clear series always looks a little "lumpy" to me.

i use both white and clear inkjet paper. I have a nice H.P. printer/scanner/fax. I can print almost 1/32 lettering and you almost need a magnifying glass to read it. I didn't buy the expensive paper and now after about 3 days my decals start bubbling. so be careful and always test print your decal "pattern" on regular paper to make sure its what you want before wasting your decal paper. number ONE rule of decal printing. YOU CANT PRINT WHITE!! I knew this rule but still had to learn the hard way. got way to excited after editing and sizing and test printing. it all looks good on WHITE paper and then you want your edges to blend into your paint job so you print on clear decal paper.......:facepalm

funboy1013xx said:

i use both white and clear inkjet paper. I have a nice H.P. printer/scanner/fax. I can print almost 1/32 lettering and you almost need a magnifying glass to read it. I didn't buy the expensive paper and now after about 3 days my decals start bubbling. so be careful and always test print your decal "pattern" on regular paper to make sure its what you want before wasting your decal paper. number ONE rule of decal printing. YOU CANT PRINT WHITE!! I knew this rule but still had to learn the hard way. got way to excited after editing and sizing and test printing. it all looks good on WHITE paper and then you want your edges to blend into your paint job so you print on clear decal paper.......:facepalm

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Would you happen to have a link on the printer you use or something that is comparable?
It's important to me to have that high, high resolution so that small point type is crystal clear. I have always been a big HP fan, so any models from them, I would probably trust.

mine is a HP photosmart 7520. best buy had a "super sale" about 9 months ago so I snagged one plus extra inks. touch screen and also wireless, excepts flash drives and SD cards. Im a H.P. fan also. my lap top, old old digital camera, and old comp tower are all h.p. I do my editing on my laptop then send it wireless to my printer (upstairs) which I will probably never get used to "knowing" its printing. I still trot upstairs to see if its printing l.ol. im extremely happy with it. hope this info helps!

A buddy of mine had a printer he bought specifically for printing decals because (drum roll) it COULD print white. He would use the clear decal film, then print the white base, and then the colors over that. I remembering him saying it was one of the only printers that did print white. I'll see if I can't track down what make and model it was, though the chances are it's out of production.

If you struggle to find an inkjet to do white layers first, try to grab a hold of a thermal tape printer like a gerber edge. I have no idea if it would work with water transfer paper however as it is usually used with vynl applications.