If you want to make a thin decal that you can pick up and handle, poly
is the only thing I've found that will do it. There are glues that will
do it, but I don't want to get into the chemicals needed to thin them so
they can be brushed on thinly.

Do this simple test;

Brush a thin even coat of gloss poly on anything from a magazine. Let it
dry.

Soak the paper with water and rub it off.

Brush a thin coat of oil based white paint over the decal. The spray
paint I tried on one caused some wrinkling of the paper so I stick to
brushing a thin, even coat of paint.

Some papers, particulary high-resolution papers leave a whitish haze
after the paper is removed. This is fine. It means you need less paint.

It's easy to do. Give it a try.

Stewart

Thu, Dec 23, 2004, 2:50pm (Stewart=A0Schooley) claims:
If you want to make a thin decal that you can pick up and handle, poly
is the only thing I've found that will do it. There are glues that will
do it, but I don't want to get into the chemicals needed to thin them so
they can be brushed on thinly.
Do this simple test;
Brush a thin even coat of gloss poly on anything from a magazine. Let it
dry.
Soak the paper with water and rub it off.
Brush a thin coat of oil based white paint over the decal. The spray
paint I tried on one caused some wrinkling of the paper so I stick to
brushing a thin, even coat of paint. snip

Water based, or oil based poly? Which side does the paint go on,
front or back? What's the paint for? If you want a clear decal, won't
the paint prevent that? How could the spray paint cause wrinkling of
the paper when you said you already removed the paper?



JOAT
WYGIWYGAINGW:
What You Get Is What You're Given And It's No Good Whining.

J T wrote:

Thu, Dec 23, 2004, 2:50pm (Stewart Schooley) claims:
If you want to make a thin decal that you can pick up and handle, poly
is the only thing I've found that will do it. There are glues that will
do it, but I don't want to get into the chemicals needed to thin them so
they can be brushed on thinly.
Do this simple test;
Brush a thin even coat of gloss poly on anything from a magazine. Let it
dry.
Soak the paper with water and rub it off.
Brush a thin coat of oil based white paint over the decal. The spray
paint I tried on one caused some wrinkling of the paper so I stick to
brushing a thin, even coat of paint. snip

Water based, or oil based poly? Which side does the paint go on,
front or back? What's the paint for? If you want a clear decal, won't
the paint prevent that? How could the spray paint cause wrinkling of
the paper when you said you already removed the paper?



JOAT
WYGIWYGAINGW:
What You Get Is What You're Given And It's No Good Whining.



JOAT,

Your questions prove I didn't write a good post. It proves I was in too
big of a hurry.

Oil based poly. BTW, what is water based poly? I thought water based
finishes were acrylic emulsions with Rhoplex being one of the biggest
suppliers. Who is mixing urethane into what kind of emulsion to make
water based poly?

You put the paint on the side of the decal that you removed the paper.
Its purpose is to kill the transparency of the decal and give you the
true color of your image. Unless you have an ALPS printer, white isn't
printed and you need the paint to provide the whites in your image plus
ink jet colors naturally have a transparency and the white will make
them appear the way they should.

The next part is where I really screwed up. I must have been thinking
about my other post where I talked about using decal paper and wrote
paper instead of decal. I should have said the spray spray paint caused
some wrinkling of the decal.

And I should have written more about the papers you can use. You need
paper that you can brush a coat of poly on and it won't soak into the
paper. High-Resolution and photo paper usually work well, but do a
small test on your paper.

Another thing about poly decals. After 5-6 days they start to get
brittle, which gives me a clue to the curing time of oil based poly.
Apply them when they are fresher and still flexible.

JOAT, I hoped I've answered your questions. Try the poly on magazine
paper first as a test. I'll put up two photos on the binary page.

Stewart

JOAT, this isn't my day for writing about poly decals. If you saw the
photos on the binary page you might get confused about when to put the
paint on. If you use clear poly only and remove the paper totally, you
will be able to see the image trapped in the poly from either side and
you could put paint on either side.

Remember that the magazine picture is just for a quick test so do it the
way it shows in the photos.

I'm sorry about all this. My excuse is that between writing posts my
wife is running my butt off with all this getting ready for Ghristmas
stuff. Bah Humbug! Just to be sure, I re-read my other posts. THey are OK.

Stewart




J T wrote:

Thu, Dec 23, 2004, 2:50pm (Stewart Schooley) claims:
If you want to make a thin decal that you can pick up and handle, poly
is the only thing I've found that will do it. There are glues that will
do it, but I don't want to get into the chemicals needed to thin them so
they can be brushed on thinly.
Do this simple test;
Brush a thin even coat of gloss poly on anything from a magazine. Let it
dry.
Soak the paper with water and rub it off.
Brush a thin coat of oil based white paint over the decal. The spray
paint I tried on one caused some wrinkling of the paper so I stick to
brushing a thin, even coat of paint. snip

Water based, or oil based poly? Which side does the paint go on,
front or back? What's the paint for? If you want a clear decal, won't
the paint prevent that? How could the spray paint cause wrinkling of
the paper when you said you already removed the paper?



JOAT
WYGIWYGAINGW:
What You Get Is What You're Given And It's No Good Whining.



JOAT,

Your questions prove I didn't write a good post. It proves I was in
too big of a hurry.

Oil based poly. BTW, what is water based poly? I thought water based
finishes were acrylic emulsions with Rhoplex being one of the biggest
suppliers. Who is mixing urethane into what kind of emulsion to make
water based poly?

You put the paint on the side of the decal that you removed the paper.
Its purpose is to kill the transparency of the decal and give you the
true color of your image. Unless you have an ALPS printer, white isn't
printed and you need the paint to provide the whites in your image
plus ink jet colors naturally have a transparency and the white will
make them appear the way they should.

The next part is where I really screwed up. I must have been thinking
about my other post where I talked about using decal paper and wrote
paper instead of decal. I should have said the spray spray paint
caused some wrinkling of the decal.

And I should have written more about the papers you can use. You need
paper that you can brush a coat of poly on and it won't soak into the
paper. High-Resolution and photo paper usually work well, but do a
small test on your paper.

Another thing about poly decals. After 5-6 days they start to get
brittle, which gives me a clue to the curing time of oil based poly.
Apply them when they are fresher and still flexible.

JOAT, I hoped I've answered your questions. Try the poly on magazine
paper first as a test. I'll put up two photos on the binary page.

Stewart

Fri, Dec 24, 2004, 12:49am (Stewart=A0Schooley) says:
JOAT, this isn't my day for writing snip

Yup, saw the pictures. May give it a shot, at a later date.
Thanks.



JOAT
WYGIWYGAINGW:
What You Get Is What You're Given And It's No Good Whining.

Stewart Schooley wrote:
If you want to make a thin decal that you can pick up and handle, poly

snip look it up on google ya lazy bum!

I'd like to say thanks for this idea. It seems pretty interesting and I
will be giving it a try fer sure.

PK