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Old August 15th 03, 03:51 PM
Jake Loddington
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In article , chan
writes
Any one have any thing about digital decal produced by laser printers?
I was told that the toner can be printed from a laser printer to decal and
transfer to ceramic surface and fire onglaze color.

k.t.chan


I suggest you try to get hold of a copy of a book called 'Ceramics and
Print' by Paul Scott, published by A.& C. Black of London UK. It *must*
be the second edition: the first edition wasn't very helpful for your
problem. The ISBN is 0 7136 5485 6 .

I assume that you're talking about using a monochrome laser? I've tried
this, and the trouble is that the usual toners (Epson, HP, etc.) fire
out at stoneware temperatures. There may be a slight sepia image left,
but this tends to disappear when it's glazed.

My method was to cheat the printer by switching off just before the
printed page reached the fuser. Then the image, of unfused toner, could
be transferred to a damp clay surface by gentle rubbing.

The nearest I got to satisfactory results was to use a somewhat
different method. I produced a properly fused image, and then used this
as a sort of litho plate, relying on the fact that the image repels
water but the background paper doesn't. I could then ink it with an oily
medium containing the ceramic stain or oxide, and then *gently* wash off
the surplus. If you're old enough to know about a photographic technique
called underwater bromoil, it's like that.

But despite all my efforts, I never produced anything which really
satisfied me!

I would very much like to know of an idiot-proof (and inexpensive) way
of transferring text images, preferably underglaze, to a ceramic
surface. Ordering custom-made decals is an expensive business when you
need only one-offs.

Jake Loddington, POULTON-LE-FYLDE, Lancs. UK

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