centrific pottery Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 I have tried to get decals to work and having troubles...can anyone help? I bought paper from a Florida Company and they swear you can fire it to cone 06 without it burning away but... I printed with an HP laser printer a black image and it started to disappear after 700 degrees and if I pull it out at that point the image just scratches off anyway. Anyone have an idea how to get a decal to fire "permanently" onto a galzed piece? I would SO appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobydoozie Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Hate to ask the obvious, but not all laser printers have the required iron in the toner. Did you verify that your model of HP Laser printer will work with the decal paper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Sounds like an ink/toner problem. Contact the decal paper manufacturer and see if they recommend a certain type of ink/toner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo4550 Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 I have tried to get decals to work and having troubles...can anyone help? I bought paper from a Florida Company and they swear you can fire it to cone 06 without it burning away but... I printed with an HP laser printer a black image and it started to disappear after 700 degrees and if I pull it out at that point the image just scratches off anyway. Anyone have an idea how to get a decal to fire "permanently" onto a galzed piece? I would SO appreciate it! There 2 cornerstones that need to observed when making and using laser decals. 1. Laser decals work on the premise that the toner contains iron oxide in its composition. Whereas most toners use carbon for the black colouring there are still a limited number of toners that contain black iron oxide also known as ferrite. If the image that you can scratch off is not a red/brown/rust colour it is almost certain that the toner does not contain iron oxide. To find out if the toner contains iron oxide google the number of the toner + MSDS and you will find the material safety data sheet for your query. HP have a list of all the MSDS sheets for their toners. To make laser decals the toner needs to contain at least 40-45% iron oxide/ferrite. That being said I assume you are using a HP B&W laserjet to print the decals. There has been suggestions that some “all in one†laser printers will also work, though I have no experience with these or other brands of printers. The problem with using a colour laser printer is that the drum can become too hot for the decal paper and the drum can be ruined by the the decal fusing onto it 2. Laser decals are simply composed of UNFLUXED iron oxide. There has to some way of fusing the iron oxide onto the surface of the fired glazed pot, otherwise it will simply rub or brush off. There are several ways this can be achieved. a. The most common way is to find the SOFTENING point of the particular glaze that you are using. This is worked out by testing and trial and error. As the composition of all glazes vary there are no hard and fast rules for this. Though there are some starting points:low-fire glaze: c/06 – c/010, cone 6glaze: c/04 – c/1,cone 10 glaze: c/04 -c/6. These are only starting points for testing your glaze as all glaze compositions vary and also it depends on whether you want the decal glossy and fully embedded into the glaze or more matt and degraded in appearance. b. Another approach is to coat the A4 sheet of PRINTED decal paper with a covercoat containing a small percentage of flux suitable for the temperature you want to fire to. As commercial covercoats contain solvents it might be worth your while to experiment with a water based varnish like the Cabot brand or better still experiment with the acrylic mediums and varnishes used in the art world. Jo Sonja and Liquitex brands are good starting points. The covercoat can either be airbrushed or painted on and then the sheet suspended and drained overnight so an even coat is achieved. c. Another approach is to apply the decal and before you fire paint the decal LIGHTLY with a liquid flux. This is simply a 50/50 mix of water and methylated spirit/denatured alcohol with a small percentage of flux suitable for your designated firing temperature added. 5%-20% is a starting point depending on the surface quality that you want. However you must source an Overglaze flux if you want to fire around the 750-800.C mark. In my experience normal glaze fluxes will not work. d. The other option is to put down a layer of overglaze colour or enamel onto the fired glaze. Fire this to 750-800.C. Then apply your decal and refire to that temperature or slightly lower again. As in all ceramic processes it does not always come easily and testing and personalization of working methods is strongly recommended. The following link http://overglaze.dem...rg/?page_id=420 will give you other potters' viewpoints and working methods with laser decals. I have attached images 2 different approaches of work fired at overglaze temperatures. Regards Johanna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Lynn Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 Buy a toner cartridge from Ganson.com. They make the highest iron content toner available. Used for checks and banking, it is called a MICR toner cartridge (magnetic ink character recognition). When I told them I was using it for ceramics they were VERY helpful and understood exactly what my needs were. My decals have been coming out really great since using their product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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