silk screen decals

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    • 114 posts
    May 5, 2013 7:59 AM EDT

    I am very confused Marty by your questions - 

    If you are using a decal, why are you also silk screening enamel over a decal?

    Secondly, why wet pack? are you trying to color the decal in certain areas? if so, why not use painting enamels or just sift a color over the fired decal?

    Third, I would talk to Tom Ellis at Thompsons to get his feedback on his products and what to use.

    Bel USA sells Decalpaper and DiscountScreens - they are out of Florida.

    • 1 posts
    May 5, 2013 12:32 PM EDT

    I am also sometimes confused by my own questions, especially if I am hungry..

    I want to silkscreen dark enamel or ceramic pigment designs onto blank decal paper.  These would then be fired over a white background.  I am looking for a recipe that will produce dark lines that will hold up to repeated firings.  Thanks for the info on bell.  I had looked there before and had thought that they mostly did inkjet, but upon rereading it looks like some of their work is screening.  I will need to ask them what medium to use on the water slide paper.  

    I am hoping transparent colors over stable white and black will give colored cells with black borders.  Lazy mans stained glass.  Sifting would probably work, I was thinking wet pack so I could be more precise and also to avoid the dust and cleanup from sifting powders.

    • 1 posts
    May 2, 2013 1:39 PM EDT

    Hi All,

    I am interested in understanding how one might silk screen enamel onto decal transfer paper for use with copper, fine silver etc.

    One possible work flow would be:

    white enamel or ball clay enamel > Dark Decal > wet pack transparents

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    Our studio is leadfree, so we will probably stick with Thompson products.

    ==========

    My questions so far are:

    What screening medium?

    (Thompson sells A-14 "screening medium" & A-8 "screening oil")

    What Mesh Enamel?

    (we will be trying a very dark brown)

    What Mesh Screen?  

    Some of the T Shirt printing companies sell mesh from #40 to #150+

    Which transfer paper? 

    Which is going to stretch over a domed shape and still burnout clean?

    Thanks for you opinions.. marty