for the backyard one-off kind of guy…
I have a small obsession w/ hummingbirds. Wanted a pic of one on deck of next board. How to get a UV resistant image printed cheap from .jpg I have?
Just got turned on to this
http://www.all-laser.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_main.html?p_catid=1023
For $15 get can of clear uv protective spray for inkjet prints. Hmmmmm…
I’d be a bit careful Dr S.
If you’re using it as a laminate to go under glass then you might risk the job by introducing another chemical/coating to the mix.
Could be safer to leave it out of the equation.
My friend Roy is a believer in Slow and Dirty deck art, here’s the new dragon for the flexy 13’9", what we do is print it out on stickybacked paper, stick it onto the deck, cut out the bits of paper with a boxcutter where we want the art to be and then paint coloured resin onto the new stencil. When the resin has gone off we spend 2 days peeling the remaining stickback off the deck to reveal the picture. Nothing could be slower, but it could be dirtier.
Hey…
Loads of guys make their own decals with greaseproof/Baking paper rolled through home desktop printer. Spray aerosol glue onto A4 card, let it tack off, roll baking paper onto the tacky side, and run it through the printer…
I then spray a matt fixative lightly onto the print side, peel it off gently, and hey presto, a Rice paper decal of your design!
All my boards have these homemade decals. Some are a few years old and there’s no sign of fading.
Speedneedle
I am only using epoxy so you polyester guys might want to ignore this:
I use my lazer printer to print my logos onto overhead transparency film (even Kinko’s color lazer prints only cost a couple of dollars). Print the logo as a mirror image or “emulsion side down,” especially if there is any text in the image.
Then after the “hotcoat,” and inital sanding, brush a bit of epoxy where the image goes, place the trancparency film on the epoxy printed side down and squeegee out all the air bubbles and as much of the epoxy as possible.
When it’s fully cured, peel off the trancparency film. the printed image sticks to the epoxy so it gets left behind on the board.
If it doesn’t come out looking good, at this point you can just sand it off. Otherwise just “glosscoat” over it with epoxy to set the image on there permanantly.
Maybe it’s not the fastest way, but the advantages are a super sharp image with no rice paper edges; even over difficult board colors such as red or black. Another advantage is you could use this method to apply permanant images to a board that is already finished.
In my experince the lazer printer toner never fades in the sun (it’s a pigment not ink). You can get overhead transparency film at any office supply store, or individual sheets from Kinkos.
Trent
"My friend Roy "…
???
Wow! As usual I"m totally impressed w/ the knowledge and willingness to share it on Sawylocks. Many thanks to all!
Hi Chaps, the quick and dirty dragon. . .
Nice! Looks almost 3-D like it is crawling on the wood.