Misc

Attaching bespoke labels and text and images to tins and mugs etc

You need:

  • Waterslide decal transparent printing paper (our current printer - 2023 - is an inkjet so I got that kind) (fwiw the make of what I got was MDP / Mr Decal Paper)
  • Clear Matte Finish Aerosol Spray for fixing (fwiw the make of what I got was Rust-Oleum)
    • I bought matt because the below article recommended it, but realied afterwards that I should have got gloss (see gotchas below)
  • Article here on how to do it
  • Things I learnt / gotchas:
    • You can’t print white text!
      • Obvious in hindsight, but “white” is not a colour of ink that normal printers contain.
    • The largest font in Word might not be big enough
      • I tried using Paint instead, but the resolution of the text was not great.
      • If you want white text or large text, might be better off just ordering your decals from a specialist printer
    • You have to varnish the decals before you apply them to the surface!
      • This means you have to allow plenty of time for a few coats of varnish
      • I did three coats, waited half an hour between each coat, and waited at least an hour after the last coat before applying the decals
    • I bought matt varnish but was applying my decals to a shiny metal surface, so I should have used gloss
      • I didn’t notice this as a problem until I applied one final layer of varnish to the finished product, and realised I’d created an area of matt on a glossy surface! Looked a bit odd. Ended up buying some gloss varnish and respraying.
    • Beware of spraying varnish onto pre-existing designs!
      • I was adding extra text to coffee tins that already had text, and when I did the final spray I sprayed the existing text by accident, then when I tried to wipe the varnish off again, it smudged the existing text
      • it seemed a bit like the varnish was acting as a solvent and “melting” the existing text
      • because of this and the problem mentioned above, I wonder whether I should have not bothered with that final coat of varnish. It’s not mandatory anyway.
    • I don’t know whether it was just because I hadn’t got the hang of the slidey technique described below, but when I did a test sample without varnish, the whole thing just crumpled up into a jelly-like mush.
      • I suspect this is because it really doesn’t work until you’ve applied a layer of varnish to fix the ink (and waited for the aerosol varnish spray to dry).
    • Don’t try to peel the decal from it’s paper backing. Instead, slide the paper along the back of the decal until enough decal is showing to attach to the surface, then slide the rest of the paper off.
      • It will keep sliding around for a while! Try to anchor it with one finger.

Loosening / untightening a stuck old screw

  • I couldn’t undo a screw in an old tap so I ended up following this advice
  • I needed:
    • some penetrating oil (I bought WD40 specialist fast release penetrant)
    • some grinding compound / grinding paste (I bought Chemico grinding paste)

Weiss

  • see clare-tech (accessible to Clare only)