Custom Decal Printing. UK

[Brandlin]

Hi,

I'm seeking a company or individual who can print a number of custom water slide transfers (decals).

I can provide artwork. I need printing in multiple colours, one of which is WHITE!
I'm looking for decals for shield designs, vehicle markings, and banners ranging from 3 up to 30mm.

I am aware of
Veni vidi vici (screen prints, minimum £150 charge)
Citadel six (cannot print white)
Chris's bespoke transfers (no response to enquiries)

Can anyone recommend other suppliers?
UK would be simplest but not essential.

Help please.

[CompanyB]

We do sets as well.

http://company-b-models-and-miniatures.myshopify.com/pages/custom-decal-design

We print white.  You just need to trim the decals yourself. In the West Coast USA, but shipping via flat pack documents is pretty cheap.  About $3.

[Daeothar]

If you can provide the artwork, I'm assuming you know your way around Photoshop or similar programs.

So why not buy your own decal paper and print them out yourself? An A4 sheet of the stuff will provide you with space for potentially hundreds of transfers. All you need to do is fill up a sheet with them and print them. They come for both inkjet and laser printers and also in white or transparent.

I've been printing my own for a few months now and I can highly recommend it. One sheet costs about €1,-  and I got a few packs of 5 sheets each.

Hardly breaks the bank and the results can be pretty awesome!

One thing though; trust me on creating a full sheet before printing, because the paper will slightly curl up after a pass through the printer and most printers cannot handle the curled paper and will jam (just my experience with a Samsung all-in-one colour laser printer).

[Brandlin]

So why not buy your own decal paper and print them out yourself? An A4 sheet of the stuff will provide you with space for potentially hundreds of transfers. All you need to do is fill up a sheet with them and print them. They come for both inkjet and laser printers and also in white or transparent

I have printed my own decals for a few years now.

I am looking for a custom print job because I need to print WHITE onto clear backing. No, I can't use white decal paper because the shapes I need in white are too complex to cut out.

[6milPhil]

I've enjoyed some from Company B, and very well done they were too. I'd recommend them for both speed and quality, plus as they're decals the P&P is v.reasonable  

Dom's decals is UK based but can be slow: http://domsdecals.com/

[Daeothar]

I am looking for a custom print job because I need to print WHITE onto clear backing. No, I can't use white decal paper because the shapes I need in white are too complex to cut out.

I'd still try the white paper...

I used white decal paper to make the below Imperial Logo*. I simply printed a very thin outline of the logo and cut that out with a small margin on the outside. the inside 'open' parts I left untouched. I applied the transfer and then painted outside of the lines in the same colour I used on the background.

Of course I first put a coat of varnish over the transfer first. What I did though, is use a matt varnish as opposed to the glossy varnish I previously used (and is recommended. I think the result is better, as there is not even a trace of glossiness now, something I battled before, as no matter how many coats of matt went over it, some shine always remained).

I later realized that if I had proxied the background colour on the transfer already, the overpainting would have been even easier (especially in the  smallest corners)...





* Pardon the blurry picture, but this phone picture is all I have available right now...

[Brandlin]

daeothar - I do NOT need help or advice on printing my own transfers, as I have said I have been doing it for years.

Not that I need to explain, but I'm putting the transfers over multicoloured camouflage background. And I have almost 200 hundred to do.

I WANT recommendations of custom decal printing that can handle WHITE printing. I want to talk to and understand from those producers what they need in my artwork, what detail they can print and likely costs before I decide how to go about what I need to do. I don't know how much more clear I can be? If you can't add to that recommendation, please stop posting.


6milphil - thanks for the recommendation. I've found a number of other printing services since I posted my first request, and that includes Doms decals as well as

Jupiter IV Decals
Armadillo Design Bureau
Ginfritters Gnomish Designs
Jbot Decals
Fallout Hobbies
R Squared Studios
Semiotic Standard
Littlebigmanstudios
Wessex transfers

[Sangennaru]

I'm interested into any good indication about options for decals too, all the links and suggestions above are quite useful, thanks y'all!

daeothar - I do NOT need help or advice on printing my own transfers, as I have said I have been doing it for years.

Not that I need to explain, but I'm putting the transfers over multicoloured camouflage background. And I have almost 200 hundred to do.

I WANT recommendations of custom decal printing that can handle WHITE printing. I want to talk to and understand from those producers what they need in my artwork, what detail they can print and likely costs before I decide how to go about what I need to do. I don't know how much more clear I can be? If you can't add to that recommendation, please stop posting.

I'm not sure that is completely OT... to tell the truth, as long as this remains a public post i'd be interested in reading good and well-articulated suggestions.

Cheers
Jack

[6milPhil]

6milphil - thanks for the recommendation.

No worries mate, tbh if I were after more decals I'd go straight to Company B because I know they can do it well.

[Brandlin]

Thanks Phil. Always better to get a personal recommendation. So many of these small companies don't even respond to a request for info.

[CompanyB]

As I mentioned, we print white onto clear film as a base on all our decals anyway.  We use a Laser printer that uses a white ribbon "toner" that lay's down a solid layer of white, then clear layers of color go on top.  White actually looks the best, as it's always a solid color as some colors can dither (made up of dots)

There are two process for white prints:

One, silk screen. You screen print opaque whit ink onto clear decal backer paper.  Then follow on with the colors.  The final coat is a "varnish" layer, which is what allows the decals to be "pre cut"  The varnish layer is essentially the clear film for the decal. Silk screen is a one layer at a time process, and the ink has to dry between pressings.  It's similar to offset printing and does give you solid colors on every layer. But you pay for "each" color you add, and I think the max is 7 colors per master sheet.

Two, Laser print.  There was a laser printer that came out years ago that would thermal print white ink toner.  It can also do this onto clear decal film.  the same cartridge can hold other colors.  Unlike silk screen, this is a "dry" process similar to laser printing.  Once the "ribbon" is used up, you toss it away and install a new one.  The difference is that this process requires you to print onto clear decal film, as there is no varnish layer. Gradients and bit map art will tend to dither, as will some unusual  colors. There is no limit on colors, as they are made by layering the different toner inks you have at your disposal.

For us, we always create files as vectors.  Either in illustrator, or another program, though photoshop can be used as long as the colors are separated.  But vector files give you the greatest control of the process to get the designs onto paper.  Bit maps and photos will be dithered unless you go through a long color separation process.  That's more costly.

Basically, silk screen is great if you need 1000's of decals. We used to silk screen our decals, but it was very costly..up to $1500 for each print run.  And we'd need to order a minimum order of 100 of the master sheets (master sheet was 24" X 36") Plus all the silk screen shops are on the East Coast of the US.  I'm not spending $1500 in airfair to fly over to do a press check on a $1200 decal print order.

The laser process is better for low print runs.  That's what allows us to essentially do a "one off for a customer who needs just a specialized platoon for miniatures, a singe vehicle, or a limited run set like "Cobra" vehicles.

[PaintsByNumbers]

Jupiter IV Decals
Armadillo Design Bureau
Ginfritters Gnomish Designs
Jbot Decals
Fallout Hobbies
R Squared Studios
Semiotic Standard
Littlebigmanstudios
Wessex transfers

URLS? links?

[beefcake]

That's what google is for