Transferring A picture

Does anyone know a builder who has incorporated a transparency or decal into thier deck? I seached online, and found techniques for transferring photos to wood, but they all seem to involve liquids or solvents that the epoxy might not "like". So, I figured to try & inkjet print a transparency . Any ideas on how to tranfer a photo onto the wood deck?

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RE: Transferring A picture

I used an inkjet printer to print my name, date, etc. on rice paper and applied it under the glass/epoxy layer on the back bulkhead (put down a seal coat first).  I did quite a few experiments with different weights of rice paper, fonts, etc.  I found that a lightweight paper wets out best.  If you look about/13 the way down the page on this site (March 4 post date) you will see my suggestions after the experiments:

http://www.westcoastpaddler.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3517&p=51611&hilit=rice#p51611

Also search for "rice" on the CLC builder's forum and you'll see several examples of both pictures and text people have done.  I would definitely recommend that you try a test run or two on a scrap piece of wood (perhaps one of the temporary hull forms) before you apply it to your deck since, as they say, your results may vary.

RE: Transferring A picture

Jim,

Here's an example of the rice paper technique Kathy mentions. It was done on a laser printer,not  inkjet. Laser toner does not dissolve in epoxy. I've heard that at least some inkjet inks are suitable, too, but I have no direct experience withthem. As you can see the paper totally disappeared.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the rice paper technique works absolutely best for line art. Gray scale will work too, but your printer needs to be capable of doing a good kob with printer's dots, and the image must be one that can stand the transformation.

Definitely try a few experiments, and when you're doing the real thing, don't be shy about pulling it off while the epoxy is wet if it isn't working out. It's a lot easier to remove then than after the epoxy cures.

Have fun,

Laszlo

 

RE: Transferring A picture

If rice paper is hard to find, use a blank section of sewing pattern tissue.  As Lazslo mentioned, it's best to run your image through a laser printer for best fine detail. Most store bought sewing patterns have lots of blank area that you can cut out. Securely scotch tape all edges of the blank tissue to a host piece of regular letter paper and run it through.  The sew pattern paper completely disappears under the epoxy. This one is applied under 4oz fabric.

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