Make Your Own Decals

There are many different ways by which one can create their own decals. Although decals are available in a large variety in the market, it is better to create decals at home in order to customize them. One can use his creativity in the preparation of customized decals.

Decals

Decals, also know as 'transfers', are made of cloth, paper, plastic or ceramic substrate. Their surfaces have a imprinted pattern, which can be transferred onto other surfaces by means of water or heat. Water decals include types such as 'water-dip', 'water-slide' and the 'peel-and-stick' ones. The peel-and-stick ones are the custom vinyl decals. Vinyl is a petroleum based product. Decals are pasted on vehicles such as motorcycles, cars, trucks and even guitars among many other things. Nowadays, the design pattern for decals are made with the help of computer software.

Make Your Own Decals

Creating our own decals is a nice way to express ourselves or to mark important things. To make your own decal, a software program is a good option. Software such as the 'Adobe Photoshop' are commonly used to create decals. Such software can be downloaded from the company website. After one clicks on the 'download' link, the installation gets completed in a matter of minutes. Once the above process get over, you can head on to make your own decals.

As you begin using the software, you should proceed by clicking on the 'File' and 'New' buttons. The dimensions for the decals should be selected. Common decals usually measure 10 inches in length and 3 inches in breadth. The minimum resolution for the decal needs to be 300 DPI. The background color for the decal should be chosen from the available range of colors. The colors can be selected by clicking on the color button present on the right hand side of the screen. The 'paint bucket' option helps in filling the desired color in the decal. The 'T' option enables us to customize the size, font and color of the text.

Once the designing process gets over, one can upload it to a suitable website. With the help of such websites, the decal design can be placed on the items of your choice such as mugs, teddy bears, T-shirts, etc. These items can be ordered thereafter.

Printing Decals at Home

To print decals at home, one is required to have materials such as an inkjet printer, decal paper, decal bonder, etc. The decal paper is printed with the desired pattern or design with the help of an inkjet printer. After the above process gets over, the paper is coated with a decal bonder. The second coat is applied after a period of 20 minutes. The paper should be allowed to cure after the application of second coat for about 24 hours. The paper is cut with the help of scissors to give it the desired shape. The decal should be placed in warm water for about 30 seconds and placed on the surface where it has to be pasted. The decal setting solution needs to be applied to the paper after it is properly placed. Multiple coats of the solution could be applied if necessary. The solution should then be allowed to dry.

To make your own decals is a fun-filled activity. One can display his creativity in preparing a nice and decorative decal.