[madi beattie]

I am firing ceramic decals onto unglazed, flat porcelain sheets. I am having a lot of trouble getting the decal to fuse to the porcelain there are a lot of imperfections and holes. Has anyone else experienced this problem or has any tips of advise?? Thanks

[Marcia Selsor]

Just my opinion but I think you need a glazed surface for fusing the typical decals to a surface.. Since you are using flat porcelain tiles, why aren't you screening the images?

Marcia

[INYA]

hi,

I was using laser print decals on stoneware and I assume it is very much alike. First I got really a lot of holes etc... then I realised that the decal was not adhering totally to the surface. Not even watering the surface helped. I was successful with gumi arabicum. Just paint some at the tile and immediately put the decal on (you have to get the decal ready before you apply gumi), then press the decal a little with the same brush that still has some gumi arabicum on it, to get the bubbles out) . It is still not 100% at large decals, but the small ones were great.

I stoped using it because the glaze ate the decal...

I opened new subject before- the firing curve for the porcelain- do you have any advice in that field?

[PamKinn]

madi beattie, on 16 April 2012 - 06:37 AM, said:

I am firing ceramic decals onto unglazed, flat porcelain sheets. I am having a lot of trouble getting the decal to fuse to the porcelain there are a lot of imperfections and holes. Has anyone else experienced this problem or has any tips of advise?? Thanks

Funny to come across this question. I just attended a workshop on decals this last Saturday. I have also used this techinique in my own studio. Your clay must be bisque fired, then glazed and glaze fired, and then you can apply the decal to the smooth glazed surface and fire again. Not sure what temps you are using but for my work I bisque to ^04, glaze fire to ^6 and then decal fire to ^03. If you fire the decals hotter than that they will fade. After you apply the decal and before you fire, use a very soft rubber rib to smooth out any air bubbles. Also, if you are still having trouble with bubbles or irregularity, try using distilled water for the application of the decal. Decals can be so sensitive that even minerals in tap water may affect the application to the glazed surface.

All the stuff that burns out of greenware will ruin a decal. And applying a decal to bisqueware does not provide a smooth enough surface for even application.

Hope this helps

[INYA]

PamKinn, on 16 April 2012 - 02:59 PM, said:

madi beattie, on 16 April 2012 - 06:37 AM, said:

I am firing ceramic decals onto unglazed, flat porcelain sheets. I am having a lot of trouble getting the decal to fuse to the porcelain there are a lot of imperfections and holes. Has anyone else experienced this problem or has any tips of advise?? Thanks

Funny to come across this question. I just attended a workshop on decals this last Saturday. I have also used this techinique in my own studio. Your clay must be bisque fired, then glazed and glaze fired, and then you can apply the decal to the smooth glazed surface and fire again. Not sure what temps you are using but for my work I bisque to ^04, glaze fire to ^6 and then decal fire to ^03. If you fire the decals hotter than that they will fade. After you apply the decal and before you fire, use a very soft rubber rib to smooth out any air bubbles. Also, if you are still having trouble with bubbles or irregularity, try using distilled water for the application of the decal. Decals can be so sensitive that even minerals in tap water may affect the application to the glazed surface.

All the stuff that burns out of greenware will ruin a decal. And applying a decal to bisqueware does not provide a smooth enough surface for even application.

Hope this helps

This is probably true for commercial overglaze decals, I am using those for 4 years now and since they are "overglaze" this is the right procedure.
For the post I assumed that these decals are underglaze decals (which are quite rare) or even home printed (laserprinted) iron decals.
Both can be succesfully used under glaze. There was a video from Justin Rothshank ...

Commercial underglaze decals are just (mostly silkcreened, maybe possible even with ceramic printers) undercolors on the decal paper. So they are more or less the same as direct silkscreen on ceramic on special paper. They are a little bit easier to do then actual silkscreen.
So I can later attach some pictures with laserprinted decals on stoneware (attached on leatherhard or wet and fired with or without glaze). The rezult without the glaze was great.
BTW printer with ceramic pigment is about 4500 usd... maybe someday

[jillatay]

madi beattie, on 16 April 2012 - 03:37 AM, said:

I am firing ceramic decals onto unglazed, flat porcelain sheets. I am having a lot of trouble getting the decal to fuse to the porcelain there are a lot of imperfections and holes. Has anyone else experienced this problem or has any tips of advise?? Thanks

I'm not seeing if you are putting it on bisque or not. I tried it on leather hard and it came out very crisp. Mine was only about 1 inch square so I can vouch for larger ones. Good luck.
Jill

[law450]

madi beattie, on 16 April 2012 - 06:37 AM, said:

I am firing ceramic decals onto unglazed, flat porcelain sheets. I am having a lot of trouble getting the decal to fuse to the porcelain there are a lot of imperfections and holes. Has anyone else experienced this problem or has any tips of advise?? Thanks

Hello...I have a ceramic decal business and we produce full color decals. The problem you are experiencing results from you applying a decal to an unglazed surface. Decals can be fired on an unglazed surface; however there is a specific process that has to be adhered to.
1) - Clean greenware as normal.

2) - Prepare a solution of ½ water and ½ white hobby glue (e.g. Elmer's glue or equal). Or, use APT-Il Ceramic Enhancer straight out of the bottle (an excellent product).

3) - Sponge or brush on two thin, even coats of either solution onto the area where the decal is to be applied. Allow to dry between each coat.

4) - Apply a third coat and put decal in water so that it will be ready to apply (see "APPLICATION" Section).

5) - Before the third coat is dry (i.e.,while it is still a little tacky), apply decal to prepared area.

6) - Carefully blot decal with a paper towel or cloth to remove bubbles and smooth out decal. Do not squeegee.

7) - Allow to dry for 24 hours.

8) - Fire with your next greenware firing (cone 04-06).

9) - Spray a matte or gloss sealer to protect from being

see http://www.beldecal.com/how_to.cfm

[madi beattie]

Thanks guys for the great advise!! The problem is my porcelain tiles are fired straight up to 1300, I dont bisque fire, so the surface is very hard. I like the sound of underglaze decals, meaning I won't have to do an extra firing, if I decide to glaze my pieces. I also read that polishing the porcelain before applying the decals can help.

[madi beattie]

Marcia Selsor, on 16 April 2012 - 11:44 AM, said:

Just my opinion but I think you need a glazed surface for fusing the typical decals to a surface.. Since you are using flat porcelain tiles, why aren't you screening the images?

Marcia

I may need to start glazing my pieces, I am wasting so much porcelain experimenting with this issue. I dont understand what you mean by screening the images? Do you mean screen printing the images myself?

[madi beattie]

[quote name='law450' date='16 April 2012 - 08:26 PM' timestamp='1334607967' post='16010']

madi beattie, on 16 April 2012 - 06:37 AM, said:

I am firing ceramic decals onto unglazed, flat porcelain sheets. I am having a lot of trouble getting the decal to fuse to the porcelain there are a lot of imperfections and holes. Has anyone else experienced this problem or has any tips of advise?? Thanks

Hello...I have a ceramic decal business and we produce full color decals. The problem you are experiencing results from you applying a decal to an unglazed surface. Decals can be fired on an unglazed surface; however there is a specific process that has to be adhered to.
1) - Clean greenware as normal.

2) - Prepare a solution of ½ water and ½ white hobby glue (e.g. Elmer's glue or equal). Or, use APT-Il Ceramic Enhancer straight out of the bottle (an excellent product).

3) - Sponge or brush on two thin, even coats of either solution onto the area where the decal is to be applied. Allow to dry between each coat.

4) - Apply a third coat and put decal in water so that it will be ready to apply (see "APPLICATION" Section).

5) - Before the third coat is dry (i.e.,while it is still a little tacky), apply decal to prepared area.

6) - Carefully blot decal with a paper towel or cloth to remove bubbles and smooth out decal. Do not squeegee.

7) - Allow to dry for 24 hours.

8) - Fire with your next greenware firing (cone 04-06).

9) - Spray a matte or gloss sealer to protect from being

see http://www.beldecal.com/how_to.cfm



This process sounds very interesting, do you think it would work on porcelain bisque fired to 1300? What is the matt sealer you refere to? is it something I spray on the finished fired piece?

[Marcia Selsor]

madi beattie, on 19 April 2012 - 05:02 AM, said:

Marcia Selsor, on 16 April 2012 - 11:44 AM, said:

Just my opinion but I think you need a glazed surface for fusing the typical decals to a surface.. Since you are using flat porcelain tiles, why aren't you screening the images?

Marcia

I may need to start glazing my pieces, I am wasting so much porcelain experimenting with this issue. I dont understand what you mean by screening the images? Do you mean screen printing the images myself?

yes

[madi beattie]

Marcia Selsor, on 19 April 2012 - 11:11 AM, said:

madi beattie, on 19 April 2012 - 05:02 AM, said:

Marcia Selsor, on 16 April 2012 - 11:44 AM, said:

Just my opinion but I think you need a glazed surface for fusing the typical decals to a surface.. Since you are using flat porcelain tiles, why aren't you screening the images?

Marcia

I may need to start glazing my pieces, I am wasting so much porcelain experimenting with this issue. I dont understand what you mean by screening the images? Do you mean screen printing the images myself?

yes

I screen printed all my decal images for my university degree show, its a very time consuming process and the quality of the image was never as good as the commerical decal printers.

[Marcia Selsor]

Did you use photo silkscreening? That works very well. I had success with that during my time in Grad school , a very long time ago.
I have been experimenting with the litho technique of image transfers and found that to be good on a small scale. It was demonstrated on CAD.
Marcia

[madi beattie]

Marcia Selsor, on 19 April 2012 - 11:27 AM, said:

Did you use photo silkscreening? That works very well. I had success with that during my time in Grad school , a very long time ago.
I have been experimenting with the litho technique of image transfers and found that to be good on a small scale. It was demonstrated on CAD.
Marcia

Yes, I went through the whole photo silkscreen printing process, alsothe images were only in black and white.