Fusing Decal Paper- going to be working with it shortly

I've have a few requests to have my Zentangle patterns on Decal Fusing Paper to be sold on Etsy

I just placed my order with Fusion Headquarters
http://www.fusionheadquarters.com/product_p/decpap.htm

and behold I opened up the product tab and it took me a moment to realize - its my decal being applied
woo hoo - more free advertising ! Gotta Love it

Here is the link to the step by step putting the decal on and firing from my blog
http://deborahreadcom.blogspot.ca/2011/10/fused-glass-blanks-step-3-adding-decal.html

I print a full page and then cut them out to fit the pieces I want to make


Of course I had to order because I cant find my package  so I can make any  - I needed some anyway as I need to make up some of the other ones I like - Faces etc..


I also like to use them on ceramics as well



Once I get them in I'll go over again step by step

Fused Glass Blanks - Step 3 Adding Decal to Glass Blank

Now that I have my blanks I can add my decal
I have a full sheet so I can cut strips and cut the sizes I need to put onto the blanks. I did some that were just on the vanilla and some that ran over onto the Carmel to see what they would look like.  I cut then I trimmed the corners so they were rounded

Once I had the size I wanted I put into warm water - they say face down but for me it did not matter

You leave in until it starts to pull away from backing - just touch and slide a bit - pick up at put the starter edge on the glass blank (dont worry you can move it around once all on the blank)

slide the paper out from under the decal till it is all on the blank.

Once all on the blank - I use paper towel and dab the water and work from centre to edge pushing the water out. As it comes out the paper-towel soaks it up.  Dab a few more times.

Once dabbed dry just put to side as it needs to dry before firing.

Once dry then they can be put into the kiln.  This is a slightly larger kiln I have that allows me to put 16 of them all at once.  Fire to decal spec - Keep your eye on them so you dont over-fire as it will burn off the sepia toner.

Some people put glass caps on but I find they distort the nice clean line of the artwork.

In our next step I put a thin layer of liquid glass frit. and it seals my image onto the piece and leaves a nice crisp clear image.

I plan on putting decals onto my beads as well - hopefully in the next week I'll make some bead blanks and start working on those as well - same process except I'll make the beads on mandrels and then add the decal and refire in the fusing kilns.

Creating Glass Fusing Decals - Ceramic Decals and Etching PnP Blue

In preparation for Glass, Ceramic and Copper Etching I'll walk you through what I use to create the decals and etch sheets.  Then the preparation of the materials to put them on.  So there is going to

GLASS DECALS FOR FUSING:
For Fusing on Glass I purchased some Glass Decals from A.A.E. Glass Art. You can purchase as many as you want.  They are simple to use.  They work on the premise that you need a laser printer whose toner contains iron oxide.  I found that the HP laser printers that use the 12A toner cartridges have one of the higher iron oxide contents.  The sheets come with seperation tissue sheets that you can use after printing to stack so you dont scratch your toner off the decal till you use it.

The best artwork is a good black line drawing - you can have some shade but you have to remember that this is going to turn into a sepia drawing. These decals give you clean crisp lines. (some of my finished pieces)

Here is my zentangle drawing -  black and white  on the decal sheets. 8-1/2 x 11
the top is without the tissue cover sheet.  This way I can cut out the pieces I want (will show that when I get to it)

The printed sheet is glossy with the toner on top of the shiny side (you have to figure out on your printer how you feed it in so that it prints on the glossy side) I did a full sheet and will be able to cut out from different areas of the sheet for my glass blanks.

 I WILL CREATE BLANKS THIS WEEK AND DO A STEP BY STEP SHOWING THE PREPARATION OF THE GLASS FOR FUSING AND APPLICATION OF THE DECAL AND RE-FIRING.

COPPER ETCHING
The paper I use to create the etching tansfer is called PnP Blue  and can be purchased from Radio Shack and other locations that sell products for PCB board etching.
Again a laser printer is best used for the image transfer.  This material requires heat - I use a standard Iron.
You print the image on the dull blue  side - as the emulsion is on this side and the toner adheres. Again as I proceed I'll walk it through the process of application and etching.

Hard to see but its black on blue - the toner will transfer to the copper (or silver) and create a resist.

Again - produces an nice crisp image for transfer

(some of my etched pieces)

 I WILL CREATE BLANKS THIS WEEK AND DO A STEP BY STEP SHOWING THE PREPARATION OF THE COPPER AND APPLICATION OF THE TRANSFER FOR ETCHING.

CERAMIC DECALS
To follow - waiting on materials to create.  I'll be purchasing the ceramic colors and will go through the steps of creating my silk screens to screen the images on the specialty ceramic paper. That alone is a really fun to do - a bit intricate but once you make one you will love doing it.  I did silkscreens when doing glass painting classes.  The cost of having someone make them deters me as they want to create a min of about 72 sheets  which is a bit much - although I could sell them

I've started to make my blanks - these blanks will be for the ceramic decals but I think I'll be using them to paint direct on using ceramic paints or glass paints, pebeo ceramic paints etc.. , to show how you can do low temp  painting on (using just the oven) or even permanent marker and sealing with krylon clear coat.  Many choices to use the blanks - and again I'll do a step by step for each

SUCCESS ! Ceramic Sepia Decal works- Zentangle Pendant

The experiment with the sepia decal on ceramic worked - typically I had purchased the sheets for my glass work but now I can use with the ceramic - Not that I doubted it - just that I was not sure what to set my kiln to. I knew that at about 1540-50 the sepia fires on the glass and should be no different on the clay. So I set my trusty Paragon Home Kiln to cone 013 - 1538 and let it go last night.
Viola !

Now what you need to know about the sepia decal is that if you do not cap it it smears - as much as it is fired on I find that it still some comes off.  So like my glass I want just something thin - the Spectrum 700 glaze fires at cone 04/06 which I think is much too high and may burn it off the sepia - but then again the glaze is covering  -  I need to experiment .  So I put the same cover coat I did with my glass - since the clay has been fired and I use such a small surface amount it should be ok - but again - I've coated and am currently firing so later today I should see if it worked.
pics - without covercoat

Sepia Decal on Ceramic Blanks

I am very excited - I am going to Pine Tree Potters Guild in Aurora Ontario  next weekend for an image transfer class with Chris Snedden - -  I so cant wait ! My mind is working overtime on what I want to do with image transfers - as part of the class and to speed it up  we had to send in a black and white image and he makes up a screen of the artwork we want to use in class and I sent my zentangle - Did I say I so cant wait ! I can use it for both glass and for ceramics -  did I say I cant wait !

So  tonight I finished gluing bales onto the the black and white pendants and put everything onto cards and packed for the show - now onto the next batch of goodies.

 I decided I was going to experiment with my ceramic blanks I made last week to  see what happens when I use the sepia decals on ceramics   - the blanks are glazed - so that they float on easily.
















Here they are (I applied a decal to both sides )  dont they look great in black and white - soon I'll get them black and white - but hopefully they will be the sepia color in the morning .It will be different - I hope

I am not sure till I see what I have in the morning - either over fire the decal and have a bunch of brownish blanks or they will be ok - fingers crossed 

Fusing Glass Blanks - applying cover coat to fired decals

The decals are out of the kiln  ( I may have over fired a tad and are not as dark as I like, but they still look good ) That is why its good to have a timer around your neck - I couldn't find any last night. And I was engrossed in doing another Zentangle page.

Once they are out I use a product called Fusemaster Super Spray - its an overcoat that helps prevent Detrification on glass - but I dont use it for that purpose - I use as an overcoat to seal my decal and put a glossy protective finish over the decal that leaves the images clean and clear. I find capping with a piece of glass distorts your image - this gives you crisp lines and the overcoat protects the image.

It can be sprayed or applied with a brush - using a liberal amount I applied with a brush

Its hard to see but it must contain an alcohol as it dries after application to a white surface finish

Then its into the kiln where I fire to about 1425 or until the surface becomes clear. Again watch your temps and time .

Results tomorrow night

New Zentangle Full Sheet Stamp - ordered today

Here is the new full sheet pattern I have sent in today to have a new stamp created - its about 3 weeks away from being put on Etsy.   Its all about Hearts - will be the same price 23.00 plus shipping  and will be on Etsy as soon as they arrive.
I do have others I'll be ordering  but I'll break them up weekly over the next three weeks  or more and post them as I order
Hope you enjoy the image - I'll be printing off some PNP blue to etch from this weekend  and possibly some decal paper as well for fusing -  I wonder if people would buy the PNP /decal per sheet ? I'll have to think about that.

I wish the weather was warmer I want to go to the studio to work - so much more room.  But even with the heaters its still too cold to stay up there and work.  I'll have to make sure I install that wood stove for next year.  I look at it that only another 2 months and I should be back in the studio (with heaters) and I cant wait - I have so much stuff all over my kitchen counters and table  and I have to put things away to ensure I have room.

Anyway - I'll make some etched pieces this weekend with the new heart pattern and wait with anticipation for my new rubber stamps.

I may use my my stamps to show you how to stamp dicroic glass with the pattern and use etch-all to etch the dicro off and then fuse this weekend so keep on blogging.

Black and Vanilla Blanks- sepia decal out of the kiln

The Black and vanilla blanks out of the kiln this morning
fired nicely and will coat with overcoat tonight and re fire

Epiphany

I have been thinking what can I do to make them black and white on glass - and OMG- DUH ! I used to screen images on glass using my black reusche trace (which I also use for my painting)  Sometimes I wonder about myself - I forget about things I did years ago.  So I can still make the same silk screens I planned for making ceramic decals but I bet I could use the same materials for glass as for ceramic - I see some testing coming up this weekend (if my photo emulsion sheets for the silk screens  are  still good) I bet I could screen onto the clay and then cut it but not sure that will work - again play play play . But I know for sure my black on glass will work. 

Making decals for glass and ceramics

 I decided to make my own sheet  (8-1/2 x 11) of Zentangle images (did I mention its way too much fun to sit and make these )I'll print out onto my glass decal paper and fuse- they print out black but when fused are  sepia coloured on the glass   - I'm checking around to see what the cost of  getting ceramic decals made so that they are black and white. Someone else has already done this so its not an original idea -although I've been thinking about doing it for about a year- need to jump on things faster.
Also had some items out of the kiln

Total Success - The Sepia Decal on Ceramic glazed worked

Yes very pleased that the overcoat worked on the ceramic pieces
Quick fire (again at the cone 013)
What can I say - cant wait till I screen the images in black on white .

Now to affix them onto my cards for the show and onto the next items.

I sat and made some glass bead blanks - they are annealing now  then  I'll put decals on tomorrow and fire
I'll need to make some new bezels with a large centre so that I can put the transparencies inside with my resin.

I bought some low fire red clay that I want to try as well.

Then there are the pnp blue zentangles for etching - hmm maybe will do that too

Just realized I just used up all my ceramic blanks - so I need to make even more this time

and I have to create some leather hard stuff for my class next Saturday - probably some tiles - easy and flat that will make putting the screened images on easier -

So much to do before Nov 5th show.  ( I procrastinated too long during the summer to make things - although I have been testing and making new items so I should be good)


And I start my clay classes with Barbara Kimbell on Tuesday night.

Fused Glass Blanks - Step 2- Firing

I prepared my blanks (I decided for a larger area to put my zentangle so I cut larger more square type canvas)

Once cut I put into my kiln - I have an AIM Kiln that I love - the smaller kilns fire up fast and I can do smaller controlled runs - which allow me to make and work faster.

I like working on a kiln shelf with just primer - although I do use fusing paper at times - but for most flat work like this I like the kiln shelf - the shelf is primed with shelf primer 4-5 coats and lasts for quite a few firings before I have to clean and re-prime.  I have spaced them sufficiently so that when they fuse (melt) they will not touch each other.

This kiln has a digital pyrometer and I fire to the 1650 - not all kilns fire at the same rate so I am a peeper - I always check my kiln when getting close to 1600 just to be sure its not overfiring.

When finished the vanilla layer has fused into the Carmel layer giving me a blank that I can now put my zentangle on .  If you over fire and get sharp edges - now is the time to grind the edges down as we will fire to the fire polish stage when firing the decal.

OOOPS !

Not sure where my brain was when working this out - but I know that morretti glass melts at about 1200 F a lot lower than my fusing bullseye glass - so not sure why I thought I could go to 1538 to fuse the decal on

From                                          

To puddles......

Although the two on the left might turn out to be nice cabs -  there is a technique called pot melting that creates disks from left over glass -  this may allow me to create on the smaller scale controlled  now I wish the seperation was further and I could have ended up with some really interesting  cab melts - especially that red with black and white one

Its all about the experimentation - I'll take this as an accidental discovery . cant wait for them to cool - I'll cut them up and refuse in my kiln

More Resin Cups - Smoke & X-ray Flowers and a Pennywise cup

So I painted a nice couple of cups white - no drips - yeah !    (so I ended up with a few white based cups ) 

The first one I wanted to try was a "smoke" cup  where you use a little tea light and a piece of metal (knife) over the flame to cause it to smoke  and voila - you get a nice looking background to work with

I then sealed it with a clear  spray so it would not  move from holding it in my hands 

then I printed what are called x-ray flowers  and a phrase and butterflies and applied the waterslide decals to the cup sealed it again with a clear spray - so it wont lift while applying epoxy 

 image of x-ray flowers 

this pic is before resin 

Next I took another  white cup and applied Pennywise decal I printed and saying - sealed it and then epoxied it 

these pics are before resin 

after resin 

Here they are finished with lids