Water slide or dry rub printer paper for uke decorations?

BigJackBrass

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I've been looking at adding a picture to one of my ukuleles, just a small decoration. Unfortunately I've had little luck in finding any commercially available decals I like the look of.

Something I did find, however, was decal paper for home printers, widely available through Amazon, Staples etc. There are various types, including some to produce water slide decals and others for dry rub-down transfers, but they all essentially do the same thing in letting you print your own images to be affixed to a variety of surfaces.

Has anyone here used something like this on a ukulele? I'm wondering how they fare for durability, colourfastness and so forth.
 
While I have not used the dry rub or water slide paper before just last year we helped as a sponsor with an activity for a local scavenger hunt race. Much fun was had and as we were a tattoo shop we gave them fake tattoos merging my logo with theirs. There were so many groups and I have so many pictures these are a few who showed them off to the camera.

usr.jpg charlies-dog-squad.jpg happy-hunters.jpg more-happy-hunters.jpg

At first I was worried about inkjet ink and reactions on skin but the adhesive sheet provided a barrier to the ink. That would be my concern using something on a ukulele, I imagine the ink is safe for ukulele use but I would check this before rubbing anything on. Water slide decals remind me of cheap plastic model decals. The are usually bright but very shiny.

usr-sheet.jpg

Also the tattoos needed to be printed opposite of how you wanted them to show. Something to remember is the paper you are looking at instructs such a thing. The tattoos stayed on all day yet were simple to remove with rubbing alcohol otherwise they were as good a temp tattoo as Ive ever used as a child. I feel they would have lasted a couple days easily.

Maybe try it on the back first if your worried? Please keep us updated on your idea!

~peace~
 
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I've used water-slide printable decals, and they work fairly well. If you're printing on an inkjet printer, you have to let the ink dry and then give it a couple of light coats with a clear finish spray so the ink doesn't run in the warm water used for loosening the decal. I still experienced a bit of running, but nothing too serious. I applied the decals over a painted surface, and sprayed a clear matte finish over the dried decals to keep them from rubbing off.

If you use decals, be sure to choose either clear background if you want the color beneath to show through.

cp_headstock_decals.jpg
 
One other quick thought is black inkjet ink will change color (green) if exposed to sunlight. I believe a laser print will negate this effect but I'm not certain. Many print shops possibly a kinkos or staples offer laser prints at a reasonable price.

~al-out~
 
I use tattoo stickers.
 

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I used water decals recently for a bass uke I had modified as a tribute to the first electric solid body bass made in 1939 by AudioVox. Had to take a couple shots at it because I neglected to spray it before putting in water. The spray I used is holding up very well, Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating 1303. I also found the white does not work, even though it's visible on the clear decal paper, when I transferred it, the white became almost clear, so I stuck with black.

AudioVox decal on head.jpg
 
Thanks for the replies. Sounds like it may work, with caveats.
 
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