Making Decals youself = easiest way?

NumberFive

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Hello. I've seen the most amazing customised uke's on this site when doing some research to customise mine ( searched for decals, painted ones, etc. ) and a lot of people have amazing decals they made themselves by going trough some graphic society.
Now my question is, what is the easiest way to get a custom decal made for your uke ? for example if I want this in white ( my uke is black )
Tribal_Clefairy_by_zenia91.png


I guess i'm not going to be able to print this with a regular printer ( except if some paper exists for that ? ), so what should I do ? Car customisers, Print shop, ... ?
Thanks
 
Do you know anyone with a Silhouette machine? It's like the Cricut but programmable.
 
damn I just googled that and it seems like the PERFECT solution indeed. Sadly no I know nobody that owns one.
 
Thanks, i checked it out.
To people whom it may interest and who are looking for Decals too, I think this one is pretty complete for everything pop-art/geeky/gaming related http://www.etsy.com/shop/bluegrassgraphix?page=1

They seem to be making decals for car windows, that's safe for ukulele's right ?

thanks again for the quick help, I just ordered them !
 
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If you don't already have a cutting plotter, the best way to do a one of a kind decal like that is to cut it yourself by hand with an x-acto knife. You can probably get a small sheet at a local sign shop for a couple of bucks. Then just trace the pattern onto the vinyl, and hand cut it.
 
I'll be sure to try that out for my next uke. It seems like a good way to cover bigger surfaces instead of painting it.
For this one, one of the custom decal makers from Etsy provided the solution. ( except I have no idea when they ship, it's not like Amazon)
 
Any shop that makes signs can cut that in vinyl. Should not be that much and look super good. that is what I do.
 
The first thing I thought of when I heard the word "decal" are the water-based transfers I used as a kid in model building. You can find transfer paper for your printer and make any graphic you wish.

www.decalpaper.com

 
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Oh those water-based ones seem to be easy, considering you can do them yourself at home with a regular printer. But would they still work on a uke ? it's quite a slippery surface

(in the meanwhile, i ordered some online on Etsy, hope they arrive soon ! )
 
NumberFive,

What country are you in? I make custom vinyls for model boat and airplanes, also I design and make all of our clubs ukulele related stickers. At the moment I charge a nominal fee, but seeing the prices of other peoples decals, I think I might have a think about my prices...:drool:
I'll just say one thing, it's the initial designing of a decal and the transferring it into a CNC environment for the plotter to cut that takes the time and effort, not the actual cutting and end product.
I have had to turn down numerous requests for 'One offs' which would entail about 4 hours design work, to make one decal.....so now I concentrate on decals that I can sell to anyone and I do them in batches, doing it this way returns me my initial outlay in time spent. But sometimes as a favour, I'll do a one off if it's not too detailed..
All the best
Nige
http://www.ukulelemad.com/uke%20decals.htm

Oh I forgot to say.....
I also make water slide transfers, mainly for 1950's model airplanes. These transfers have to be spray lacquered 5 times to seal the inks permanently. Plus, it's best to lacquer over them when they are fixed in place, this seals them forever as you see on the headstock of guitars/ukes which have a high gloss finish.
Hope this helps?
http://modelstickers.webs.com/waterslidetransfers.htm
 
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Sorry Nige, I already followed Freeda's advice and ordered some on Etsy a few posts ago as I've found some good designs there that I hadn't found on amazon or Ebay, so I don't need that decal anymore.

Thanks for helping me though :)
 
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Ah sorry if I wasted some of your time, I said I booked some on etsy already some posts ago
 
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