Well, I hate to open this can of worms, which generated a lot of discussion in the past. But, here goes.
I considered all the possibilities, factoring in my inabilities as a caligrapher, and decided to try making rod inscriptions using water slides. Yeah, yeah, I know all the "ethical" issues about using computer technology to shortcut a "hand-made" project, but after all, fiberglass isn't quite a natural product, either. Anyway, I ordered some Papilio laser water slide paper and gave it a try, using an HP Color LaserJet 4700 printer. The water slides themselves looked great (you can get quite arty if you want to), but when I transferred the slide onto a dark brown blank the writing all but disappeared. The best effect, which was not very good, was achieved using bright yellow typeface, overprinted once (that is, I sent the paper through the printer twice), which turned into a light amber typeface after transfer to the blank. The problem is obviously the color density of the "ink," which lets the dark brown blank show through and mute the writing. What can be done to increase the contrast between the printed word on the decal and and the background blank color when using water slides and a dark brown blank?
I considered all the possibilities, factoring in my inabilities as a caligrapher, and decided to try making rod inscriptions using water slides. Yeah, yeah, I know all the "ethical" issues about using computer technology to shortcut a "hand-made" project, but after all, fiberglass isn't quite a natural product, either. Anyway, I ordered some Papilio laser water slide paper and gave it a try, using an HP Color LaserJet 4700 printer. The water slides themselves looked great (you can get quite arty if you want to), but when I transferred the slide onto a dark brown blank the writing all but disappeared. The best effect, which was not very good, was achieved using bright yellow typeface, overprinted once (that is, I sent the paper through the printer twice), which turned into a light amber typeface after transfer to the blank. The problem is obviously the color density of the "ink," which lets the dark brown blank show through and mute the writing. What can be done to increase the contrast between the printed word on the decal and and the background blank color when using water slides and a dark brown blank?
