I'm new to this site, but thought I might be able to offer another inexpensive idea, which I have used in mixed media collage pieces, to transfer the image. This will work with color images as well. Get your image, flip it so it is mirrored, print onto standard laser paper (will not work with and inkjet printer), brush Clear caulking sealant onto the tiles(shown in picture: Home Depot; Approx $4.00), press the reversed image face down onto the tiles, let dry. Make sure none of the sealant gets on the back of the paper. Once dry, soak the entire thing in water. Start rubbing the paper off as it's disintegrating. The image will stay as the paper is washed away. If you'd prefer, coat the new image with one more layer of the caulking. Super duper easy.
This is awesome! I've been looking to do this sort of thing, but was never sure how to go about it. Thought about using liquid Femo, but have never had much success with that method. This seems like just the process I am looking for and I can't wait to try it. Thanks so much for putting this together!
Beautiful... Will definitely be trying this. But with an inkjet, since that's what I have. Question: Did anyone try the iron-transfer method? How'd that work?
I'm not a ceramacist (I made up that word but it works real good for me) however what about this thought:
1. Use an iron-on method to apply the design to the tile 2. Take the tiles to a shop where they fire ceramic stuff for people (called greenware I believe) and have them re-fire the tiles with clear glaze. Then they'd truly be tough and usable for bathroom surrounds, etc. They may also have pre-made greenware tiles appropriate for this use.
Sorry Leopold, pottery is biqsue fired at about 1700 degrees F and the paper ignites at 451 degrees F. Also, once most ceramics pieces have been fired to completion, the clay has vitrified and cannot take the thermal shock of being fired again and unless extreme care is taken, they will shatter.
There are special pottery decals that can be custom printed. They are printed with ink made from high-temp ceramic materials on special printers. I found a few spots online, just run a search for "custom pottery decals"
There is another way that you could do this, and I’m sure it will cost you more than $3.00 but it may be a little easier to work with in my "younger days" I use to put B&W pictures of my girlfriend on my white Gibson flying V guitar and one of the local copy shops I went to had this really cool transparent satin finished sheets of stuff that was called
REPO FILM (not sure of the spelling) but they could print any color but white as copy machines don't copy in white and the way that I put them on was like this: cut it to size got a spray bottle and mixed up some real soapy water and sprayed on the area I was putting the film on peeled the back off and put it into place and then with a real soft small squeegee or soft putty knife (but the putty knife could scratch your image) work all the excess water and soap suds out and once it dries you could spray some thing over the top of it to protect the image from getting damage
Have you tried transferring the image by printing on glossy paper and then using a hot iron to transfer the image to the tiles? I don't know how well it would work (it works well for making circuit boards), but it may actually allow you to transfer the image and have no paper left on the tile.
Here's an example of how it's done with circuit boards; just an idea, I have no idea if it'll work ;-)
I was thinking along these same lines- I know they sell "iron on" paper for making T shirts I wonder if you could IRON it onto a tile rather than a piece of material- If NOT- I know they also make special inkjet paper called 'tattoo paper" Sometimes i Decorate my notebooks/cellphones etc with temporary tattoos using a moist paper towel etc- they last much longer when used as "decals" then they would on skin especially if you go the extra mile and "super seal" it or wrap the entire tile in tight SeranWrap to protect and make shiny the underlying print. as long as no one is seeing the bottom where the seran wrap gets taped up it would probably look pretty cool Has anyone tried any of these techniques im really most interested in knowing if IRON on images made with an inkjet will iron onto things other than T shirts
Hey, I know this was months ago but I just found this place and HAD to reply. What you're thinking about is Dye Sublimation and YES it does work. However, the heat transfer paper will only put the image on the tile if it's specially coated with some sort of magic goop. The tiles come pre-gooped from many online distributors, but they cost like you wouldn't believe. This DIY method seems to be much easier and cost-effective, especially for a gift. I don't quite know if it'd hold up as well if used like an actual tile-- like in a shower or behind a sink, where it'd get wet and worn-- but as far as decoration goes, it seems to be acceptable enough! =D Sorry for the super late reply (Joined a whole forty-five seconds ago! YAY!). I do the teeshirt thing for a living and gave the tiles a shot for giggles sake a while back.
makes sense, never heard of "tattoo paper" but cool i think if you put something to seal the imagine in it would stay, should try to find this "Tattoo paper" and try it some time
Hm. I don´t recall any wrinkles. I guess good old Freud would have an idea of why :) Someone had a good idea of making like this: "It's very hard to get the picture on the tile without any wrinkles. But it works perfectly with an iron. Put the decoupage glue on the tile, let it dry. When it's dry, lay the paper on the tile, place a piece of bakingpaper on top and begin to iron (heat on 2). Within seconds, the paper is stuck on the tile without wrinkles!" I haven´t tried that, but it might work.
Go to your favorite Scrapbooking Store and ask for "Super Seal" (marketed by Creative Imaginations). You can spray your finished project and make it water-resistant (although I call it water PROOF). You can use Super Seal as your top coat instead of brushing glue on it and you'll have no brush strokes. This is great stuff, you can use it on paper, metal, cloth, anything! I spray my party balloons to increase their life!
1. Use an iron-on method to apply the design to the tile
2. Take the tiles to a shop where they fire ceramic stuff for people (called greenware I believe) and have them re-fire the tiles with clear glaze. Then they'd truly be tough and usable for bathroom surrounds, etc.
They may also have pre-made greenware tiles appropriate for this use.
Leopold B
There are special pottery decals that can be custom printed. They are printed with ink made from high-temp ceramic materials on special printers. I found a few spots online, just run a search for "custom pottery decals"
will
There is another way that you could do this, and I’m sure it will cost you more than $3.00 but it may be a little easier to work with
in my "younger days" I use to put B&W pictures of my girlfriend on my white Gibson flying V guitar and one of the local copy shops I went to had this really cool transparent satin finished sheets of stuff that was called
REPO FILM (not sure of the spelling) but they could print any color but white as copy machines don't copy in white
and the way that I put them on was like this:
cut it to size
got a spray bottle and mixed up some real soapy water
and sprayed on the area I was putting the film on
peeled the back off and put it into place
and then with a real soft small squeegee or soft putty knife (but the putty knife could scratch your image) work all the excess water and soap suds out and once it dries you could spray some thing over the top of it to protect the image from getting damage
Here's an example of how it's done with circuit boards; just an idea, I have no idea if it'll work ;-)
http://www.instructables.com/id/EA9A8SDWA9EYF7IYXZ/