I just applied a few larger decals (1.8 x 4.1 inches) to some rods I made. On a couple of these decals, there were a few dark purple roundish spots, coming up from underneath the decal, barely visible except under strong light. Also, where the edges overlapped, there were some dark purple discoloration along the edge. On some of the decals, there were no dark spots, so they were perfect.

The background of the decals was black.

I am wondering what causes this. My guess is that there is some sort of pocket, maybe air, between the decal and the blank...although there is no discernible bubble, which would show up a lot on a glossy surface. In general, I printed the decals the day before and they sat around overnight and maybe a little longer. I put the decals on and it was a number of hours before I put the epoxy on. I do not recall this exactly, but I think a couple of the rods sat overnight with the decals attached without any epoxy. I need to pay more careful attention to this in the future.

Any thoughts and remedies.?

Clinton

Did you put a coat of finish on the blank before you put the decal on
Did you put CP over the decal before the finish
Why do the decals - overlap

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2011 02:55PM by bill boettcher.

Are these the decals that you printed on the white vinyl? If so, my first guesses would be:

-Sharpie marker used for touch-up, the ink often looks purple after it dries
-Contaminated decal surface before printing
-Are you using name brand or other high quality ink cartridges in your printer?
-Did you use Photoshop? Is there possibly a layer in the file that added color over the black background? I missed this one time and it caused some funky color problems after printing.

I have had a little too much cp overlap onto black printed vinyl decals that leaves a purple or discolored hue. Also, cp can give black thread a purple hue.

Black does not need CP. Unless you are using other colors with it.

Bill - willierods.com

I did not use a Sharpie marker.
The notion of a contaminated decal surface...the rod surface or the decal surface itself...the white vinyl? Also, what sort of contamination do you have in mind.
I am using HP cartridge ink.
I will have to check the PS layers. There are at least three layers (1) the black background, (2) the fish picture, (3) and lettering. I did not collapse the layers prior to printing.

The interesting part of this is that half the decals were okay, the other had a few spots and some discoloration about the overlapping edges. I can take care of the overlapping problem by not having them overlap; althought I thought it would produce a better look (using black).

I did not finish the blank before applying the decal.
I did not use any CP over the vinyl decal.

I have not had any of these problems with smaller decals.