hello, I am still fairly new to decal printing and I have a few questions that I want to ask.

1. Should I use laser printer or inkjet printer for waterslide decals or they yield similar result both is fine?

2. Can anyone suggest a brand of coating to use before I put my decals in the water.

3. My stickers don't stay on the mini figures too well, especially the ones on the arms. Why is that?

Any help is welcome. Thank you guys in advance.

Hello,

"1. Should I use laser printer or inkjet printer for waterslide decals or they yield similar result both is fine?"

Well, I have no experience with laser-printed waterslide decals, but I would still recommend inkjet (Laser may make the decal a tad "thicker", but I'm not exactly sure). But, this really depends on whether or not you've purchased your waterslide decal paper already, since it comes in two types - Inkjet and Laser. So if you purchased "laser", you'll have to use your laser printer with that paper.

"2. Can anyone suggest a brand of coating to use before I put my decals in the water."

After printing a sheet of decals, and giving a few hours (Usually I leave the sheet overnight) for the ink to dry entirely, I spray the whole sheet with several light coats of clear Krylon spraypaint - It's non-yellowing, which is a plus, too.

"3. My stickers don't stay on the mini figures too well, especially the ones on the arms. Why is that?"

This is probably because you are putting the decals in places where it is easy for them to wear off, or where it's just naturally hard for them to stick. If you want to apply waterslide decals to the arms, Etc. on your minifigs, I'd recommend picking up a bottle of "Decal Softening Solution" and one of "Decal Setting Solution", which you can purchase from Micro-Mark.

The softening solution does just that - it softens the decal and lets it conform to the shape of the piece you've applied it to, and the setting solution un-softens it. Once all that is dry, you can give the piece a coat of something to further protect the decals with (I use Krylon again, for example).

Hope this helps you out! Good luck with the decals!

~Amanda

I'm not familiar with waterslide paper, but I used to work for an office supply store and sold printers.

For any type of minifig printing I would go with inkjet.

Laser printers use a powder called toner and it burns the pounder to the paper, just on the surface.

Inkjet printers actually die or stain the paper, like a pen would.

For durability I would definetaly go with inkjet.