THUNDERBIRD LOGO Decal DIY

[dadagoboi]

Needed 'Bird logos for my BaCHs.  I've done this for Fender logos.  This is a waterslide decal.

Take a head on photo of the real thing.  The ruler is parallel to the wing tips, parallax makes it look off.  Note right wing funkiness


Photoshop using grid and transform gets the bird squared up. Contrast/brightness cleans up the image.  Right wing still needs repair


Sized down to exact dimensions of original.  Left wing copied, flipped over and pasted over bad wing.


I have a standard 8 1/2 x11 template that I use to fit as many decals on one sheet of clear decal paper as possible.  For this run I decided to hatch six.  I use an ink jet printer.  Before the clear nitro coats that seal the waterbased ink.


Clear coated


30 minutes later, some schmutz on the clear but hey, it's Monday morning.


BaCH guard with Tyrolean scrolls removed and decal waterslid on


The copy is the same size as the original (89mm wide) but the lines are very slightly thicker.

[Dave W]

I'm impressed!

[Iome]

Very nice. Now you must send one to all the Bassoutpost members   

[chromium]

Hey that came out great! 

Reminds me... a while back I bought a pack of this bake-on water transfer paper:

    http://www.papilio.com/laser%20bake%20on%20water%20slide%20decal%20paper.html

I think its only for laser printers, though.  You mirror the image and print on the reverse side of the transfer, slide it on, and then bake it onto the surface in the stove.  The transfer melts down over the toner and seals it to the surface so you don't have to clear coat to protect it.  Didn't take much heat to melt it, and so I thought it might work on PG materials too(?)

I've only used it on one project so far, a prototype for a pressure-sensitivity retrofit for old synths.  You can see the labels on the piece of aluminum channel strip situated beneath the keyboard:






It baked on strongly enough to where I was able to steel wool that entire strip - decals and all.  It took some practice, but once I got the hang of it that stuff worked out pretty good!

[Johnbob]

The bird logo looks great. I have a question though which I'm sure most, if not all of you, can answer. How were the originals done? Were the bird logos screen printed, stamped or etched on the pickguards? Or did they use a similar heat transfer type of thing like you just did? I know some of you have etched it in using a stamp or a cnc machine but I'm wondering about the originals.

Also, any chance you could make me one of those with a white bird so I can put it on a black pickguard?

[dadagoboi]

That bake on stuff looks great...nice job with the typefaces and design.  The standard waterslides are fairly durable but I wouldn't steel wool them!

I'm thinking about getting a laser printer, my Lexmark inkjet is 5 years old, cost $29 and uses 1 cartridge for both color and black.  It does a great job considering all that, including tee shirt transfers, but it uses a lot of toner and the carts will most likely be discontinued soon.

Scott can tell you they were hot stamped, I can't do white on black very well, you have to print black on white paper.  I have it but it doesn't work well.

[jumbodbassman]

Very nice. Now you must send one to all the Bassoutpost members   

at least that have a bachbird or jaebird

[Denis]

Carlo,
I sent a Bicentennial Bird pic (courtesy of Mark) to your email address. Maybe you could take a look at it and make a sheet of them.
I can also sent a cleaner version I've been working on.

[godofthunder]

 Looks great Carlo! I made stickers at one point as a quick fix. I never thought to make decals.