Tea set
I have previously fired water slide decals on to readymade china. I have used porcelain and stoneware but china definitely gives better results. I find the Linea range from House of Fraser works well.
I thought the easiest way to design the decals was to photograph the ceramic pieces and play around with designs in Photoshop. I decided that the red and blue butterflies were a little too loud for the simple lines of the ceramics. I decided to use the moth images instead, adding some blue. I like the way they are quite map like.
I decided to use a different company to print the decals-
Digital Ceramics http://www.digitalceramics.com/sections/ceramic-transfer.php.
I transferred my designs
into a new file about A3 size and uploaded it. The designs arrived a few
days later, very good quality and colours. The decals are carefully cut round
leaving a small border. They are dipped ( not soaked ) in luke warm water and
applied to the washed and dried china. After a few seconds the decal slides
away from its backing and gently sponged in place. It is best to let them dry over night before firing.
I then fired a previously used test plate in my electric kiln 250 degrees
centigrade per hour till it reached 780 degrees, with a 25 minute soak.
Decals were then applied to the actual pieces and fired as per the test plate. I discovered that it is best to fire once as the glaze reacts differently fired more than once.
