LAZERTRAN - transfers

[allibee]

Hi Guys,

I was just going through my college stuff, when a sheet of lazertran fell out and a lightbulb went off in my head that I'd like to share!
Lazertran is a printable sheet, either computer printer or photocopier, which, depending on the medium it will be applied to, needs either water or pure turps to transfer it permanently. All depends on porosity of impending receivee medium. *LOL*
Now you can transfer onto plastic, laminate, paper, wood, concrete, anything really. Just make sure when printing onto lazertran, that the design is reversed, so that it is right way up after transfer.
So simple, why didn't I think of it before *LOL*, and if memory serves me correctly, doesn't need laminating after.

Just a thought for you budding deck designers

allibee

[kayne]

I've never heard of this before - thanks allibee. So... I'm sorry but how do you transfer it? Do you need to use a special material before hand or special ink in your computer? Does it have to be black and white or can it be done in colour too? Interesting...

[allibee]

Ok, you can buy the sheets from art suppliers and they simply replace ordinary paper in your printer or photocopier. Works for for full colour and B/W.
When you have your printed on piece of lazertran, depending on what medium you apply it to, you either soak the back with pure turps or water..... therefore, jolly good for using on blank decks, especially if you put say 4 cards up on an A4 piece of paper at a time.
Do you remember the temporary tattoos you used to get in bubblegum? Similar material and application

allibee

[HudsonGray]

Is 'turps' turpentine?

And how does the paper underneath hold up to the water being put on the top of the sheet, will it warp the paper or does the surface of the lazertran keep the water off it?

Also, price? Can't be economical if the stuff is $5 a sheet. We don't have many art stores in this area, so I can't just zip over to a store & check this myself.

[Faerie Lin]

Wow Abilee! Thanx for posting this! I did a search and lo' and behold... http://www.lazertran.com/

This stuff seems AMAZING! It will really help me out with my art projects I am doing with glass!

Prices are listed on the site also... for USA.. its $20 for a pack of 10 sheets that are 8.5 x 11 inches. Bigger size sheets are available also.

Lazertran seems very VERY cool indeed...

lin

[allibee]

Aha..... so I do have my uses, *LOL*


Hudson, see Lin's post, maybe you can order direct, maybe if money's tight, some of you could order a batch between you ?


Glad to have provided a bit of inspiration,

allibee

[HudsonGray]

I did a search too, found something on the polymer site that uses lazertran that says do NOT use this in a home printer, it has to be used on commercial machines because the stuff gunks up the wrong type of printers. Apparently there's a warning on the package as to which xerox or printers are ok to run this through.

I think I'll stay away from it. Most of the prices have it at $2 a sheet, and a 50 sheet pack for $100. The smaller packs were higher priced per sheet.

[Laurel]

If the Kinko's a block away from my apartment will let me mess with lazertran on their commercial printers, I might play with this stuff and some Major Arcana designs.

Laurel

[allibee]

Quote from Lazertran site:


Our new Lazertran Inkjet paper is completley revolutionary.
It does not need to be sprayed with a cover coat like other inkjet waterslide decals but magically the inks become waterproof afer 30 mintues allowing the decal to be put in water without the colours washing away.
It is an egg shell white decal that can be made clear by the application of any oil based varnish. We find oil based polyurathane works well.
HOW TO USE
1. Copy your image onto a sheet of Lazertran Inkjet Paper using your computors inkjet printer.
N.B. Set your print speed to fast as the decal paper will only take a certain amount of ink and applying too much will cause the image to bleed. I find that the setting for transparency on my Epson Stylus printer works the best as it gives a fine finish but applies only a little ink. Test the different setting on your printer to find the best one for you.
2. Allow to dry for at least 30 minutes.
3. Soak the decal in water for about one minute.
4. Apply a coat of craft glue or gum to the surface you wish to decorate.
5. Slide the decal off the backing sheet and apply onto the wet gum or craft glue.
6. Remove any air bubbles and allow to dry.
7. If you want the decal to be clear in parts then make sure you wash away any waterbased glue from the surface of the decal as this will prevent the decal clearing.
8. Allow to dry and apply a few coats of oil based varnish.
Or if you know you want the whole of the decal to be clear then after printing and drying apply at least 2 coats of oil based polyurathane varnish to the image and allow to dry then soak in water and apply your clear decal using any craft glue. The decal will now also be a little more stretchable to go around curves and a hairdryer will help even more.
Lazertran Inkjet Waterslide Decal Paper is great for decoupage, egg decoration or any application where you would use decals. Great for children and anyone who does not want the trouble of visiting a copyshop.
ORDERING
Costs. USA 10 sheets 8.5"x11" $24.95 inclusive shipping and handling. Tel 1 800 245 7547
U.K. 8 sheets A4 £12 inclusive VAT and shipping. Tel 01545 571 149



Can Lazertran papers be used through ink jet or bubble jet printers?
No. Lazertran papers use toner technology, the coated surface will not absorb waterbase inks and as the papers are waterslide and need to be immersed in water. Waterbased inks will wash off during this process. BUT NOW WE HAVE A NEW INKJET PAPER! ( see above, allibee) Click here for information
What Photo Copiers can be used with Lazertran Papers?
All Canon, Xerox, Minolta, Ricoh and these machines badged under other names. Desk top laser printers that work are QMS and tektronics. Alps printers work but yuo need our hand made interleaved Lazertran same cost as regular.
The key is temperature. Our papers run at a fusing temperatureof 180 degrees C, 350 degrees F or lower.
Desktop Lazer printers, or Lazerjet printers can run at higher temperatures than this and are so numerous we are unable to test them all. It is safer that you stay with those recommended.
However QMS and Tektronics and Alps do work well.

[juice]

If your were to print your cards small at 12 cards to a 8.5x11 page, it would take 6.5 pages a deck. That's about $13 and you still have to pay card, ink, mistakes, printer, test sample to get the process right, and your time to do the transfers.
It's workable and might look great. It is also going to be a NOT cheap deck. Since most printers don't handle printing to the very edge very well, you'll need to think maybe only 6 cards to the page. Maybe that's why some of the decks cost $125.