Making stickers is a relatively easy and fun craft to get involved with. The types of projects vary widely so this article will cover the various types of sticker and transfer paper that you will need depending on what you wish to create.
Simple projects around the home might be to create bedroom door stickers or stickers for kitchen jars, pots and containers.
Simple sticker making projects around the home
For these projects you'll need a little imagination, your PC and some Matt or Glossy White Sticker Paper A4. Quality does vary so if you are going to be printing pictures or fine text onto your stickers, I'd recommend that you spend around £1 per A4 sheet. Spending less may mean that your print clarity is not as clear as you would like.
Your sticker paper should have a bright white side to print onto with a dull paper backing which peels away to reveal the adhesive. Print your design onto the bright white side.
One recent sticker making project that I did was to create several strawberry jam stickers for some clear glass jars that I had. For this project I started at Google and clicked the images button at the top of the Google home page. From here I typed the word strawberry jam.
If you do the same now, you will see lots of pictures of jam as you would imagine. What I look for are the pictures or illustrations on white backgrounds. In many cases you will see ready made sticker pictures too with both image and text ready for you to save for your own project.
When you see an image that you like, right click and "save as" whatever you wish. Then open up your word processor and click the "insert" button usually found in the top menu bar and "insert picture". Then find and select the picture that you just saved.
At this point you can check the size of the image. It needs to be big enough for you to use. If it's small, do not attempt to drag it bigger as this will distort the picture. It is OK however to drag the image smaller to the exact size that you need for your sticker. If you are using Microsoft word just hover over the corner of the image, left click and drag the image to the size you wish to use.
Once you are happy with the size you may wish to customise the design with some text. Do this by going back to insert and hitting the "text box" option. This will allow for you to add some text and drag the text into the centre and below your image.
As I had 6 jars, I used the "copy and paste" function which allows you to quickly duplicate what you have created instead of going up to the insert picture several times. To use the copy and paste function, hover over your image and right click your mouse. Then click "copy". Then move to the open space next to your design, right click again and click "paste" you will see that you design drops into your document.
Once you have filled your A4 size page with your designs, you are ready to print out.
Ensure that your sticker paper has been inserted into your printer so that the print lands on the white face and print out.
With your filled sticker sheet now printed upon, simply cut your designs out of the sheet, peel away the paper backing and apply to your projects surface smoothing out any air pockets.
Specialist transparent sticker film - Clear adhesive film
If you need your stickers to have a clear background as well as being translucent you will need to use some clear adhesive film which is manufactured for both inkjet and laser printers. This material is a sheet of plastic with a plastic backing that peels away to reveal a clear sticky side which also dries clear. Again, good quality clear adhesive paper will retain excellent print clarity for both text and images.
Clear adhesive paper is sometimes used to make transfers for plastic models as a quick alternative to water slide papers as the process is as quick and simple as the regular sticker making projects as described earlier.
It can also be used to create a decorative effect on glasses. For example, if you wished to customise the glass water jugs for instance at the tables of a wedding. For these projects there is no need to "mirror image". Simply print, cut, peel and apply.
Creating your own stickers for plastic miniature models
With the creation of new waterslide papers, it is now possible to create your own transfers at a fraction of the cost of buying them ready made.
Waterslide papers are a clear coated film with a paper backing and come in clear and white for both inkjet and laser printers. The white versions of waterslide paper provide a white background and are used when applying pictures and designs to dark surfaces.
When using inkjet waterslide papers, clear acrylic spray is required to seal your print onto the film. Varnish is not required however when using the laser versions of the paper.
The paper is valuable so it's best to fill it with the images that you require before printing onto the shiny coated side of the paper. Again, Google images are a good place to start when looking for suitable transfers or sometimes the transfer shops themselves have good images that can be saved and used on your own models.
Once you have printed onto the decal paper (for inkjet printers), take your sheet and wait for 30 minutes before applying your first coat of clear varnish. This is to allow the printer ink to dry. Give the whole sheet several even sprays with the clear spray holding around 30cm away. Do this quickly three times, separated by ten minute intervals.
Now that your sheet is printed, sealed and completely dry, you are now able to cut each transfer out, close to the edges. Once cut the first decal can then be placed into a bowl of water for around 30 seconds. The backing paper will start to slide off the coated film. However, keep the backing paper on until the transfer is out of the water and near the surface which you aim to apply it to. Now, slide the backing off and the decal onto the surface. You will be able to move the transfer around but do this gently and the decal is in a fragile state at this stage. Once applied, feather away any remaining water from under the transfer and wait. The transfer will soon harden and look superb.
Laser printer sticker paper
Some recent papers available for laser printers include the clear adhesive film and also gold and silver sticker paper. These can be used to print black or colours text or images onto a gold or silver background, then cut, peel and apply. I have seen some interesting scrapbooking projects and wedding invites using gold adhesive paper for laser printers.
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