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Making Decals - what you need before you start

You need either:
Water decal paper & Acrylic varnish
OR
Dry rub off paper
Both types are available from http://www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk

You also need:
Printer with a high DPI rate - preferably a photo quality type
Photo editing and layout software
Scissors
Clear topcoat
Lots of patience

Import and point
Regardless of the type of paper you buy, remember that:~

CLEAR decals are used for decorating light coloured nails
WHITE decals are used for decorating dark coloured nails. If you don't cut round the edges of a decal it will leave a white border!!
Stage 1 - create your decal
Photo editing
The first stage is to create your design or edit a photograph that you want to use.

use what photo editing software you find easiest or what you have available.

Load your choice of photo editing software

start by opening or even copying your picture into your software editing programme.
then remove the background around it until you are left with just the image. How you do this depends on your programme. Normally an eraser will do the trick.

crop the image down to remove all the background you don't need

then save the picture as a .jpg file

OR

Create your own designs
Load your choice of photo editing software

open up a blank page to work on

use either the pen or brush tools to create your own designs

crop the image down to remove all the background you don't need

then save your design as a .jpg file

Layout your decals
Now you need to find a program that will let you easily layout your designs. I used ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR. MICROSOFT PUBLISHER will work just as well or you could have a go in your photo editing software! AVOID MICROSOFT WORD

Load up your choice of software

start with a clear A4 page

try to switch on the rulers around the page, have them measure in CM or MM

Insert your photograph or design that you created earlier

Reduce the size of your design so it will fit in a 2cm long by 1.5cm wide area.

copy the image, paste it back on the page and line it up

Repeat this until you have 10 copies of your image

slightly reduce the size of your images as they go along the line - this ensures a design would fit on even the smallest of nails

then select the line of decals and group them together

copy the group and paste a new one underneath

fine the "reflect" or "mirror" tool and flip the new line, so the images now face the opposite direction. this insures your designs will look well on either hand

whatever you do, save your page now!!

Print your decals
the print process is different for both types of decal paper

before you print onto your decal paper, print off a draft sheet of y our page. this way you can check the decals are the right sizes or edit them

Water slide decals
slide in the sheet of paper

print the page in a high quality setting - but don't change the printer settings regarding the type of paper. Leave it set as it is normal paper

once printed leave to dry for at least 30 minutes

then you finish by spraying the paper with any type of acrylic varnish. its recommended to spray three thin coats of varnish to make sure that the ink is sealed onto the page

OR

Dry rub
slide in the transparent paper, making sure your page will be printed on the rougher side.

print the page in a high quality setting - but don't change the printer settings regarding the type of paper. Leave it set as it is normal paper

leave to dry for AT LEAST 1 hour
place the sticky paper page side up on a flat surface and carefully stick on the transparent sheet printed side down

work together and push out any air bubbles

Apply your decals

water slide decals
cut carefully around your decal - remember white decal paper will leave a border if you don't cut along the edges

drop your decal into a small bowl of water and leave for 30 seconds

pick the decal out of the water, slide off the backing and then slide the decal straight onto the nail

you have to work the decal flat, smoothing out wrinkles

once the nail is dry, coat the nails in a clear topcoat to seal and protect the design.

Dry rub decals
cut carefully around your decal-remember white decal paper will leave a border if you don't cut along the edges

peel of the white back paper and press sticky side to the nail

press firmly down then rub the transparent plastic sheet with an orange stick or your fingernail

peel off the plastic transparent sheet

coat the nails in a clear topcoat to seal and protect the design.