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Decals for Ceramic Firing

Buying and Selling Decals

Fire Designs onto Ceramics with Ceramic Waterslide Decals

I’ve written about Home "Curing" Lazertran Decals onto ceramics, metal and glass, being careful to point out that the decals don’t truly fire into the substrate as ceramic glazes do.

If you desire to fire your original scanned or digital artwork onto ceramic items, you need a kiln (or access to one) and custom made decals for ceramic firing.

I learned about some of the options while researching the reader questions below.

Question 1: Where Can I Buy Alpha Decals for Firing onto Ceramic?

I am searching for all sized letter decals for firing on china.

I am in the process of painting ceramic tiles and need these decals to fire on for the lettering.

It is very difficult to get the letters perfect using pen work or even a brush.

Do you know where I can purchase decals for firing on china or do you have any suggestions?

Thank you,

Patricia

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I searched high and low but could not find any supplier of ready-made letter decals for ceramic firing. National Artcraft has a wide selection including numerals but not alphas.

Olympia Enterprises has many decals with lengthy verses on them. You may be able to find the letters you want and cut them apart from the rest, but I doubt it. You would have no flexibility on size or typeface.

The reason I provided the info above is that each site has a section on how to fire the decals. You might find some helpful tips there.

Now for the good news ... Bel Inc. will transfer your artwork to decals for ceramic firing.

In your case, since all you want are letters of various sizes, I suggest you contact the company and ask if they will produce sheets of letters in the font size and typeface of your choice.

Bel seems to be the "only game in town". During my search I encountered many dead links - apparently for ceramic decal companies that have gone out of business.

In fact one of them, KLM was recently acquired by Bel. Bel must be doing something right!

Question 2: Who Buys Designs to be Made into Decals for Porcelain?

I am a painter and am interested in putting my designs on decal to be used on porcelain.

Do you purchase designs? Or can you lead me to one who does?

Thanks,

Betsy

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Selling Decal Designs

See my answer to Patricia above.

The same companies which sell decals for ceramic firing would be the likeliest buyers of new designs to add to their decal catalogues.

Don’t be discouraged if they tell you they have a staff of in-house designers or don’t need any new designs right now.

Some companies, like book publishers, might return submissions unopened because of copyright concerns. They might require you to have an agent.

It would be best to obtain formal copyrights before submission to protect yourself and avoid future misunderstandings.

Also be sure to protect your copyright by limiting the size and resolution of the file and/or stamping them with a digital watermark copyright notice. Either would make the design useless to anyone who might try to claim it as their own.

If you find a willing company, ask if they have any suggestions for you and if you could send them a couple of your designs to look at. Stress that you would appreciate any feedback they might have.

Most people will try to help you if they can. The longer you can keep the conversation going, the more likely the person will come up with an idea or a contact suggestion.

I have one other thought for you if you really want to get into the design end of the ceramic decal business. Design Point is the premier ceramic decal manufacturer.

They don’t sell the decals to be fired by someone else. They handle the entire process starting with the customer’s artwork and ending with collectible china plates, tile murals, custom dinnerware and personalized giftware.

Their customers "include the largest, most successful ceramic collectibles, ceramic giftware, tableware and commemorative plate manufacturers in the world, including The Danbury Mint, Bradford Exchange, Lenox China and Pfaltzgraff."

A job in any capacity with one of these companies would help you learn about the industry, make contacts, and perhaps even get your artwork seen.

Best of luck!

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