Re: [CR]Making (Almost-) white decals

Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 08:50:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR]Making (Almost-) white decals
cc: biankita@comcast.net
cc: biankita@comcast.net

The Pulsar dry-transfer web page ( http://www.pulsar.gs/index.html ) Is the first "pre-packaged" kit I've seen for making white dry transfers, which of course is what was used on the majority of bicycles made before the 1970's - even Reynolds decals were dry transfers.

The problem with any system that uses Laser Toners to produce dry transfers is that these output devices use a subtractive CMY color system that assumes the background will be white. The bicycle needs an additive pigment-based spot colors to get correct registration. If your bicycle is white then there is no problem with dry transfer of laser toners. If your bicycle is any other color then that color will be mixed into all the colors of your decal. In the worst case, on a black bicycle, the white areas of the decal will be clear, and decal areas that should be white, will be black.

For example, the "RALEIGH" transfers of the 1970's mix white, gold, and black. I cannot see how the Pulsar system could produce this multi-color decal.

The ultimate alternative is to use a real silkscreen system which can be assembled from http://www.dickblick.com/ and use a photo-resist which allows you to take a black printed page and make a one-color separation. Then, you can layer 1, 2, 3, or more arbitrary spot colors onto a single decal ( but this is a very tedious process ). Resolution with a silkscreen is about 150-300 dpi, which would lend authenticity to your restoration.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA