BICYCLE

Double faced decals; what are they and how are they made?

The term decal is the shortened version of the word decalcomania.  A decalcomania was a decorative technique where artist images of prints and engraving, could be transferred onto pottery to decorate the stoneware. 

The invention of taking artist rendering from canvas and printing these images onto a medium to decorate ceramic pieces was attributed to Simon Francois Ravenet.  Simon was from France and he was an engraver who immigrated to England and after arriving in England circa 1750 he perfected this transfer process.

 

This printing process of decorating ceramic pieces was imported to the United States in about 1865.  In the United States this process was popularized during the ceramic decorating craze of the mid-1870s.  In the United States the word decalcomania was shortened to the version we use today decal.

 

The decals today are screen-printed on a plastic substrate produced with an adhesive to adhere to surfaces. The plastic substrates are legion and a few are household terms, we know as vinyl (AKA PVC), clear Mylar® or clear polyester is Mylar’s® generic name. 

 

There are 3 (three) types of decals, the first is known as face-up decal (printing industry jargon) also know as single faced decal with back adhesive for outside window mounting.  The second is known as a face down decal (printing industry jargon) also known as a single faced decal with face adhesive for inside window mounting.  The third kind is the double faced decal.  

 

 The first 2 (two) decal types are screen-printed, a type of printing that last in extreme environments and resist fading by the sun.  The 1st is the white vinyl or face-up decal can be used in many location adhered to windows, doors, lockers, notebooks, automobile bumpers.  The 2nd is the clear polyester is used to manufacture a decal with the adhesive on the face, so when the decal is applied to the inside of the window the image or graphic is visible from the outside of the window. 

 

The 3rd is the double faced decal is really a combination of the 2 (two) described above, using the white vinyl and the clear polyester as printed today. 

 

Until the middle of the 1980’s double faced decals where printed utilizing only a clear polyester product.  The double faced decals of this era were basically a build-up of ink on one side of the clear polyester.  The double faced decal has two images one that is seen through the adhesive side of the material and the 2nd image was printing over the 1st image.  If the decal was to be printed with red and blue on a white background and the message was “Hot Dogs Sold Here” this message was printing as a mirror image “ereH dloS sgoD toH” on the clear polyester as seen through the adhesive the image.  The 2nd face printed right reading bearing the same message “Hot Dogs Sold Here” was printed   on top of the message already printed, but with a silver opaque ink printed over the mirror image so the decal would not be translucent.  Because inks are not totally opaque the silver metallic ink was printed between the two images so when the decal is placed on a window you will not be able to see through the decal.

 

In 1979-1980 lead was eliminated as a component of screen print inks, by order of the Federal Government, screen-print inks had to be re-formulated without lead.  When screen-printers used the new inks without the lead component to manufacture double faced decals, the inks were no longer elastic so the inks crack because of the many layers of ink printed on top of each other.

 

So a new technology was invented and this new product was not an ink but a material known as a barrier film.  The barrier film is a plastic sheet with adhesive that is totally opaque so you can not see through this film.

 

The screen-printer uses this white vinyl barrier film and prints on the white vinyl as when they manufacture white vinyl decals.  Then the printer prints on clear polyester the 2nd image as a mirror image and then the printer laminates the clear polyester to the adhesive side of the barrier film, now you have two faces that read correctly. 

 

Double faced decals have a much cleaner presents on a window, because if a vinyl decal or clear polyester decal is employed and adhered to the window of a store or a home each of these will have a large white field facing toward the inside of the store or home.  The double faced decal has the image on both sides, thereby creating a pleasing advertising piece.

 

   

About the Author

Doug Bryant

The Decal Factory – The best decals, signs, labels, posters, stickers and banners in the industry for business and hobby.
Toll Free – (800) 369-5331

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