HP Laser Printer – Merry Christmas to Me

HP P1006 Black and White Laser Printer

HP P1006 Black and White Laser Printer

I was running errands the other day – you know the kind where 1 store doesn’t fit all? I needed mailing labels from the paper store, clay from Mile Hi Ceramics, ribbon from the craft store, snacks for my clay class etc. etc. For some reason, I popped into the Office Max near a grocery store and decided to check out the laser printers again. I’ve been re-reading Image Transfer on Clay by Paul Wandless and also checked Ceramics and Print, by Paul Scott from the public library again (I should really just buy the book) because I’ve been thinking about making decals again.

I can’t seem to get my act together to screen decals, and the laser decals seem a bit easier to start. There is a high concentration of iron oxide in some types of laser toner ink cartridges, which when fired onto glazed work results in a soft sepia toned image. I could use my own art work, copy right free images, photographs, etc. to add another dimension onto my ceramic work.

Backing up to my visit to Office Max…when I ran into the store for some kind of misc. office supply, I slowed down near the printers and was impressed with how reasonably priced the simple black and white laser printers are right now. Of course, when I ask the sales rep for information about wanting to see the specs on the ink cartridge for this printer, he was probably thinking, Oy Vey, I’ve got a looney on my hands. I had to back up and explain what I was using the printer for and then, he was a little more agreeable to helping me find the information I needed.

I remembered reading a thread on the Clay Art discussion board about ink content and that any ink that contains at least 30% iron oxide works well for laser decals and HP models seem to have anywhere from 35-45% iron oxide. When I finally found the MSDS for the ink on the HP site, it lists “ferrite” as one of the ink’s ingredients – but that’s so vague and was listed as part of a “proprietary recipe”. I know that ferrite refers to iron, so I needed to investigate a little more.

So, the sales rep hooked me up with one of their fancy computers (Ever used a touch screen monitor before? That’s a topic for another day, but very weird – I missed the keyboard) to search for the info I needed on a clayart thread on ink. Instead of finding the thread for which I was looking, I landed on Justin Rothshank’s site, (a potter whose work I now own thanks to the Obamaware fundraiser) and he specifically lists the printer model I was scrutinizing on his “decal resources page”. At $99.99 + tax, it seems like a reasonable price for an item that typically has a fairly short life span in my experience. Bam – instant sale and since my mom has been asking me what I wanted for Christmas this year, I called her up to thank her for her generous present after leaving the store with printer in hand. ;)

I already have decal paper, but just realized that I purchased traditional decal paper which requires a cover coat – I think I’ll buy some laser decal paper and am going to check my local fine art supplier, Meiningers – if they don’t have it, I’ll buy some online from DecalPaper.com.

Meanwhile, my anti virus software keeps telling me that my website and blog is being blocked for suspicious pdf download activity. I do my best to stay up to date on virus and software definitions and also keep WordPress up to date, so if you are receiving any messages like this, please let me know. I’m going to investigate later today to make sure that it’s just Norton Antivirus being uber protective.

Have a great day,

~Cynthia

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22 comments

  • Undaunted

    December 10, 2008 at 10:24 am // Reply

    Fantastic! Suddenly I feel like telling hubby that getting a laser printer when we already have a perfectly working printer isn’t such a waste of money after all! ;)

  • Jerry

    December 10, 2008 at 11:01 am // Reply

    Hi Cynthia,

    That’s great about the printer. Have fun with it. In regards to the anti-virus warnings. I have been getting them all morning from a variety of sites (boingboing.net, facebook, and some others), all of which I trust. So, I am not sure what is going on. They have all been the PDF-thingie. If I have time I will look into it and let you know what I find out.

  • Ben Stark

    December 10, 2008 at 12:46 pm // Reply

    Have fun with the decals! I have been really longing to work with decals myself. I have lots of pots that the glaze turned out kind of blah, and I hate to throw them out. I think decals may save them. Do you know if it is all HP laser toner that has the iron oxide? We have an HP laser at work and if it works, it will save me the investment of a new printer.

  • judy Shreve

    December 10, 2008 at 1:12 pm // Reply

    Buy a MAC – as a former pc user constantly updating anti-virus software person – I LOVE MY MAC!

    Good luck with your decal work. I absolutely love it & can’t wait to see what you do with it.

  • Linda Starr

    December 10, 2008 at 2:32 pm // Reply

    I can’t wait to see what new work you’ll be making with your new “tool”. $99 – wow, my printer is so old and so slow, I think it’s wearing out, poor thing needs a rest.

  • ang

    December 10, 2008 at 5:42 pm // Reply

    thanks for doing all the research…. i really want to get into printing my own decals…….will follow up on all this wonderful info, cheers ang

  • Cynthia

    December 10, 2008 at 6:17 pm // Reply

    Michael – I’ve looked at Andy’s site a lot and just sent someone to look at his decal work…I think if I have troubles with screening colors, I might send him a file for some color decals. Good to hear you’re still working on the WP thing – I was wondering what you were up to in that area.

    Linda U – I just asked my husband if we should get rid of the inkjet printer, but it’s a cheap one and it prints color, so I think we’ll now be a 2 printer household. I tend to wear my printers out every 1-2 years anyway :( I really would have liked a wireless printer, but it was more money than I wanted to spend.

    Jerry – Thanks so much for the info about Norton…it was driving me crazy this morning. Funny thing is when I signed on this evening, I had 8 updates to Norton to install and now everything is a-ok! I was getting paranoid that someone had hacked my account and I was unwittingly spreading malicious viruses around the internet.

    Ben – Go here to look at the msds for ink products for all HP printers and copiers. It might save some of the pots – or if nothing else will be a good experiment.

    Judy – My next computer is going to be a MAC, but first I have to wait for this one to die… I’ve already got the next one picked out. :)

    Mary – Glad to oblige! It’s so fun to try new things – now I have to start sketching…

    Linda – You’re lucky to have a long running printer. I swear, I go through them like crazy and it doesn’t matter what brand it is either which bums me out.

    Diana – Will do!

    Ang – You know I’ll report back ;) I hope to print some out soon and try a dry run with some glazed tiles I happen to have sitting around.

  • Chae

    December 11, 2008 at 12:37 am // Reply

    Congrats on the HP Laser printer. It’s the very same one i bought a couple of weeks ago. Works like a charm and am really pleased with it so far — but what can one say with only 2 weeks experience under their belt?

    On the decal paper — Bel Decals (305) 593-0911 sells ceramic decals (approx. a dollar a sheet — think i paid $22 for a package of 25 sheets) Their website is http://www.beldecal.com.
    The reason i recommend them is: 1. they work 2. they are exceptionally easy! Just print the image, wait 5 minutes for it to dry, soak in warm water for 30 seconds and apply. 3. The detail of the transferred image is excellent. Have transferred family photos to cups and am really pleased with the results.

    It really IS fun doing the decal transfers and really stimulates the imagination of all the art designs suddenly available to create really unique pottery designs . . . .
    Hugs
    Chae

  • Mom

    December 11, 2008 at 6:36 am // Reply

    Merry Christmas, Cynthia!!! I’m glad you finally found something you really want. I do hope you enjoy your new printer. Personally I want a color laser printer but I can’t justify it at the moment since I already have two inkjet printers (an HP that uses dye inks and an Epson that uses pigment inks). Love, Mom

  • Cynthia

    December 11, 2008 at 7:50 am // Reply

    Janet – You and my mom both (see below)! I installed the printer last night – wow, I love how fast it is and the printing is crisp…

    Chae – After visiting 2 art stores in Denver and coming up empty handed web search for local retailers of decal paper, I ended up placing an order for 25 sheets of decal paper through decalpaper.com – which happens to be Bel Decal. When I clicked on the buy paper, it transported me to the decalpaper.com site. Weird interface if you ask me, but as long as their product works, I don’t care how they do it. :)

    I’m looking forward to trying it out when the paper arrives….

    Mom – Thanks ;) XOXO

  • patricia griffin

    December 11, 2008 at 9:08 am // Reply

    Another incredibly helpful post. You’ve got me staring at my Brother laster printer/scanner/copier, which sits next to me on my desk. I’ve used it for my “other” work, but not yet tried the decal thing… Maybe….

  • Chae

    December 11, 2008 at 11:29 am // Reply

    Good Mornin’ Cynthia
    Am a wee bit tired this morning as my daughter and i shopped in Id. Falls (a 12 hour adventure) yesterday, arriving home between 9-10pm last night. (Am getting too old for these marathon shopping sprees!) Then, found myself “wired with energy” and couldn’t fall to sleep til 2 am!!! Feel exhausted today . . . .
    It’s a rare occassion, like i never have . . . ordered online. (Have read too many articles about MIT or Harvard students who have hacked into bank’s “secure” websites.) So! I always order over the phone which is all to say i’m not surprized to hear that the Bel website is funky. However, Sandy who handles the orders at Bel is a sweetheart.
    Answering your question here (from claygallimaufry)
    – because i was in a hurry to have a piece glazed + ready for the decal, used Coyotte glazes fired to Cone 5 (1867 °F ). Applied the decal and the Hanovia Gold at the same time before refiring. Because Hanovia fires at temps between Cones 019 and 018, i refired at 1300°F with a 5 minute hold.
    However — this was too low. Bel’s directions state to fire at Cone 017 and different sources found on the internet (who all use the Bel decals) say they fire just a few cones under the temps of their glaze (and they use Cone 6 or higher cone glazes) which means i probably should have fired around Cone 1 or so. Definately will fire higher next time.
    Hope this helps.
    Hugs
    Chae

  • andrea

    December 11, 2008 at 2:30 pm // Reply

    About the price of printers — I know! When I bought my lens at Best Buy they had this deal where you can buy a $70 colour inkjet printer for $20 if you buy Nikon products above a certain amount. Why not? We only had a B&W laser printer. Three weeks later it’s still in the box as we still haven’t had time to deal with it.

  • Nona Kelhofer

    December 11, 2008 at 7:33 pm // Reply

    Great post Cynthia! I have been thinking about trying decals for a while but did not really understand WHY certain printers worked. You have helped me understand the process so much better. Each time I pop in to your blog, I learn so much!

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