This will open the Print box which can be seen below.
How to Make Decals
Printing
The page is now ready for printing but, as a final check and to save wasting expensive decal paper I would suggest that you run a test print on plain paper first.
With this test print you can check that the printed decals are the size that you actually require, they are the colours that you require and that you know which way your printer actually prints the paper. That last thing you want is to print them on the wrong side of the decal paper because you have placed it wrong way up.
For your first test print you can simply print using the printer symbol to print the document out but for the final print you will need to use the FILE > PRINT menu . I would suggest that you use this method to get used to it for the final printout.
Test Print
Using a pen or pencil make a cross on the top sheet of paper in your printer tray. This is simply to determine which side of the paper your printer prints on. I would suggest taking all the paper out of the tray and just placing the test sheet in the tray by itself.
In Word make sure that you have the document containing the graphics open and click on the FILE tab and select PRINT (or press CTRL + P as a keyboard shortcut)
This will open the Print box which can be seen below.
For this test print we do not need to change anything. Make sure your printer is turned on and the paper with the cross on it is inserted in it with the cross to be seen i.e. face up. Press the OK button.
The page will now be printed out on your printer. If the graphics are printed on the same side as the cross your printer prints on the face side. If the graphics are on the opposite side to the cross your printer prints on the reverse face. It is important to note this so that you can put the decal paper in the printer to print on the correct side.
Check the printed graphics carefully to make sure that they are the right size for your needs and that they are the colours that you want.
Unfortunately, printed colours rarely match the actual colours on the screen so you may need to re-adjust the graphics until you find it prints to the colour you need. This can only be done by trial and error.
Any re-sizing can be done using the Format Picture command in Word that we used earlier but if you need to adjust the colours you will need to work on the actual graphic in your graphics program, re-save it, delete the text box(s) in the Word document and replace the text box and graphic with the new one. Not really as much work as it sounds here and well worth the effort to get a good colour match. I never said that making your own decals was quick and you do need a bit of patience.
If you do make any adjustments run another test print on plain paper to check the results.
Final Print
When you are happy with the results from your test print you are ready for your final print run.
Load the decal paper into your printer making sure that it faces the correct way. Most decal papers have printing on the reverse so it is easy to tell which is the side to be printed on.
Click on FILE > PRINT to bring up the printer box but this time click on the PROPERTIES box. This screen will vary slightly depending on what printer you are using but should look something like this -
Select the paper or in my case media as Glossy Photo Paper and on the Quality settings choose Best or High quality and click the OK button which usually takes you back to the printer box.
Your printer is now set to print at the highest quality possible and all you have to do is press the OK button to print out your decals.
NOTE: Do not handle the decals immediately as the ink will still be wet and may smudge if handled. I usually leave the sheet to dry properly for 15 minutes before I handle it.
Next section - How to Use your Decals