When I make puzzles I like to use 1/8” acrylic because a) you don’t need to deal with peeling masking, b) there’s no scorched edges to make a mess and c) the pieces have a satisfying premium feel.
Adhering photo paper to acrylic has all sorts of issues and I don’t have the need or space to invest in a dye sublimation setup or direct printer. So my choice for getting a nice image on the surface is laser printer waterslide decal paper. It’s accessible, easy to use, laser safe polyurethane and has a beautiful matte finish.
Here’s a fresh puzzle right after cutting - no scorching, no masking. A little under 11x17, 300 pieces.
I love it when someone comes up with a new way to make puzzles!
The laser printer decal paper is a neat find, and I might need to try that out, thanks for sharing it If you ever pick up some mirror acrylic, it would be rad to see how the image would look with that. Ping me if you get into selling them, I am connected to several wooden puzzle enthusiast groups that like all sorts of new things.
Beautiful! Have you done it on any other colors? Themed puzzles with matching colors (Halloween with orange etc.) would be neat. There are also those clear puzzles without a picture that are sort of popular - whoever buys those are truly puzzle fanatics.
Thanks! Haven’t yet but I was just having that thought as I was pulling the pieces out of the GF.
The decal paper stash I have right now is clear, but they do make a an opaque white version that could be really nice on colored acrylic.
Oh wow, what a fabulous result! One thing I’d worry about is chipping of the printed layer off the pieces as they are rubbing against each other in storage. Do you do any sealing type of treatment after application? I’ve got a bunch of laser waterslide paper as well as the inkjet printable version (from Lazertran). Might have to give this a go. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you!
Sometimes I give decal-ed things that’ll get a lot of handling a spritz of clear matte Krylon (acrylic) before any cutting. Like mugs or toys.
I haven’t actively tried to destroy anything but so far nothing’s chipped in regular use. I suspect the urethane film is more likely to peel than chip if anything, it’s kinda stretchy in its wet-when-applying state.