Sunday, August 4 , 2013
Decals from Dicks Decals
When I first started this blog, I would sometimes buy old and antique toys in bad condition and restore them. However, I did not meet the standards of 1 person whom I had asked for permission to write about. He wouldn't agree to my request as my "restorations" were just not good enough - ouch! Of course, communicating by e-mail allowed me to "cool off", gather my thoughts, think what the person wrote, and he was correct. However, I was able to sell every toy that I restored and I never wrote on the ebay description that I was restoring the toy to its original state. Obviously, they don't make lead paints anymore! Ok, be nice!
If you've read this past week's posts, you'll have noticed that I added a post about restorations, and I have to admit, I need to go to antique restoration school to learn how to restore old and antique toys properly. Is there one out there on the Net?
Returning to today's post, I always wanted to write about decals and matching up the original toys to the decals. I had seen Dicks Decals on ebay many times, but was hadn't yet wanted to write a post. This week, ebay. I think I've only ever had at the most 3-4 "no thank you" to my request to write about a collector, a store, an auction house, or a seller. Everyone that I've met have been very friendly and helpful, even when I might have not asked all of my questions in one e-mail. And as far as people's "yesses" go, I believe it's more than just getting free publicity.
As I mentioned yesterday on my 500th post, I'll looking to hit the 100,00 page view milestone in November. However, as far as blogs go, I'm probably way down on the most popular blog list, so I keep looking for new ways to improve and fine new readers. However, my best idea was to ask for help from all kinds of people, and that helped to have more readers view the blog.
I wasn't going to ask Mr. Dick Biskner, the owner of Dicks Decals about how he actually makes these decals, as much as I wanted to! However, I'm sure he uses some program such as Illustrator, or other program to create such great decals and with so much accuracy. You can;t use Photoshop as that is a pixel-base program. compared with a vector-based program such as Illustrator. If you look closely at the Dicks Decals logo (below) and enlarge it, you'll see that it is fuzzy. That's because I used Photoshop, and Photoshop is pixel-based. You can't just take a photo of an old decal and work on it. If you're a graphic design artist, page layout person for a newspaper or any similarly-related person, you'll know the skills necessary to make these labels. Also, you probably would need a high-end inkjet printer or go to a printer who is capable of printing on the special decal material that Dick uses. You might even have to purchase specific "old fonts sets" or create your own (yes,there a program for that too!). And then you can't just go to the printer and say, I'd like a dozen Arcade decals! You'd need to order a minimum quantity, and have to hand in high-quality files, and then have them proofed, approved, and so forth. For those who don't know, a "proof" is simply a sample that a printer would present to a client for his/her approval.
I had mentioned to Dick, that I liked to give exclusivity to each person on 1 post, and that I would have two posts for the decals - 1 for the photos of old antiques, and one for the decals. However, in the end I decided to start with 1 post. That would be easier for all, since I needed to use two fine auction houses (auctioneers) to match up the decals at Dick's decals. One is Bertoia Auctions, and the Other is Dan Morphy Auctions. I'm sure no one will mind my presenting 3 people together.
This is the largest decal set that Dick sells. Please do not judge the quality of the image. The actual decals would be much better than a simple screen capture!
I really like old-style fonts. You can see how well Dick Biskner has reproduced the decal set.
Look at the samll detail and small font on the larger label. Below that, look at the way the letters "C' and "F" intermesh!
This label certainly is not easy to create on the computer!
I wasn't able to reproduce the details as much as I wanted to for this set of decals, after I had screen-captured them form the Net. Just imagine all of the work needed by Dick for these fine decals!
Morphy Auctions sold this beautifully-restored Buddy "L" concrete mixer.
Lots of very fine detail on these labels. Once again, it wasn't easy to screen-capture the labels. Also, small-sized files that I show on my blog do not show fine detail well. Dick has sold thousand of labels and his reputation is exceptional and well-recieved by buyers who wrote feedback on their purchases on E-Bay.
Finally, I was able to reproduce the labels properly!
Again, another great screen-capture. Look at this vector-based image and compare it to my pixel-based copyright notice for Bertoia Auctions and Morphy Auctions You can see why you need Illustrator ( a vector-based program) to create accurate and clean detail on a label!
One thing that I forgot to mention is colour accuracy. The next hardest thing after clean straight edges for labels is the colour. I'm sure I didn't reproduce the Arcade label 100%! And fifyou're looking on your computer, it's probably looking different from what I'm seeing on mine!
I hope Dick Biskner won't be too hard on my not being 100% accurate on my sharpness and colour! That's why I 'd be buying decals from an expert store rather than trying to make them on my own the next time that I decide to restore a toy, and need decals. It's hard enough restoring the toy, let alone trying to make labels on my old Epson printer!
Thanks for dropping by to visit,
and as always, have a great part of the day,
wherever you may be.
Stacey
(toysearcher@gmail.com)
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