A Decal for a Table Top

[Ed Edwards]

I need some help. I'm building a small table and chair set set for our 15 month old Grand Son.
I was thinking about putting the alphabet and a set of numbers around the perimeter of the top. I have found vinyl stencils, either a matte finish for interior use, or ones with a more aggressive adhesive that are glossy for exterior use.
I originally thought about a decal, the kind one used to put on model air planes, or the type you used to see on the inside of car windows. The ones that described what states the car had been to. IIRC these were wet in water, and then were slid onto the glass.
The table is made of hard maple and I intended finish it with lacquer, put on the decals, and then one or two more coats of finish on top. I don't know what effect this will have on the vinyl and the thickness of the decal/stencil may telegraph through the finish and probably crack if he would write or color on that area of the top.

And no, I don't have the funds to have it professionally lettered.

Any help or a different thought would be appreciated,
Ed

[Larry Edgerton]

Buy a two sets of wooden alphabet blocks with the shallow relief carved letters and cut the letters off the blocks and let them into the table with a router jig.

Larry

[Philip Johnson]

Just a thought can't say I've done it. How about using a sign making template, rocker sells cheap one. Route the letters and numbers in and fill with colored epoxy. Actually a few articles if you google it for epoxy inlays and coloring epoxy.

[Scott DelPorte]

What about double sided adhesive transfer tape? I know some guitar guys use it to stick pick guard material to guitars. It is a few thousands of an inch thick and sticks to lacquer very well.

[Dave Richards]

I like the idea of the water transfer decals. You can buy the paper to make your own. They'd be thin enough so they wouldn't telegraph through the finish. Another option would be to create a silk screen pattern and use colored inks. Creating the screen(s) isn't very difficult and if you wanted to make more than one table, they would be reusable.

[John A langley]

That's a great idea Larry has

[Ed Edwards]

My thanks to everyone for your suggestions, I've got a better idea of what I'm in for now.

Thanks Again
Ed

What a great knowledge base this site is.

[Jim Finn]

I apply images to cedar box lids. I apply a coat of brush on lacquer, lay the image I printed on regular printer paper into the wet lacquer and add many more coats of lacquer after the first coat has dried. I have also printed images on tissue paper taped to printer paper and applied the tissue the same way.

[Don Sundberg]

Try this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq2O66QGCwg

Steve Ramsey's YouTube on how to do ink transfers with label paper backing.