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by Emiko Sawamoto

3. Remove the thin translucent paper on the decal sheet. Cut the butterfly you want to use and trim it. You don't have to trim it very close to the butterfly, but trim it so that the design is in the center of the trimmed piece. Depending on the color of the bead, the design is hard to see (They are brown until they are fired.) and you have to use the outside edge of the trimmed piece as guidance for placement. When fusing is done, it won't show the shape you trimmed to, so it doesn't matter if you trimmed it to square shape, close to the butterfly shape, or a round shape.

4. Soak the decal in warm water for 40 seconds. Pull it out of the water by a pair of tweezers.

5. Moisten the destination. Slide the decal slightly off the paper backing by pushing the edge lightly by the tweezers. Hold the exposed paper backing by the tweezers and place the exposed edge of the decal where you want it to be. Hold the decal edge by your fingers that are covered by paper towel while you pull the paper backing off the decal. Hold down the decal and blot gently until any excess water and air bubbles are gone and all the edges are firmly affixed to the glass. 

6. Dry overnight.

7. Put the bead in a cold kiln and slowly ramp it up to 1140 F. (I ramp it up at 500 F per hour.) Give it a good ventilation when it is 500 to 900 F by leaving the door or the lid open 2 to 3 inches and the peepholes open if it has any. It gives out toxic fumes, so your studio must have a good ventilation system.

Important Note
The instruction that comes with decals says to fire it at 1140 F for 15 to 20 minutes and to elevate the soak time and or temperature for better permanence. I fired two Effetre beads in two different kilns for 25 minutes. One of them got a flat spot on the back. One of my pyrometers may be reading a little off, but a difference of only 10 degrees can cause these different results. So, to be safe either fire at 1140 for shorter time or fire at slightly lower temperature. I've fired gold luster at 1100F successfully. Another thing that would prevent a flat spot is to leave the bead on the mandrel and suspend the bead so it doesn't touch the kiln floor. The bead sagging on the mandrel is harder to happen than the back of the bead which is touching the hot kiln floor to flatten. Different kilns and pyrometers work differently and different colors soften at different temperature, so the temperature that worked for my kiln and bead does not necessarily work for you. Do some experiments. If firing at 1140 F distorts the bead, fire at 1130 F. Go lower by 10 F and use the highest temperature that makes gold to fuse on and does not cause distortion. If you are using Bullseye you can probably fire it at 1140 F but again, do some experiments. With boro beads you don't have to worry about the temperature.

Suspend the bead which is still on the mandrel so it does not touch on the kiln floor. Ramp it up to the whatever temperature you decided to use slowly. (I ramp it up at 500 F per hour rate.) Give it a good ventilation when it is 500 to 900 F by leaving the door or the lid open 2 to 3 inches and the peepholes open if it has any. It gives out toxic fumes, so your studio must have a good ventilation system.

8. Anneal as usual.

For etched beads:

Unlike gold leaf and foil, decals don't survive etching. Mask the butterfly with Elmer's white glue painted on by a fine brush. Wait until it is dry and etch it according to the instruction. You can use nail polish, too, but I find Elmer's glue easier to apply and to remove. The glue either just peels off or can be washed off by water.