Hi to all. While hoping all had a nice Christmas, I am also hoping you are all back to building your fishing instrument works-of-art for the enjoyment of those not blessed with the ability.
While certain I could not possibly be the first to discover the idea or effect, I thought I would share my discovery with those unfamiliar. Matt Wright and replies to his post, “Two coats of epoxy” sparked the idea within my pea-brain to suspend my logo decal on top of a few coats of epoxy rather than simply sticking it directly on the blank itself. I am really pleased with the suspended logo effect within the clear coat, giving it a 3D, shadowed look. The first attempt was on top of only two coats of epoxy which looked good but three or four coats really gives it depth, as in a tiger wrap. A plus is applying the decal to a fresh (18-24 hour old) coat of epoxy to help eliminate the decal-not-sticking issue many have experienced. The only negative, at least as far as I am concerned, is the extra day or two required while watching the base layers of epoxy to go-off.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

A nice discovery! I find it is always better to apply a decal (water slide or peel & stick) to at least one coat of epoxy and more will give you the effect you discovered.

As to the adherence, I like to apply the decal as soon as the epoxy as cured to the point it will no longer finger print. With this process, I have never had an edge lift, in fact they are very hard to detect.

Caution, to detect the finger printing..................use the left over epoxy in your mixing container, not what is on the rod!

Got any pictures....I would like to see the results.

A lot of people do this when applying decals. It has the secondary advantage of allowing them to more easily remove the decal, for whatever reason, without damaging the rod blank finish.

.................