The inspiration for these kits was the Dominos Technique Class offered on OSA in May 2005 taught by Trish B. T. Review the class by clicking the link above.

This is the kit put together as a fundraiser for OSA. You can order your kit by going here Please note there are separate kits for US and Overseas delivery.

As soon as you have your sheet of labels it is a good idea to apply your fixative to the entire sheet. That will protect the images as you work with them, protect the ones in storage until you are ready to use them and most importantly keep you from forgetting this step before applying your final sealer--which can cause the ink to bleed or brush off if you are using a paintbrush (don't ask me how I know this!)

It is definately a matter of personal choice, but I find that I prefer that the images be smaller than the game piece so that the game piece itself gives a small border to the image. Depending on personal preference again, this small border can be filled in with a Krylon pen or whatever. I found that if I made the labels larger than my game piece I really had a hard time cutting them to fit, ended up with edges that stuck over, etc. But then I am a total klutz. For the dominoes, I sometimes like to use my scissors to round the corners on the label before applying it to the domino. I tried a corner rounding punch, but that didn't work well with the adhesive backed labels. Before removing the adhesive backing, I positioned the trimmed label over my piece to eyeball the amount of border left for each side.

Next, I peeled back the backing about ¼" along one edge and folded the backing away from the label. This leaves a small sticky edge you can use to get the label placed where you want it. When you are happy with it's position you can peel away the remainder, pressing and smoothing the label in the same direction as you go to minimize any air bubbles or wrinkles. The backing can be a little hard to get started so don't try doing this when you are in a bad mood or overtired. It is important to apply even pressure and to smooth out the label to avoid bubbles and wrinkles that will mar the final presentation of your piece. Also, be sure the surface you are adhering the label to is clean and free of any debris or grit, glitter, etc. that will effect the surface. Try to avoid getting fingerprints on your work as they may show through the final finish.

Because everyone's printers, and therefore inks, are different, I would recommend experimenting with whatever label stock you are using by making a test strip before you try anything on an actual gamepiece. Try out the various finishes you have around. I personally like Diamond Glaze by Judikins. I apply it quite thick so as to not have the brushmarks showing. The nice glossy finish it gives doesn't show up well in the following scan.

These labels also work well with my Faux Dominos. This material can be cut into whatever lengths you want, for example 2" long to simulate a domino or 3" long to simulate a glass microscope slide. For the domino pieces I use an EK Success corner rounder punch to round the corners. It is imperative that the cuts across the material be at 90 degrees to the edges to provide square corners, or else the punch will knick the edges. Small imperfections can be sanded. Actually you can use sandpaper to make a tighter rounding on the corners.

Keep in mind this material can not take high heat (i.e. embossing gun to speed up drying). Patience is required for drying finishes. You can use a hair dryer on low or hold the piece in your palm with your heat gun far enough away that it is just applying a warm breeze to your hand--but no high heat. If you look at the upper corner of the sample on the bottom left you will see a slight curl along one edge. That's what happens if you apply too much heat, the plastic will melt and shrink.

If making your own labels for this technique, let me share with you the fact that if you have an all in one printer that turns and bends the paper to bring it out the same side it went into, don't print very many labels at the same time. The adhesive seems to goosh out a little, stick on the internal part of the printer where the paper turns, builds up residue and then starts jamming your printer. At as much as $1 per sheet for this Avery 8665 paper you really don't want that to happen much. And I do have to wonder if the residue is building up elsewhere. I've had to take my printer apart and clean off that part about every 5th sheet. This doesn't happen with the HP white label sheets I have (my printer is also HP) and for some applications I actually prefer the white labels over the clear ones--and they are much more economical. For example, if you want to use this technique on a red, black, dark brown or other color of bamboo tile, if the image has a lot of "white space" in the background, the tile color shows through and makes it hard to see the image when you use the clear labels. But using a white label works nicely in this case.