Of course, everyone knows that as soon as I say "Bel Decal paper is rotten, doesn't do what it's supposed to, the ink doesn't... whatever...", I'll try another sheet to find that it works perfectly, without any of the flaws that prompted my rants and ravages earlier.

I just printed a full sheet of decals on one of the Bel Decal papers that came with my most-recent order -- Yes, a sheet from the same package as those which failed so horribly! Want to guess how it came out?

Right... No errors related to the paper. The only flaws I could see this time were related to the image, and these I could actually see in the TIF when I examined it closer in Photoshop.

So, what happened?

Human error, for sure, with Bel not carefully examining the quality of the papers they were shipping. Mechanical error, for sure, in that the sheets with the problem had incomplete layering, probably at the very beginning of a run, or at the end of a run. Bel should have spotted these problems and discarded these edge sections instead of dumping them on the customer.

Will I ever order again from Bel? Maybe. I want to see if the Papilio papers are truly compatable with the Epson first, and if so, then I'll stick with them. I like the Epson inks a little better than I do the Lexmark inks, because I think the opacity is better. The waterproof aspect of the Epson inks is a genuine plus for waterslide decals, but the paper has to be compatable. If it isn't, then there's no advantage at all.

This story is not finished yet. There's still the SuperCal decal papers out there, and one day I want to try them out, to see if they're worth the higher price.

Craig