I never liked the cheap look of decals on glass.  I decided to find a way to clear cap them and make them look more professional.

The problem with adding a clear cap to decals is the kiln heat destroys the decal. Remembering that heat energy is a products of temperature and time gives us a fix - - -

Heat at a lower temperature for a longer time.

The temperature must still be enough to fuse the glass together but not burn up the decal.

Since Satin Shimmer decals fire at 1325 deg F, and that will also fuse glass together, that is the answer.

Here are examples.

    Here are satin shimmer decals applied to a black base.

  Now we have placed a thin clear glass over the decals.

  You should make the clear glass exactly the same size as the base glass.

This is because the edges will not fold over at this temperature.

  Here is the glass after being fired to 1325 deg F for 1 hour.  The ramp  rate was 200 deg/hour up and down.

 If you have overlapping decals, you must fire only the base with the  decals first, clean up and then fire the clear on top.

      This is a glass fired with all the shimmer colors.

      Note that the lilac color faded most in this test.

      On the whole, the colors did well after the long firing.

NOTE: The fuse at 1325 deg F. for 1 hour fuses the glass together, but  the edges may be separately  rounded as shown here. 

If you do not like that, do the following:

1.  Grind the edges smooth on a grinder.

    Round the corners slightly.

2. This time I set the kiln to 1300 deg. F for 1 hr, with a ramp of 200 deg/hr.

It won't totally round the edges together, but it make the piece look much better . . . and the colors didn't fade.

When firing overlapped decals, fire the decals on the base glass at 1300 deg F. with no hold and no clear cap.

Then place the clear cap on top and fire again at 1325 deg F and hold 1 hr.

There is a higher probability of burn out the more you fire the decals.

    Here are two more examples

By capping the Satin shimmer decals, you protect them.

It also gives you a much nicer piece.

HAVE FUN          See Satin shimmers here.