Patent ID: 7547372

Claim:
A method of creating and transferring a solid ink design to a substrate comprising the steps of: (a) providing a decal that does not include a separately applied adhesive, said decal comprising (i) a flexible backing sheet having a surface adapted to releaseably receive polymer resins, (ii) an ink transfer coating comprising one or more ink layers and, optionally, a transparent base coat, each of said one or more ink layers and optional base coat being printed onto said sheet as a liquid comprising a thermoplastic polymer resin, a UV stabilizer to inhibit photo degradation of polymers formed from said resin, an antioxidant to inhibit oxidative degradation of polymers formed from said resin, and a solvent system, said liquid from which any of said one or more ink layers and optional base coat are formed being capable of drying on said sheet by solvent evaporation upon being allowed to dry for one hour at ambient conditions, and (iii) a removable transfer medium coating deposited upon said dried ink transfer coating to form a film that will not strongly adhere to said ink transfer coating; (b) removing said flexible backing sheet from said decal to expose a surface of said ink transfer coating and applying said exposed surface to said substrate; and (c) stripping said transfer medium coating from said ink transfer coating with said ink transfer coating remaining on said substrate.