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Anyone have any ideas or experience making your own transfer decals?

You'll need access to either an inkjet or laser printer. Then, buy a commercial product for making decals from your images.

http://www.mcgpaper.com/decals.html
http://www.internetmodeler.com/2003/april/aviation/inkjet_decals.htm

While I have not printed my own, I went with GriffonGames.com - they have a decal printer that can handle anything you can throw at them. I designed my own marine chapter symbol in Adobe Illustrator (which is the program that GG uses to print their own decals) and then used GG's directions on how to make the file printer-ready. They can even print in white ink, which was a major factor for me going with them instead of doing it myself.
I organized the decals in such a way that I have dozens more than I should need, and made them in several colors and sizes depending on application surface.

Here is a pic of my dread with a decal on it:
Here's a link to my marine chapter with morepics. Search through and you should find some more examples of the decals on their shoulder guards: http://gryphonswing.com/StormHawks/FinishedHawksPic

Hope that helps.

i do a lot of my own decals. its not hard at all. after i get back form origins game convention i will try and write up a full article about decal work.

in the mean time, just get some decal paper from ebay. either inkjet or laser-jet depending on your printer.

decal paper will be clear or white. usually i use clear, but unless you own an ALPS printer, you wont be able to make white decals.

find an image you want and clean it up in  photoshop or thegimp. and be sure to find the biggest cleanest image you can.save the image as a TIFF, tiff images are one of the best for printing.

open up a word document and import the image to it. then you can set the scale to get it down to size. usually under .5 " for a marine shoulder pad. now print this 1 image on regular paper and make sure its the right size. then weh you're happy. simply copy and paste the image all over the word document until you have enough.

leave some larger for tanks and such.

set your printer for the highest photo quality paper and max DPI. and follow the instructions on the decal paper.

after you print them, let it dry over night. then spray a coat of clear gloss over the decal. let dry and apply 2 more coats. evenly apply the coats!!!. let it dry over night. then cut out, soak in water and apply like a regualr decal.

here are some examples of my older work
http://st.cr.k12.ia.us/staff/jcobert/jeremys/mywebsite/images/CobraCommand/index.html">cobra
http://st.cr.k12.ia.us/staff/jcobert/jeremys/mywebsite/images/genestealercult/index.html">genestealer cult
http://st.cr.k12.ia.us/staff/jcobert/jeremys/mywebsite/images/praetorianguard/_0717.html">praetorian guard

i will be writing up a full article on applying decals, then creating decals soon.

Another place to look for the materials is

www.micromark.com

They have tons of supplies for miniatures, I use their decal sheets, fixative, and decal application system.  It is top notch.

I can't say more than the above post about it.  I've done my own transfers for Fleshtearers, which was tough because of the white decal.  I got around it by making a black border around the picture, then printing them on 'white' decal sheet.  I cut around the decal, leaving a black border, and applied them to my black shoulder pads.  A little blending and it worked like a charm.

One word of caution, though, and I dont' know if anyone else had this problem.  I made decals with an inkjet with my Epson printer, and it was all good.  Then I got a Canon,and the Canon ink ran all over the decal paper when I applied the fixative.  It was a mess.  I switched back to Epson, and didn't have a problem.