DSF

Hi guys,
Been bit busy with other projects (mainly creating online store) so didn't have a chance to start with car vinyls. meantime I got my first request to do vinyl on a small van !!!
I'm so much excited as scared now Could you please help me a little and answer few silly questions ?
1. Please check my design.
There's less space on the left side due to door rail. can logo be smaller here and bigger on right side of the van ? or would you rather make them both same size
any other advice on my design ?

2. As van's panels are not square, should I position designs horizontally to bottom lines ? or...

3. Can vinyl be applied on a rainy day ??

4. Can vinyls be layered ? (that's for the future)

5. Any advice where to practice?? I was thinking about bathroom wall (gloss tiles), but not sure if it's the best idea

Can't make my mind if I should stick vinyl wet or dry.
Also I'm gonna do this far away from home so there will be no repeats :/ maybe worth to cut everything double just in case ?
So excited so excited

Alan will be along soon to put you right These are just my opinions...


There's less space on the left side due to door rail. can logo be smaller here and bigger on right side of the van ? or would you rather make them both same size

.....You never see both sides of the van at the same time

2. As van's panels are not square, should I position designs horizontally to bottom lines ? or...

......I would keep them level to the eye

3. Can vinyl be applied on a rainy day ??

...No because if you get the backing paper wet it will stick to the vinyl, I have fitted in light showers but for the first time I would make sure it's a nice day or under cover

4. Can vinyls be layered ? (that's for the future)

....Yes

5. Any advice where to practice?? I was thinking about bathroom wall (gloss tiles), but not sure if it's the best idea

......Or practice on a window

Can't make my mind if I should stick vinyl wet or dry.
Also I'm gonna do this far away from home so there will be no repeats :/ maybe worth to cut everything double just in case ?
So excited so excited

..... I would do a wet fit, this will help if you need to pull it off to adjust etc...

I'm so much excited as scared now Could you please help me a little and answer few silly questions ?
1. Please check my design.
There's less space on the left side due to door rail. can logo be smaller here and bigger on right side of the van ? or would you rather make them both same size
any other advice on my design ?
I tend to make designs the same size but obviously it will depend of available space and content. Don#t be afraid design something that goes over joints, just slice the vinyl and tuck the edges round - use a little heat if the edges seem reluctant to stick. From a distance the eye will pretty much ignore the join but it will notice something off centre or letters with bad spacing.

2. As van's panels are not square, should I position designs horizontally to bottom lines ? or...
Modern vans don't seem to have parallel lines any more (new Transit being a prime example) but there generally is a dominant eyeline, it may be a trim or it may just be a case of making it look right with the line of lettering and then working from that. Often a good start point is to measure the height of either end of the main panel and then split it so with the Berlingo measure one end of the panel and mark the middle, do the same the other end and join the two, take all your measurements from that line. At the end of the day if it looks right it is right:)

3. Can vinyl be applied on a rainy day ??
No, if the backing paper gets damp it will de-laminate and you will have a job getting that off the adhesive of the sticker

4. Can vinyls be layered ? (that's for the future)
Yes but make sure you use the same grade as a monumeric will shrink more than Polymeric which will shrink more than cast

5. Any advice where to practice?? I was thinking about bathroom wall (gloss tiles), but not sure if it's the best idea
You an practice on any smooth surface

Can't make my mind if I should stick vinyl wet or dry.
It is worth practicing both techniques but I tend to use wet if very hot weather or large sticker and dry if cold or small sticker or logo with fine detail

Also I'm gonna do this far away from home so there will be no repeats :/ maybe worth to cut everything double just in case ?
Not very profitable if you are doing two of everything twice:) so be brave and take your time, once you have a few under your belt you won't worry about it and I bet you'll make less mistakes

So excited so excited
If you are excited about putting stickers on you need to get out more:)
Have fun, enjoy and take pride in your work

Thanks Guys !
You're very helpful
I'll keep you posted

Hi Guys !
so I've done my trials on bathroom wall today
looking good !
I've done one dry and one wet. still not sure which one was easier. dry feels more... natural (?). glue + water doesn't seem right, lol
here are the problems I had:
1. some letters didn't want to come of backing paper (on to transfer paper) and I had to try many times. I've lost 2 dots same way
2. on wet transfer only - some letters didn't want to come of transfer paper on to wall. I guess tiles are not as smooth as van. But also maybe I didn't give it enough time for glue to work on wet surface ??

Alan - You've advice me to get Avery 700. I would like to use my local supplier and they do only Avery 500. Is it good enough ? or maybe you can see something better on their wesite:
http://www.signmakingandsupplies.co.uk/ ... t-84-c.asp

I got this for surface cleaning:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301304290636

do you think it's good? Last thing I need is to damage paint :p

oh and most important haha:

Hi Guys !!
So, the job is done
I've used Ritrama O400 vinyl as it was the best I could get from my local supplier. I've read about it and looks like it's a quality one.
I've done wet application and it was easy. I've lost one logo as it was windy and it folded up and sticked to itself, but lucky me - I had a spare one ready
Also the van owner had a laser leveller so it was easy to position (find middle point on left and right site and connect them with laser line).

I would like to thank all of you who took a time to advice and point me to the right direction.

and here's the results:

Nice job...