Craft Edge

I've done a few vinyl cuts with my Expression and SCAL so far... here are a few that I did today:

My wife was surprised when she realized her motorcycle didn't have a set of traditional Honda 'wings', so we designed some that would fit under her Rebel bird on her side covers. The wings flow correctly to the rear of the bike, so there is a right and left cut. Not a cut that I could do for resale, but I figured we gave Honda $3K, I don't feel guilty making a set for our personal use! It is cut from red vinyl, shown still on the backer.




I also cut a few test cuts of the Comuta-Car logo for our electric car group. This is a trademark that is no longer held since the company dissolved in the early 1980's, so I can reproduce these for the enjoyment of our fellow C-Car owners.




What's a Comuta-Car? It's a plug-in, fully electric car. built in the late '70's and early '80's...Here's my little 'Ellie May'... She will be getting new vinyl stripes and logos courtesy of SCAL!

VERY COOL!!!!!! Be sure to show us what Ellie May looks like after she's dressed!!! LOL

Dave, I would really like to make some car window decals. I'm interested in doing them for soccer, baseball, swim clubs, etc. Looks like you are an expert on this. If you don't mind, can I ask a few questions?
1. What type of vinyl do you prefer? (I have made note of using hi-gloss, permanent vinyl)
2. Do you use transfer tape? Does it need to fully cover item being transferred?
3. Any other advise?

TIA, Suzi

Hi Suzi (and all)

I'd hardly call myself an expert yet, but SCAL makes it pretty easy!

I'm going to be using 5 year calendared vinyl from KAPCO local to me in Kent, Ohio. I bought a roll of white to get started, as I plan on doing the same as you are interested in... school groups, clubs, etc. My son has designed a window vinyl for his friend's Dad that is a taxidermist for his business... a really nice deer head with the company name and phone number.

Transfer tape makes the world a happier place... all of those little bits need to stay in place for placement. Squeegie the tape to the vinyl, peel away the backer and squeegie it on to the glass/vehicle/what-have-you. Wide tape is nice, but it isn't cheap. You can reuse it for your own works, but I'm figuring that each design I cut for sale will go out with a matching attached piece of transfer tape.

Multi-color cuts are a pain... figure on a few nasty words as you get the registration lined up as you place the colors together. The vinyl is super-sticky, and it sticks RIGHT NOW! Patience and you can get a nice cut.

If you are doing a two color cutout of lettering or what-have-you, I find I'd rather cut lettering out of the top layer and have a sheet of color behind for the lettering/etc to shine through. A more solid sheet of vinyl on top is less likely to lose a letter than if you stick individual letters (like the cuts above) on top of a background color. What I'm saying is that if I wanted a red Honda wing on a white background I would cut the wing out of the white and put it on a solid sheet of red behind. You could cut a smaller sheet than the entire cut size, but vinyl will show where there are layers, so I think it looks better if you use the whole sheet... it isn't that expensive... if you are really brave cut the same pattern out of both sheets and piece them back together... we did it for a GM logo (the blue square with the white letters and underscore) and it was a pain... we did it a second time with a square of white behind but there is a line showing around where the square ends...




Hopefully I didn't bore anyone into falling onto their keyboards asleep... if you think of any other questions feel free to ask!

Hi....when applying multicolors or to make sure you have your decal where you want it use soapy water.

Fill a spray bottle with water and add just a little bit of dish soap (shake)

Spray both vinyl and window where you want to apply the vinyl you will be able to move the vinyl around....sqeegie (sp) the excess what out....allow to dry before moving transfer tape....(if it is one solid piece no need for transfer tape)

if two color repeat when first layer is dry......


Hope this make since....



Beth

I forgot about the squirt bottle trick... I did use that the last one I put on glass... our sign man at work uses it on his painted aluminum signs too. Thanks for bringing that up, Beth!

Your welcome....glad I could help


We use it at work for a lot of our vinyl applications.


Beth

Dave, Thanks so much for the advice! I think this is a very good possible income to help me work towards buying the Expression! I am going to get some white vinyl and transfer tape ASAP... I saw somewhere on the web where they just had the 1/2" tape and mentioned layering it down your vinyl...wonder if that would come out to cost less than 6" or 12" tape? I am currently in the middle of a problem on Ebay where I order 6" transfer tape over 1 month ago, paid via Paypal and still haven't rcv'd my item (ugh) I have never had this problem before. Hope I get it soon!
Anyway, thanks again for your advice. Suzi

You might want to check with your local yellow pages under sign suppliers....you might be able to find it locally.


Beth