Seems easy, huh? Just stick it where you want it? Thats true – but like all good things to get a good result you need to put in some prep work.
Step 1: Plan
Plan exactly where you want your decal to go. Want it in the middle? Figure out where your centre is. This will stop it looking slightly off when you’re finished. Grab all the materials you’ll need. We suggest some masking tape, a squeegee or something similar (like a credit/debit or shop card), some cleaning products, a ruler or measuring tape, the decal, and you.
Step 2: Prep
Clean the area where the decal is going to go, and make sure it’s dry. We’re big fans of Elbow Grease – which can be picked up quite cheaply and is a great degreaser. Give a cloth or paper towel a quick spray and use that to wipe down where you want the decal to go – and clean a bit further than you would think. Make sure the area is bone dry – wipe that bit down with a few dry paper towels to be on the safe side!
Step 3: Pilot (Guide)
A top tip is to use something else to help line up your decal. We sometimes use masking tape. We place that down just above where we want the top of the decal to go, which helps us align the decal both horizontally and vertically. IT means that if the masking tape isn’t level, we can peel and restock, without wasting the decal!
Step 4: Place
Carefully place your decal where its meant to go. Remember, as soon as that decal sticks it sticks. There are advanced decal laying methods which will be covered in a different page, but for these small and simple applications its just a case of plonking it down right where it should go.
Step 5: Press
Using a squeegee or any other rounded edge rigid plastic, squeeze the vinyl onto the plastic. This sounds strange, but the adhesive used in the vinyl decal is helped by pressure. You don’t want too much that may shift the decal, but you don’t want too little where the decal won’t adhere. Its a balancing act – but in general, don’t try and force the decal into another universe – just some gentle pressure starting from the centre and working your way outwards. If your decal comes with a border, run over the border and its corners as well as working your way centre outwards.
Step 6: Peel
Slowly peel the carrier sheet away. The carrier sheet is sticky so it may provide some resistance, but going it gently, and at a 45 degree angle whilst folding it back onto the plastic is deal. This ones a bit difficult to put into words, but go easy. IF any of the vinyl starts to lift stop, cover that area back up again with the backing sheet and firmly use a squeegee to make sure its stuck down.
Step 7: Push
Not everyone gets it right first time, and sometimes you can get these small air pockets trapped – especially if you’re applying to a slightly deformed surface (with curves etc). Gently push these bubbles using a soft squeegee towards the nearest vinyl edge. We don’t recommend that you pop these with pins as that can later let the elements into the adhesive side and ruin a good vinyl. If you’ve got more stubborn bits that won’t shift that means you may have small bits of dirt trapped – which is why Step 2 is so important.
Step 8: Praise
Admire your handy-work – or don’t. But it’s been customised by you.
If you have any issues at all, please contact us and we can see what we can do to help!
Also – we know Pilot wasn’t the best sub heading for Step 3 – but we didn’t want to call this the 7 P and with a G Guide.