loren

amazing! that flat black and gloss black is a sweet combo the dudes wanted their own names, so these two are just samples i presume? ...unless your clients are pastrana and block!?

those look amazing! what a unique and nifty idea. that's white i like to see around here

wow, those look terrible! the corner floral pieces are not aligned properly, the bottom floral design is skewed, and "established" text is wayy too big. the whole thing is not aesthetically pleasing. how sad.

Does anybody know if they can do images on these, or is it just text? Thanks!

Good work! Just curious - who came up with the design? Also, isn't it true that cut vinyl lasts longer than printed vinyl, even with a laminate? Does printed vinyl work better than cut vinyl for illuminated signs?

My clothing company, Beetnik Aesthetics, was in a Chicago craft show a few weeks ago and I needed to spice up my booth with some signage. I ordered a full color printed vinyl banner but of course it didn't show up in time, so all of this was VERY last minute, as in the night before the show. What do you think?

That sentence was kinda tough to read, but I think I got what you're trying to say. Yes, the customer is always right... unless they don't pay, in which case they aren't a customer, therefore they aren't right. That's the perfect chance to exercise your creative freedom! If a friend tells me how they want a decal and I'm not charging them, I will definitely tell them if I think the decal would look better another way. After all, chances are somebody will see your work, and you don't want your name attached to something you aren't 100% satisfied with... know what I mean?

Thanks for the kind words, everybody! For those of you who were curious, I did alright at the show. I basically made my money back from the application fee so I can't complain, but I told myself going into the show that I'd be happy selling only one shirt. The application fee was quite high and I sold considerably more than one shirt. As far as competition goes, there was plenty, with probably over 1/3 of the vendors selling t-shirts. It was my first show ever so I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but I learned and the experience was invaluable. I was even able to make improvements from the first day to the second that made a world of difference. I'm convinced that future shows will only get better.

Simply beautiful!

Thanks! The substrate is "hard board" (I believe it's called), a composite material from the hardware store. The sheets were spray painted matte black/charcoal with several coats, and white vinyl was applied on top.

Cool work. I personally would have chosen a different font for "In memory of our fallen brothers".. but that's just me.

Haha, yeah, all of the visitors seem to get a kick out of that. Great times!

Fantastic work! Not to knock everybody else here, but this decal blows nearly everything else I've seen on this forum out of the water. What people fail to realize is that less is more. Your decal is easy to read, looks great, and gets the point across. So many sign makers are cramming wayyy too much information/color/fonts into a small space, and it becomes overwhelming and useless. People need to take some notes...! (and this is coming from a kid who isn't even legally allowed to consume alcohol in the United States)

Awesome work! And great way to market yourself and take full advantage of the situation. I'd say you be lucky enough to get your name on the window for referrals and some free ink work - but a display inside the shop!? AMAZING! I might have to look into doing something like this just for the ink alone. Since I'm in college and living on campus, there are tons of opportunities around. I walked by a few tattoo shops just the other day and thought "Man, those places sure could use a facelift". This could be my chance! Loren

Ahh both of those look awesome! I might have to do some sort of organizing on my whiteboard, but calendar boxes just seem too small for the engineering study load...

Okay, so when I ordered my cutter + supplies, I just went with the largest app tape I would need - 24" for my 24" vinyl rolls. I just figured I could cut everything down to size as needed. With a few decals under my belt, I feel so dumb! It's a pain in the butt to cut the tape down to size and try to save the unused portion, especially with long decals (like 55" phrases less than 8" high.. wasted the other 16"!). So, do most of you go with various size app tapes, like 8", 12", and 24" or something? I am thinking that I have to get a few more rolls! Loren

I'm new and kind of just doing this has a hobby (still in college), but I wouldn't go higher than $1.00 - $1.25 ea for that quantity. That weeding is super easy. I just did a job for 50 9"x4" decals and I only charged $1.90 ea, and they were probably 2-3 more work in terms of weeding than these simple decals. It was my first paid job and only took me a few hours, so I was super happy to be making money and producing some cool decals.

Double stick tape!? Oh man, I don't see that lasting very long, but that's probably why you used silicone as well. Very cool process, and thanks for sharing! I might have to try something like this just for the hell of it. Any idea what kind of foam was used? Oh, and I thought of something while reading your process. You warned against using too much spray adhesive because it would damage the foam. If you did a mirror image of the design and worked from the back, you would never come in contact with the front of the letters so there would be no risk in damaging them at all. Seems like it'd make sense, right? Just a thought..

That turned out great! I was worried that you were going to leave Rottweiler misspelled, buy I'm glad you fixed it. What substrate is this on?

20 decals, approx 8"x18", single color, easy to moderate weeding, taped and sent RTA. What would you charge?

I guess you're right about that. Since my market is online (specifically small clothing company owners), I think that's about as tough as it gets. Lots and lots of competition online, and these guys aren't afraid of shopping around. Loren

Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks $7-8 is totally reasonable. $14+ seems just crazy.

Yeah, I haven't had a lot of luck taking photo's of mirrors. The lettering and logo was sandblasted from the front. The rest is mirror. Thanks for the comments! I appreciate the support. That's what makes this a great forum. Oh wow, that's awesome! I didn't even think about sandblasting, but its easy to see now that you've mentioned it. Mirrors are just tough to shoot - not your fault

That mirror is great! Did you use etched glass vinyl, or is that white? Hard to tell from the photo. Mirrors are deceiving!

To be honest, I dont even know how to do that...(or what exactly it is) I'm a newbie. So no, it's 1 color vinyl cut. My guess is that digitally printed/diecut would mean printed on white vinyl and then cut out by an additional machine... What type of machine would diecut? How expensive and what kind of machine would do the printing? Aaron Ha, I just found it weird that have multiple colors (or shades of grey) in you graphic, but you said it was a single color. I guess you'll just be making everything back, including the grass, which is fine. Just a bit confusing with the graphic. There are printer/cutters that can.... print and cut! haha and yes, they are expensive.