For those of you who expressed an interest in my thread late last year, here's How To do 'em

Basically you can use any font or picture  as a template for your design but please remember that you are going to cut these "by hand" so I wouldn't be too ambitious to start with!
It's helpful if you can source some scans of your decals even if it means removing your own ones carefully with the aid of a hairdryer and a razor blade. Failing this you can make your own designs with various computer graphic suites or even re-draw them by hand.
You will need as many copies of your decals as you have colours/layers in them.
Basically we first cut the outline then layer the various colours on top to build up the decal.


OK - You will need the following:

A cutting mat or piece of hardboard
Several scans/copies of your chosen decal
A craft knife
A metal straight edge
Masking tape
Signmakers Vinyl - available from "NICKY'S STICKERS" on e-bay for around £1 per A4 sheet.
*Cup of coffee is optional!


Various knives/blades can be purchased though i rarely use more than these two....


OUTLINE: Cut around your chosen decal slightly oversize, the marks that you can see around the scan are to ensure that I'm cutting on the Right Line!


Now cut your outline colour vinyl slightly larger than your decal


Now secure both the Vinyl and the Scan to the cutting mat with the masking tape making sure that it's flat and secure....you don't want any movement once you start cutting!


Cut around the outside of your scan, through the paper and into the vinyl. You don't need to press really hard, basically if you've cut through the paper then you've cut into the vinyl. Use the straight edge if necessary.


Once completed it should look like this........

Remove the scan from the Vinyl to reveal this.....

.......set this aside whilst you cut the font.

FONT/LAYER:
Again cut your scans slightly over size, your vinyl slightly larger than the scan and secure everything to the mat. *TIP* Cut any "holes" in the letters i.e. R, A, O etc - first



Once cut it should look like this........



RIGHT.....now the tricky bit!
You need to remove the Font and place it onto the outline that you've previously cut. Using your knife carefully lift the edge of the vinyl. With the "letter" still on the knife carefully place onto the outline. TAKE YOUR TIME!!! and place it in position. A mistake in placement usually means that you have to re-cut that particular "letter" because when you try to remove it you will generally stretch it out of shape.........try to place an edge down first to ensure it's straight.....It gets easier with practice.




When done, it should look like this (the connecting bars were cut using the same method)



The "Maintube" decals were cut using the same method as before

OUTLINE......

FONT.......

PLACEMENT ON THE OUTLINE.......




If you were using the background colour of "Royal Blue" (which I still don't have in stock!!!)as per the original decal then you would simply cut this to size, lay on the white outline stripes at either end, then place your completed letters onto this background. Their placement is aided by the use of masking tape, to ensure that they are placed equidistant from either end and in a straight line!

Completed Set



Simply position on your frame as required (using Masking Tape as a straight edge/guide for their placement)





Using the above method you can build up layer after layer, colour after colour.............you're only really limited by your imagination.......and skill with a knife!!!

The downside to D.I.Y decals is that they are far from perfect!
The upside is I built the above decals in a little over 2 hours and they cost £3 in total!!!

I can e-mail you scans of the "Prizzie" Decals shown and I also have a set of "Hand-drawn MKI" decals though these are slightly diferent to the originals as they are for a "Custom" job I'm currently working on.
If I've missed anything out or if you need any further help, just PM me...........no worries!

HERE ENDETH THE LESSON

I just wanted to update the thread with the decals I finished this weekend for my next Custom Grifter.
These particular ones are cut from "reflective" vinyls and I have to say that the photo's don't really do them justice....but for what it's worth, here goes.......

Under NORMAL lighting....



Under BRIGHT light.....they start to look a little different...what you can't see is that the BLACK turns GOLD...apparently it looks even better in direct sunlight, can't imagine when we'll be seeing that again!!!!



....and finally in close-up!



Thanks for looking!

Arch  

--Last edited by archie on 2008-01-20 16:40:54 --

Great info mate, sadly i'm too impatient for fiddly things like that. Great work though

superb work mate, thanks for posting it and taking the time and effort to explain to us all how its done!! i am sure a lot of people will appreciate it! top marks fella        

Fantastic work  
      and


100% respect    

Good stuff Archie.

I have the vinyl sheets for the Xmas Grifter now and am about to start working on them.  I bought some A4 sheets off ebay but have been wondering how to transfer the design.  After reading your notes i noticed that the backing material on my vinyl is matt white so i reversed the images i created on ebay and ran the vinyl through my little inkjet printer and eureka - they printed perfectly - all i have to do is cut them out and i'm done!!

Quote :

Sn1gle wrote : Good stuff Archie. I have the vinyl sheets for the Xmas Grifter now and am about to start working on them.  I bought some A4 sheets off ebay but have been wondering how to transfer the design.  After reading your notes i noticed that the backing material on my vinyl is matt white so i reversed the images i created on ebay and ran the vinyl through my little inkjet printer and eureka - they printed perfectly - all i have to do is cut them out and i'm done!!

A most excellent idea..........let us know how it goes

10/10. Thanks for going to all the trouble. Very informative.