Real Decals

She is done. Again, Chris comes H. through. He did a great job cutting my vinyl for me. I understand he had a couple hicups with his new cutter and the large rolls of black and silver. I sent him the files to be cut last Friday, he had them cut by Wednesday. I’ve been putting them on for the last two days.

I used Window cleaner to let them slide, but I think I wouldn’t use it again. It seems to weaken the adhesive if its too thick. It works ok if you spray it very lightly, and spray onto the decal. But, if you go too heavy or spray onto the body it seems to compromise the adhesive and it never quite recovers. I did the “MAZDASPEED” decal on the bumper first, and I sprayed the windex “heavy” directly on the hood. This morning after 24 hours the decal was still so loose that I could move it around with one finger. I tried heating it up and letting it cool, but it just never stuck. Luckily, I had a second one….so, I just applied that one without any windex.

I think it looks pretty darn close to my digital test run: .

I created all these graphics personally using Inkscape. Then I sent the files (one per color) to Chris for cutting. The numbers are simply “Arial Black” font draw large, and then thickened and thinned to create the outline and the inner number.