COOL WALL STICKERS

Why does using a hair dryer help the wall stickers stick?

This is a quick TIP article about why heat may just be your best friend when installing wall stickers!

Our team on average is onsite with customers 2 times a week, this is in addition to our own installations within our warehouse testing product.  90% of the time we finish the installation by using a hair dryer and about 50% of the time use it during the installation.

In all our instructions we send out with self installation kits, it references using a hair dryer.

So what is it all about?

By warming the vinyl with a hair dryer AFTER it has been installed on the wall surface it softens the vinyl and makes it more pliable, you then use the palm of your hand to push the vinyl into the surface ensuring a good connection.  If your lettering or graphic is already sticking well then you may not need this step- but there are many reasons why vinyl may not adhere firmly in the first instance.

Earlier we mentioned that we use a hairdryer 90% of the time, and this shows you just how many different surfaces we have to deal with each week.  Some are textured, some have high tech paints that don't really like the vinyl on them, room temperature and also whether direct sun is on a wall, or if the wall is very porous.

Whatever the reason may be, we have never never never- seriously never- had our vinyl NOT stick after using heat to finish the installation.  We have worked on million dollar commercial office installations where our graphics are the finshing touch, and we guarantee to those customers a 7 year lifespan- and we would never do this without finishing the installation with a good use of heat.

1. Install the vinyl graphic or lettering
2. Use a hair dryer and heat the vinyl on the wall until the vinyl feels hot and then press the vinyl into the wall with the palm of your hand.
3. Move onto another section making sure you cover all parts of the design.

For any more information on using heat to finish your installation feel free to call us.

 

How to remove a wall decal from a wall surface?

The vinyls that are used in the Cool Art Vinyl wall sticker designs have been designed for use in the manufacture of high quality architectural and promotional decals.

There are two characteristics that are important for installation and removal success.
1.    Cast vinyl versus polyester vinyl
2.    Substrate surface- quality of wall and paint.

Removability of pressure sensitive adhesive vinyls is not a property of the adhesive alone. It is a combination of face film, adhesive, substrate and exposure conditions.

The aim of this article is to provide a general removal method useful in many common situations. Always test a small area before commencing wall sticker removal to limit the possibility of damage to the wall surface.

Suggested Tools
• Hair dryer
• Knife
• Razor Blade
• Putty Knife
• Cleaning Solvent

Simple Method
In many instances, it is merely a matter of picking an edge of an applied decal and pulling to remove the entire decal. This can be achieved with the use of a fingernail, putty knife, knife, or razor blade. Once an edge has been lifted, you can work the walls tick off the surface.

Ensure that you work the decal at less than a 45° angle as you don’t want to stress the vinyl on the surface.  We tend to roll the wall sticker back off the wall.  If the vinyl is very cold the vinyl often snaps and then you have to pick again and lift an edge and start over.  This is also the case if the vinyl has become brittle after years of being on the wall.

In this instance try the Warm Method below.

Warm Method
With a hair dryer, heat the section of wall sticker you are wanting to remove by holding a heat source approximately 15 - 30cm away from the surface. After heating for approximately 30-60 seconds, loosen a corner of the wall sticker and ease off.

A slow, steady pulling and lifting action at less than 45° angle will usually prevent the film from snapping and will remove most of the adhesive from the substrate. If decal becomes hard to pull, stop, reheat decal, and proceed with removal.

We also have a video on removing wall stickers...

 

 

Wall Sticker Kits: Creating joins or overlaps of the wall vinyl

There are a couple of reasons why some wall sticker kits require you to overlap two pieces of the design. Many wall sticker instructions simply say: “Overlap the two pieces”. So we have taken some time to write and film an example of how to overlap pieces to create a join.

Wall sticker designs are cut from rolls of vinyl. The design is set up in the computer and then sent to the cutting machine which has vinyl made at pre set widths. Because of this there is a limit to the size each single piece of decal vinyl can be cut- that limit is the width of the vinyl roll.

Even if this wasn’t the case, a good supplier of wall stickers will not make extra large pieces for installation because there is too much risk of falling into trouble when applying. The best practice is to break the design down into manageable pieces for self installation.

Pieces may have a gap between them in the final design, but some of them may require an overlap.

Instructions for overlapping:  (These instructions are only referring to the join, there are other instructions that precede and follow after this step)

Apply the first piece which will be the layer under the join.

Make sure you fully apply the first piece removing the clear transfer tape from the front. If you do not remove the clear transfer tape, then you will be overlapping the upper layer or second piece ontop of this and it won’t work correctly.

On the second piece, peel back 10cm of backing paper away from the edge that is to be overlapped. Keep the backing paper tucked under. Because the transfer tape should be clear, this means you have good visibility to align the vinyl to create a join. It is better to create a small overlap than an accidental gap.

 

Once you have connected the join, apply the piece as per normal rolling down onto the wall while scraping the design down firmly with a squeegee.

Once the clear transfer tape is removed from the second piece, you can optionally trim the overlap however we don’t recommend it. The vinyl we use is ultra thin and the join will be minor. It can only be trimmed with a very sharp small size utility knife and you need to be very careful not to cut all the way through vinyl and accidentally scratch the wall behind.

Other notes about overlapping:

• If the overlapping is due to multi colour designs where the top and bottom layer are different colours, eg this image [insert image] , then make sure you remove the transfer tape from the bottom layer before applying the top layer.
• In the image above, be aware that lighter colours above may be slightly see through on the overlapped part – this is especially noticeable if placed on glass.

We have two videos that can be watched which helps detail overlapping...

Creating joins in multi piece wall art sticker kits

Video: Preparing a multi piece wall art sticker design kit on the wall.

Shop window signage using vinyl lettering

After receiving an inceasing frequency of customers asking for DO IT YOURSELF window singage for their offices or shop windows we have decided to write a post and we will point people to this.

Applying vinyl to glass, and specifically vinyl lettering to glass is not simple.  We have seen plenty of websites that say how easy this process is, and for some situations it might be okay for self installation- but in general- using coloured vinyl to create lettering does require a certain level of installation skill.

If you really want a professional looking glass signage application we recommend using a sign writer or professional installer.  This vinyl lettering below was installed by Cool Art Design.

1. Inside facing out

When applying lettering to glass, generally the vinyl is cut in reverse and applied to the inside of the glass facing out.

2. Effect of bubbles

Because the vinyl is on the inside, it is extremely obvious if the vinyl lettering forms a bubble between the vinyl and the glass. Why? Because customers will be reading lettering from outside/

3. Wet application

Normally vinyl applied to glass is applied using a wet application technique.  This involves wetting both vinyl and glass and squeegeeing out the water from the two leaving a clean application with no bubbles.

4. Waiting time

When using a wet application method you cannot remove the transfer tape (which helps get lettering onto glass) until the vinyl has dried- this can take up to 24 hours.

5. Alignment

When aligning the lettering using a wet application, you need to create guide marks and use a spirit level while the lettering can still be manipulated.  Lots of application fluid is the key to achieving this.

6. White is the best colour for window signage. If you don't want white then you need to use a coloured shade not far off white.  For example, a pale yellow, pale green etc etc.  Using fluro colours is expensive, and using darker colours they get lost against the busy-ness of the backgrounds in shops.

We create hundreds of custom vinyl products for self installation for walls.  But applying logos and lettering for your business on glass, we really advise that you get a professional installer and any local signwriting company will be able to help you. Your brand integrity is vital to your business and you need to look professional.  Spend the money on installation and focus on your business rather than the hours it will take you to master the art of glass installation.

Self installing lettering and wall sticker designs

Our greatest pool of customers are those who order our wall sticker products via the Internet because they are from country Australia- some of them not even country- but at least away from the major cities where choice for decorating products is not as wide.

Your only option in these areas is to self install your lettering and wall graphics.  At Cool Art Vinyl we are happy to post samples first, and in each kit you receive test lettering if you ordered lettering and test wall sticker designs for all other products.  This enables you to test the process of applying wall stickers BEFORE you tackle your main piece.

Included in this website are several videos and articles on installing our products and there are lots of other resources on the web in general.

And only a phone call away is our customer service team who can provide over the phone advice during business hours.  1300 281 044.

Some examples of self installed graphics below:

   

To read some of our latest articles on self installing wall letters and designs click on the links below:

Top tips for perfect wall lettering

Videos on installing wall stickers

 

 

Will wall stickers damage my walls?

We get asked this question- will wall stickers damage our walls?- every day.  We have the answer written in our FAQ on the website, we post it in emails, it is clear in the instructions and still people ask.

So last month we sent out a survey to our customers to assess their level of understanding of wall stickers and will they damage walls.  In brief here are some of the key outcomes:

• Most customers believed that wall stickers would probably damage their walls
• 95% of customers said that damage to their walls was their key concern in purchasing wall stickers
• Of 100% of customer surveyed, only 1% had experienced any damage

You are not alone in your concerns about wall damage!

Which walls are the worst for wall stickers?

Our team has completed hundreds of installs so we can provide some guidance as to the types of walls that suffer under wall stickers.

The worst walls are office walls which are normally gyprock with a single layer of paint over the top.  If you look closely at these types of walls after they have been painted- you may see in certain places bubbles of air under the paint.  If you place a piece of masking tape over this bubble and pull it, the paint will peel off. 

What are the best walls for wall stickers?

In terms of paint damage, the best walls are painted plaster walls.  These are normally very solid surfaces and the paint rarely peels.  The problem is that these walls are the most difficult to apply wall stickers to because they tend to have a textured surface.

Cool Art Vinyl uses the highest quality ultra thin vinyl and this is the best vinyl for contouring to the surfaces of the textured surfaces.   Thicker- highly removable stickers will not stick to this surface.

Why do some companies say that their wall stickers WILL NOT damage walls?

No company can guarantee that.  Some companies use a highly removable vinyl- this is a temporary vinyl and will normally start to lift the edges etc after a few months.  It is quiet thick and the adhesive is not very strong.  These wall stickers will be easier to remove.  But if the paint is poor or has issues between the paint and wall, no matter how loose the adhesive is, there is a good chance paint may peel off.

How can I test if my wall is suitable?

The quickest, easiest test is to take a piece of masking tape and stick it to your wall.  Place a few pieces of masking tape on the area you are wanting to decorate.  Leave on for a few days.  You are testing two things.  one- if the masking tape falls off straight away then your paint surface may not be ideal for wall stickers- and two- if you peel off the masking tape and some of the paint comes away with it, then there is a possibility that the paint will come off when you remove the wall stickers.

How can I minimise damage to my walls?

When removing wall stickers, you need to heat the vinyl with a hair dryer.  This loosens the adhesive and softens the vinyl.  The vinyl will then stretch a little and you can peel it/ roll it off the wall minimising the stress between the vinyl and the wall.

If you feel that wall stickers are a risk, try a test piece first.  If you are still concerned then maybe buy a canvas or another decorating piece.

How to Remove Wall Stickers from Cool Art Vinyl

Removing wall stickers can vary a little depending on the surface.  Wall stickers adhere to textured surfaces differently to hard surfaces such as glass or metal, therefore removing can be more difficult on some areas.

Let’s look at some of the methods for removing.

Removing from walls
Painted walls are at the highest risk from damage when removing wall stickers.  This means you need to take some care and focus on avoiding this damage.  It is possible to remove wall stickers from even the worst walls.

The worst walls are those that had a suspect paint job to begin with.  These include paint that has multiple layers of paint and these layers have not been prepared between paint coats.  Or one that has air bubbles underneath the paint.  (When applying wall stickers or wall decals it is always best to test the surface at that time).

• Work slowly and do not rip, snatch or pull the wall sticker of the wall
• Using a hair dryer, heat the vinyl directly at the edge you are removing
• When the vinyl feels warm gently lift edge ( you might need to get a finger nail under)
• As you roll or pull the vinyl away from the wall, you need to heat the next section of vinyl directly in front of the piece you lifted.  Basically you are working gradually heating and lifting.
• If you can visually see or you can feel a bubble under the paint surface you need to take care lifting over this area.  If there is a second person, you can ask them to control the hair dryer while you use your second hand to press down on the bubble as you lift the vinyl off.
• Continue until all of the vinyl is removed.
• If there is any gum residue (not common on walls) then wipe the surface with a gentle citrus cleaner.

TOP TIP:   Pull or roll the vinyl back against itself like it is being folded back.  Do not pull the vinyl out from the wall at 90degrees as this will put more pressure on the paint.

Removing from glass and metal
When removing wall stickers from glass or metal, the issue is not related to surface damage.  It can be much harder to remove from these surfaces because the vinyl sticks so well to them.  If you have a paint scraper or metal edged scraper this will be useful, otherwise it will have to be your finger nails.

• Heat the vinyl directly in front of the area you are removing.
• Peel/pick at the edge and pull.  The vinyl is likely to tear as you do this, then you heat the next bit and remove. 
• Removing from these surfaces is more likely to leave a residue.  Deal with that at the end, first remove all the solid vinyl by heating and pulling.
• To clean the surface you will need an acetate or orange based cleaner that can lift the remaining glue.  There are lots of purpose built cleaners for this, or simply use nail polish remover.

TOP TIP: If you hold the vinyl closer to the surface it is less likely to tear.  For example, if you are pulling and as you pull, the piece of “free” vinyl is getting longer it is more likely to tear, simply move your hand back down closer to surface to reduce the chance of breakage.

By working patiently and not forcing the vinyl from the surface you will be able to remove the wall stickers and minimise damage to the surface.


To watch a video on removing wall stickers click here....

Summer Home Decorating with Wall Stickers

We have been quite surprised this year about the number of wall sticker orders aimed towards Christmas gifts. 

To be honest, we normally specialise in people purchasing wall stickers for decorating their own spaces, or sometimes purchasing a gift certificate. 

It is great that everyone is better educated about the products and hence more confident with them resulting in buying not only for yourselves but for friends and family as well.

So whether you receive a wall art sticker as a gift, or are purchasing one for yourself, then here are some tips for decorating with wall stickers during the summer months.

The texture of wall stickers changes between summer and winter.  In winter wall stickers are more firm and brittle and can be more challenging to stick to a cold wall.

In the summer you have the opposite, warm temperatures means the wall sticker vinyl is softer and more pliable and absolutely sticks like glue.

Tips for applying in warmer temperatures:

• Make sure you lightly tape in place with masking first BEFORE applying.  The wall stickers are less repositionable in warmer weather.
• If it is a hot day, put an air conditioner or fan on to cool the room.  Once the vinyl is applied it can handle hot or cold fine, but during application it will help to apply in a moderate temperature.
• Wait until the wall, window or outdoor area does not have direct sun on it.

Because vinyl is much softer when warm, be careful not to stretch the vinyl during application.  If you do stretch, to return the vinyl to its original state, heat lightly with a hair dryer.  Ironically the warmer heat from hair dryer will help the vinyl re calibrate.

Follow these tips and the instructions that come with your wall art stickers and you should enjoy plenty of success with summer wall art decorating.  You can always redecorate in the autumn!

The challenge of wall sticker kits.

Let us tell you a story about wall sticker kits.  One of our customers contacted us because they had purchased a wall sticker kit from overseas.  When it arrived, the kit was all in good order, they tried to construct, ran into huge problems, ruined their wall, had to repaint, complained and recieved a new wall sticker kit.  That's when they called us and asked us to help in the installation.

The issue was not that the wall stickers were from overseas, the problem was the complexity of the kit, lack of instructions and lack of local assistance.

We are very wary at Cool Art Vinyl about designing large kits.  As professional installers with lots of experience even we find them challenging, so how a standard user of wall decal stickers would be able to install them surprises even us!

If you receive a wall sticker kit and are just completely overwhelmed with how to apply we suggest watching installation videso on youtube, asking the company that you bought them from for additional pictures and videos of installation, and last resort contact a company to help install.

The design we helped install is shown below:

It is beautiful and it is fun, but the installation took 3.5 hours for an experienced installer.  The time taken includes:

• cleaning the walls and drying the surface.
• unpacking and cutting the entire kit apart
• lightly taping the entire design (every piece) into place before application
• marking piece location
• removing design from wall
• applying each piece, one by one
• touch ups, bubble repair and heating with hair dryer.

In this example, we don't believe that a person without experience would have understood the installation.  The instructions were non existent and it was even a challenge for us.

So keep all this in mind when purchasing very large and complex kits.  They will be large and complex projects to install!

For any questions or assistance with installation contact us.

Top tips for applying perfect wall lettering!

TIP 1:  GET IT STRAIGHT

If you are planning an arty wall quote with angles and diagonals then this does not apply to you!  But for the rest, normally we like our wall quotes and lettering to be straight on the wall.

You might think your eye is the best, but if the quote is 1-2metres wide and you are 1/2cm off, the line will look distorted and will be a distraction to the quote.

Buy or borrow a spirit level.  It is the only way.  You cannot measure from the top of the wall because the ceiling may not be straight.  Simply place a spirit level under the lettering and get the fluid bubble in the middle, and away you go.  It can actually take quite a few minor adjustments to get it perfect.

TIP 2: TAPE SECURELY

Once you have aligned the quote, secure the top edge of the wall quote with masking tape.  Normal sticky tape is not reliable.  Ideally you use the blue painters tape, but white masking tape is sufficient.

After all your hard work to align the wall quote horizontally, it is a disaster if you then drop it because it is not secure.  You have to re-align the wall quote again!

 

TIP 3: APPLY IN SECTIONS

Customer think we are a little crazy when they unpack their wall quotes.  We have normally drawn cut lines between words and written all these application notes on the order to help.  These cut lines are suggested places to separate the long sentences for easier application.

Trust us, you MUST separate the long sentences by snipping inbetween the words and applying the sentence in sections.  This is much easier to manage and minimises risk of twisting, or incorrect application to the surface.

TIP 4: PATIENCE

From beginning to end, applying wall quotes is a very focused activity.  If you feel yourself getting frustrated you need to walk away, regroup and then come back to the task. Vinyl is a very thin substance and you must work with it in a delicate fashion.  For example, if the vinyl letter has accidently stuck to transfer tape and you want it to stay on the wall, you need to gently use yor finger to work the vinyl off the transfer tape onto the wall.  Rushing this will tear the letter.

TIP 5: WARM THE VINYL

Once the wall quote is applied to the wall.  Use a hair dryer to heat the lettering.  This warms and softens the vinyl.  Then using the palm of your hand, press the vinyl into the wall and the vinyl will sink into the contours of the surface.  Once this is complete the lettering will look hand painted on your wall.

We hope these 5 quick tips will help you with your wall quote application.

Minimum tools you will need are:

• Spirit level
• Masking tape
• Scissors
• Piece of cardboard (to act as a squegee)]
• Hairdryer
• PATIENCE!