The easy way to apply overlay vinyl graphics

The easy way to overlay vinyl graphics

In order to produce multi coloured images in vinyl it is often necessary to provide the graphic with its coloured parts separately, for example the Japanese flag is two colours: red circle over a white rectangle. This would be supplied in two parts, the white rectangle background would be applied first then the red sun would be overlaid. What about alignment ? Simple, we take care of all alignment problems when we design your graphic. There will always be a border , corners, or edge so that the overlay can be positioned EXACTLY where needed. We also make sure that all overlays are covered with transparent application tape which makes perfect registration easy.

first apply, white background.... overlay red sun, using corners for alignment.... remove corners to finish.

Sometimes, we will provide more than one colour on an overlay, thus saving you time. An example of which would be the Union Jack, where we would provide a white background, and an overlay containing both the red and blue portions of the flag for overlaying in one operation, again as above.

**technical stuff ! ** We could do all the overlaying at the point of manufacture, and provide you with a one piece graphic, however when the graphic is applied air gets trapped around all the overlay edges and cannot be removed. This "halo" effect can cause problems and is not the professional way to supply. It is better to spend a little more time and get the job right, after all our graphics should last between 5 - 7 years if applied properly, so what's an extra couple of minutes. Note for very complex jobs we will print in full colour all or part of the graphic.

The easy way to overlay vinyl lettering

Like the above, we sometimes have to provide lettering in two parts, i.e. to give the "drop shadow" effect or "outline" for example. Here the process of overlaying is much the same, only the overlay and guide cover the character 100%, only when the guide is removed using tweezers is the effect realised. This does take some time and needs a steady hand. The guide should be removed soon after application.

#1. place on background, as normal

#2. Overlay, second colour one for one over background ( tip: best done one character at a time )

#3. Remove guide with tweezers. ( tip: try to lift a corner, do not pinch the background graphic)

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