Thanks for all your comments guys
Your graphic looks good, and your method sounds pretty easy, but I think you left out some details. Let's see if I followed this correctly:
You ran white vinyl through a plotter-type printer that laser cuts the edges. Do you have this printer yourself? Where would you suggest I have this done?
You then stuck masking tape to the surface of the vinyl to hold it all together.
You then stuck the vinyl to the bike.
You then removed the bits of vinyl where you wanted paint to go.
You then applied some gold paint.
You then removed the rest of the vinyl, along with all the paint over it.
The resulting 'decal' consists of gold paint applied directly to the bike; the vinyl is all gone.
Is that right?
Nearly right, I'm lucky, I have a plotter at work, basically its a power driven cutting knife, if your handy with a scalpel there's no reason why you couldn't cut the graphics by hand. Just be careful not to cut through the whole sheet.
Once you've cut, then you remove the vinyl from areas you want to paint. What your aiming to do is reverse the vinyl, so the adhesive is on the outside. Apply the masking tape over the top, peel off the vinyl backer (I'm in the UK I think we have different terms for this, but hopefully the photo's help) stick down on your frame, remove the masking tape, spray or paint with a brush for pin lines, remove the vinyl.
Originally Posted by
old_dreams
Thanks for posting this. Nice result.
Can you elaborate on Step 4 in which you remove the vinyl where you want the paint to go. Do you need a special plotter/cutter to do this or could you hand cut after printing if you were very careful. If so how do you guard against cutting into the backing layer.
The plotter is quick, accurate and will cut exactly the same graphic as many times as you want it. Many sign shops or vehicle graphics company's use them and would probably cut some vinyl for you, but it can all be done by hand. The best way of cutting vinyl by hand is to use a new blade, get used to the feel of the pressure needed, the blade tip will glide through the vinyl as its soft, but you'll feel it dragging if your going through the backer as well. A scalpel is good but a swivel knife is much better for cutting curves.