Helmet decals?

[spidergoalie]

My old Mage with vinyl I cut,


These are colour pics, but a black mage with white and silver vinyl isn't too colourful

Anyway I used this for a couple seasons without problem.
The only thing is, since the mask is not flat, large peices of vinyl will wrinkle, so be strategic about it.

[dukes]

I went to an art shop looking for a vinyl or decal sheet I could possibly print on. I was shown one but they didn't think I could print on it or even stick it on anything, it was an acetate sheet. Basically a clear sheet that had no ahesive-ness to it so I didn't know how I could possibly print or stick it onto my mask.

What kind of sheets did you use? And how did you print on it unless you took colour sheets and just pieces them together.

[matvell]

You do not print on Vinyl. You cut it on a plotter. Go to a sign shop and they can make up whatever you want.

[dukes]

Just reviving this a bit. Over the past week or two been working with Duane Leblanc to do a custom vinyl decal for my mask. The design was a simplified (slightly) Potvin graphic. I have a black mask and only wanted the graphic to be in white.

Just got them today! I've never applied vinyl decals before and after looking it up on youtube, I found some good tips but nothing really specific to the contours of a goalie mask. I have an itech 4600 btw.

I've seen it done "dry" where you just lay it down, peel off the backing and smooth it out with a squeegee or plastic-card like a credit card. I've also seen a youtube video of a decal put on a motorcycle where he did a "wet application". Basically sprayed a bunch of soap-solution onto the surface and wetted the decal, then stuck it on and moved it around as needed, and the decal would slowly bond.

Does anyone have any other tips I can follow? Duane was kind enough to send me a copy in case I screwed up but I rather get it on the first try of course.

[old G]

Could you take a picture of the decal just layed out on a table?

What I found in applying a decal is that it is easier if it is a bunch of smaller pieces that one big piece.

What I also did was see where I wanted it and only taken of a part of the backing and then stuck the decal where I wanted it and then slowly peeled the back off and applying the rest of the decal slowly keeping the air out.

Make sure you get a picture of the end result.

Good luck.

[dukes]

Don't have a pic readily available (I'm at work) and I wanna get cracking on these as soon as I get home in time for my game tonight

Here is a pic of the template Duane Leblanc sent me. Btw, he's amazing to work with, great communication and an overall pleasure, highly recommended.



Unfortunately it looks as if the teeth will need to be indivually done...gonna be hard to make this symmetrical...also the claw graphic is seperate from the teeth, just an fyi.

edit: actually i may not have to do the teeth individually...i guess i can just stick it on and peel it back slowly...don't know what I was thinking.

[dukes]

work's kinda slow so i took a pic lol

[ahurtt]

Originally Posted by dukes

Does anyone have any other tips I can follow?

I used to work in a sign shop. THe wet application works really well. Just don't make the solution too soapy and don't make the surface too wet. A little goes a long way. Also if you heat the vinyl as you go with a hair dryer or heat gun that helps a lot. Heat it when your done too, that will help it stick more "permanently."

[dukes]

What kind of soap solution is best? Windex okay? Other then that all I have at home is dish soap or laundry....

[ahurtt]

NO windex! Just a little dish soap in a squirt bottle. Very little like 5-10 drops in a regular sized bottle.

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by influenza

lol do you pronounce them DEE-CALs ? or Deck-els?

A lot of words have alternate choices of pronunciation. The funny thing about decal is while it does have two "correct" ways to pronounce it, one of them is really uncommon, and one of the commonly heard ones is actually not correct. You say "DEE-kal", or you can say "de-KAL". As common as it is to hear people say "Deck-el", surprisingly, it is incorrect.

decal - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Back on topic:

I made a test set of helmet decals for fellow GSBB member Richman with numbers and the Habs logo printed on them. They were just a copy of the standard helmet stickers that you can buy, but they were printed on a coated sticker paper rather than vinyl I have my doubts as to how long the printed on graphics (and the paper itself) will last, I'm thinking they might have to be replaced regularly. Hopefully he can chime in as to how well they are holding up.

[old G]

Originally Posted by dukes

work's kinda slow so i took a pic lol

That is going to look great.
When I have applied vinyl to my mask I found it was easier to deal with a bunch of small pieces individually than one big piece. This seems like it will not bee too bad.
It would take less time to stick as big pieces and then peel back but may be more difficult to conform to the shap of the mask.

Let us know how you finally do it and the challenges you faced as well as what you may have done differently.

If all works out I may consider calling Mr. Leblanc in the future.

[dukes]

Okay here we go boys and girls. I had a LOT of trobule doing these cause I had to do many pieces individually. Couldn't exactly just lay it down and peel off the backing because of the shape of the mask and the several individual pieces (teeth and claws). The biggest issue was the ear graphic due to the shape of the mask, it just wouldn't properlly smooth out! I had to cut it a bit and even overlap it. Doesn't look very good and I'm not proud of my work but it's fine for now, got too impatient lol.

Two problems I had was that I was sent a bear claw with 4 claws while the other had 5. Leblanc realized this and will be sending a spare. Also I was given a teeth graphic for only one side and didn't have the mirror side! I didn't realize this until I already put on most of the decals so it looks as if I'll be rocking a 3/4 complete mask. I had to do a lot of modifications and improvisations to get these to work on my mask.

On to the juicy stuff, PICS!

Note the missing pinky claw


Here we have all 5 claws but no teeth


Teeth close-up, this wasn't too bad


Worse part due to lack of skill. Overlaps and blasted bubbles!


Top view. Had to cut and re-work the hair to fit properly...came out okay


With the cage on


Overall I still recommend Duane as he's great to work with and no complaints. He'll be sending me the missing pieces sadly I'll be playing a few games without them until then...Another note was there was an Itech vinyl already on the mask which I had to scrape off to fit the claw. Some of the graphics didn't fit and had to be cut or placed strategically to fit properly. It's my first time doing this and the genius that I am, picked a hard graphic to do lol. Ears overall was the biggest issue cause it's large and on a very uneven surface.

[Tekkaman]

Originally Posted by Chadillac

I was going to get acouple of my schools logos made into decals for my helmet. Anyone have any experience with decals? Do they hold up agaisnt ice and the puck hitting them? I tried searching but I could'nt find anything.

Just remember cars and trucks use decals and they go through summer and winter weather without problems. So a simple helmet would be no difference.

[dukes]

Duane Leblanc will be sending me some spare graphics my way so I can complete the mask and also fix up those ears. Will post an update! Let me know what you guys think thus far