Depending on the complexity of the wall decal design
you may need any of the following:
- Masking tape
- Ruler
- Spirit Level
- Scissors
- Another set of hands
- Squeegee/ piece of cardboard/ credit card
Let’s explain each in more detail, how and
why you would use it.
Masking
tape
Masking tape is essential for applying wall
decals. You cannot use a clear sticky
tape or duct tape or any other tape.
Masking tape is the best product to use.
There are two main uses: initial
alignment and then securing the
decal firmly.
When you are initially aligning the pieces of your decal, you simply need to
tape them very lightly with a small piece of masking tape. If the decal design is a single piece, just place a
2cm piece at the centre at the top to enable you to step back and view the
placement.
For longer sentences, you will need 2 or
more small pieces at intervals along the sentence holding it lightly in place
while you observe the general placement on the wall.
These initial pieces of tape are not meant
to be a secure hold during application.
Once you are very satisfied with the
placement of the decal you will need to SECURELY
fasten one of the edges of the decal to a wall.
Normally this will be the top edge, unless
indicated on some designs when we opt for the
smaller side edge. The edge that
you are securing will be used as a pivot, to flip the design and start removing
the backing paper. Because of this, it
is VERY important that the edge is SECURE.
If you feel the taped edge is not secure, we recommend you get another
person to hold this edge on top of the masking tape ensuring it does not lift
during application.
For long sentences you might require quite
a bit of masking tape.
Ruler/
Tape Measure
Mainly used for measuring distances to
assist in centering or aligning your design precisely on the wall. We recommend using the tape measure to find
the points on the wall you wish to place the decal and then lightly mark with a
pencil that can be rubbed off later.
Spirit
Level
We believe this is essential if you are
applying wall quotes or sentences. That is if you wish the lines to be
horizontal. A very long way of doing
this without a spirit level is to use a tape measure and measure the exact
distance across the sentences. The main
problem with that option is that the roof or floor alignment may not be exact
which may throw your sentences out of position.
Scissors
Mainly used for snipping between words on
long sentences making application easier.
Also used to trim backing paper edges etc etc.
Another
set of hands
For any decals which are made up of kits,
or smaller pieces you will be able to get away with one set of hands. For larger decals we highly recommend a
second set of hands. The purpose of the
second person is to support the lower edge of the decal in case static pulls the decal onto the
wall before you want it to. It also
enables the main person to concentrate on smoothing the design to the wall
without any bubbles without having to worry about the other end of the design.
Particularly useful for large decals which
need to be applied from left to right or right to left.
Squeegee/
piece of cardboard/ credit card
You will need something to use when
smoothing the design onto the wall. To
be honest you can use your hand, using the fingers dragging across the
surface.
Ideally though you want a straight surface
dragging across the design to “squeegee” the air bubbles out. You can use a credit card or something of a
similar shape. But one of the cheapest
best methods we have found is using a piece of cardboard.
About 10cm x 10cm cut a piece of corrugated
cardboard out of the side of a box. Fold
this in half to be about 5cm x 10cm.
Using the folded edge as the scraper, hold the other edge and drag the
“tool” across the design to smooth out the design onto wall.
(The above information only applies to
designs provided by Cool Art Vinyl. We
cannot vouch for other companies methods or tools).
