Self stickers

[Nick21861]

Hey Me and my friends want to make good custom stickers to put on our helmets and stuff. I have an ink jet printer and we need a weather proof sticker paper. What ive found looks shady or too expensive. Any suggestions?

[dcox20]

sorry man - the nature of inkjet is that water will mess it up - there is no sticker paper available on the market that fixes this problem... here's what you could do.

hit Staples or Office Depot and grab some of their bumper sticker stock... print your design, cut, and stick to your helmet (make sure all the edges are fully down and adhered. Then find some clear laminate, you can use clear sticker stock, packing tape, or spray can clear, and put it over the sticker. Voila you have a sticker on your helmet.

most commercially available stickers are either cut vinyl, screenprinted, UV cured, or laser etched.

Another option would be to go to a local sign shop and have them print up some stickers for you, just be sure they print on premium (2mil) vinyl and use a solvent based ink (not water based or eco-solvent) - these will also last a long time. This will cost a couple bucks, but may be cheaper when compared to the effort required and time spent on the first suggestion... also will look nicer.

the biggest thing to remember is that your helmets have compound curves and if you have ANY lift around the sticker edges they will not hold very well - water gets in, etc etc.

my $0.02 (I was a sign guy in a previous life)

[Nick21861]

http://www.texascraft.com/hps/home.php?cat=255

non of these would do?

[dcox20]

worth a shot!

[Nick21861]

ok sounds good

[slow]

Hi Nick,

Your thread prompted me to make some stickers inspired by pinkkid and rise.





The sticker with the white background is made by inkjet printing on paper and laminating it between film that has an adhesive back on it on one side. The lamination is the heatless type that uses pre-applied glue. I trimmed the paper before lamination and then trimmed the lamination outside the paper to seal the edges.

The second vervion on the grey helmet was first printed on inkjet transparency paper then laminated the same way. This is easier since you can run a full sheet of printed transparency paper in the laminator and trim the sticker out after. But the down side is that the sticker is stiffer than the paper version and wants to lift off curved surfaces.

BTW: The lamination can be done at your local office supply store for a small fee.

EDIT: The clear version on the grey helmet delaminated when placed on a curved surface. The adhesive is inadequate to bond to the inkjet transparency film. Both helmets now have the white paper version of the sticker.

[pinkkid]

Best be bringing me a few of those Slow!!!! LOL

Very cool!!!! See, that iskiboard is very eye catching, easy to read and understand and says what we do. Niiiiice!

[slow]

Best be bringing me a few of those Slow!!!! LOL

Very cool!!!! See, that iskiboard is very eye catching, easy to read and understand and says what we do. Niiiiice!

In pink of course!

I only made a hand full and some have quality issues as you would expect with prototypes.

Bring your own scissors to trim the edges. I am too clumsy.

[pinkkid]

no problemo!

[slow]

Only have a few red, black and green with white background (the more durable version). Pink in clear.

[pinkkid]

That is just SO cool you did that Slow... I shall wear it proudly!

[Nick21861]

Nice work Ill be making some stickers some time soon. My group is new generation. This is our site. Just made it nothing much. Will be better in the future.
http://sites.google.com/site/newgenerationxproject