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so what makes a decal?

This is a photo of a pretty typical decal. Here the decal is shown as black text to make it stand out and it's being applied to my cutting mat which is green. The decal could be any type of multi-coloured sticker or graphic.
Fig. 1
Fig. 2 :)

When the decal is manufactured, there is no mask covering it. The material - in this case the black sits on top of the white backing paper and the shape and colour are added as required by the plotter. The black material has a very strong pressure sensitive adhesive on it's underside that is activated when applied. It doesn't stick to the backing paper, because the backing paper has a special coating.

Once excess material is removed leaving only the portions we want, mask is applied over the top. The mask has a very light adhesive on it's back. This allows us to remove the backing paper (exposing the adhesive on the decal) and the parts of the design all stay in exact alignment. Without it, it would be almost impossible to transfer each individual letter to a vehicle door and keep is straight! Once installed the mask is removed. This can be done because the light adhesive on the underside of the mask is weaker than the strong adhesive bonding the decal to the install surface.

When the sticker is a small single piece of material, mask is not always required. However when the sticker concists of may parts, or it's large, or it's application can be tricky then mask has to be used.

files

Here are some commonly requested help-files that we send out to clients. In addition to these documents, the links above will take you to more specific areas of assistance.
 
FTP Site Instructions (pdf) How to use our FTP site (if you need to send us large files)
Heat-Transfer (Iron-On) Decal Installation Guide (pdf) How to install our heat-transfer (iron-on) decals
No one likes to have their work duplicated without authorization. This document talks about the roles and responsibilities that exist when you give us your logo, and we give you signage.