I just got back some vinyl cutting that I had done by Signs of Art here in Philly. Louise, who owns and runs the shop, is married to a co-worker of Jennifer's at her old job at PPV. I had been hunting around in town, trying to find a sign shop that actually answered their telephone, when Jennifer reminded me that we kind of knew someone who did that stuff.
A series of emails ensued, and 4 days later I had graphics in hand for $20!!! I couldn't believe my good fortune. I picked up the stencils yesterday, and couldn't contain myself. I went promptly home and finished up the rest of the color coat on my bike! That went pretty well, but I still need to figure out the timing of applying the various stages of paint. I think that I've been rushing the whole masking process too much, but that's kinda what I thought I was supposed to do: pull off the masks before the paint cures too much and risks cracking. I applied the stencils about 25 minutes after the first color coat, which seemed to go OK, then I painted the rest of the color for the background. This too seemed just fine, though when I removed the stencils at the end of the process, they had somehow glued themselves to the pink base coat. Bad news. I tried to get things to come off evenly by picking at the edges with my exacto knife, but in the end I had to stop because there was simply no stopping the paint from peeling off. Annoying. The other problem is that there was some adhesive left from the stencils, and though it is clear, it's a little bit sticky and sanding dust jumps right onto it. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to deal with the issue, probably just clearcoat over it soon to prevent it from getting gunked up and hope for the best.
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