First Post – Removal of Reflective Adhesive

Welcome to my Blog. I’m so excited to show you what is going on at the shop here at Vital Signs. I hope to share with you some of the processes we go through to create and make our signs.

I would like to start by telling you how I got my start. I went to art school and learned sign painting at the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design. I have been in the Sign Business since the mid to late 80’s. My wife and I started Vital Signs in 1992. We started as a hand lettering shop and my first customers were the Car Dealerships. If you look in my Assorted Projects in the Portfolio under Window Splashes you will see some of my beginning work. I did advertisement on the windshield as well as Window Splashes on the showroom windows.

So the first thing i would like to start with is a Tip I learned kind of by mistake. I was working on a truck for the police department here in Thomasville GA and I messed up a stripe. When peeling the reflective decal the top layer came up but what was left was the silver and adhesive. It is very messy to use Adhesive Remover and the silver is covering the Adhesive.

So what I learn by mistake is that when I put masking tape on it, it pulls up the adhesive and the silver with one pull. So I took some 3″ masking tape put it over the Silver and burnished it with a Squeegee. Sometimes a little heat can make the adhesive on the masking tape a little softer and bond to the silver and adhesive better. Then slowly pull it off leaving a clean surface.

I have found over the years this works well with removing just adhesive left behind when stripping a vehicle of its decals.

I hope to share with you in upcoming Blogs some of the things I have learned over the years. Stay tuned and come back often to see what’s going on here at Vital Signs. I hope to have some interesting stuff for you to see.