Make Outdoor Stickers
This tutorial provides a process for Make Stickers Using Contact Adhesive Paper that last outdoors for a time. You can use this process to make stickers for store windows, for advertising upcoming events outdoors, or for leaving your artistic signature.
Steps
- Obtain the proper materials. It is important to use materials that will ensure that your sticker can survive the outdoor environment. Acrylic varnish as a base, followed by a gloss varnish to cover the acrylic varnish is ideal. Look for acrylic varnish with UV protection. The gloss varnish forms a rubbery coating that stops the rain from causing the color to run. Workable fixative can be used as substitute for the acrylic varnish. These varnishes will not hurt the adhesive on the other side of the paper either.
- Choose suitable inks. Acrylic inks come in a wide array of colors and metallic inks too. You just need brushes but the inks will go a long way. You can also get away with being less precise as they will not typically cover the black outline you laid down.
- Select the markers. There are a lot of markers out there but many of them will not stand the test of time. A good marker has to be oil-based marker, meaning don't use a Use a Sharpie. A few companies that make good markers are:
- Marvy Uchida Deco color. These are the best for fills and and outlines because they can cover almost anything but be wary of the Avoid Harming Your Bird with Indoor Air Pollutants. These will last outside without being treated for a while.
- Sharpie oil paint. This is good for fills and outlines and has less odor than Deco. These will last outside without being treated for a while.
- Sharpie poster paint. These are good for outlines and sometimes for fills. These will not last outside without being treated for a while.
- Elmers paint markers. These are better for outlines, especially the black. These will last outside without being treated for a while.
- Sakura. The metallic inks are the best. The color inks last when treated.
- Take a full blank sheet of paper. Use a pencil to draw out the initial design. By using a pencil first, you can correct or redraw what you do not like. You can order the paper from many sources online; cheap matte finish paper is ideal as it will be getting treated anyway. Do not use an ink jet because the ink will not survive the weather. Only laser printers and copy machines will produce a black that lasts because the ink is melted on to the paper.
- Draw over the pencil lines with a permanent maker.
- Find the method that works best for you. There are two possible ways - print out a design using a laser printer or just draw it out. When a lot of black is involved, it's easier to use the laser printer ink from the computer. You could also draw it out and take it to the copy shop to make copies on sheets of sticker paper as well.
- Outline all the drawings on the page. Touch up lines after you have finished coloring it.
- Fill in the design. It is best to use the inks for this because they end up being cheaper than the markers when covering larger areas. They also lack the fumes of the markers, so are more pleasant to work with. When treated properly, the colors will last for quite a long time outside.
- Decorate the design. After painting in the design, add any decoration with paint markers. You can also do this step after spraying with workable fixative if you want to add a layer of color.
- Fix the inks on the paper. Although this step is not completely essential, it does ensure that the inks won't bleed when the gloss varnish is applied. Use either acrylic varnish or workable fixative. Work on this outside because of the fumes. It is recommended to do this direct onto an old board or a piece of cardboard so that the spray does not end up everywhere.
- Seal the inks in. Once you have applied the gloss varnish, the inks will be sealed in and weather-protected. This step is vital to outdoor endurance. There are not fumes with gloss Varnish a Canvas Print, so this step can be done indoors.
- Wash your brush immediately after using the gloss varnish. If you don't do this, your brush will turn hard and become unusable. Artist's pink soap is good to use but any type of soap will work.
- Cut the design out. Use an Exacto knife to cut out the design. It is up to you whether or not you leave a border of white space or not. Scissors could be used in place of the knife.
- Apply your stickers. They are now ready to stick outdoors. Make sure that the surface on which you apply your sticker is very clean and smooth. You might need to wipe it with paper towels etc. Latex based spray adhesive (e.g., 3M Photo Adhesive (Orange Label)) is a good choice for affixing your stickers. It is inexpensive, widely available, relatively easy to remove and will not damage most non-porous surfaces.
Tips
- Hardened brushes can also be cleaned off with proprietary brush cleaner and restorer if you neglect to clean your brush quickly enough.
- Consider scanning your drawing into the computer for later reproductions.
Warnings
- Using "glue" on windows is not recommended because it will permanently harden and damage your window. Instead, there are "removable" spray adhesives which will allow you to clean the window with an adhesive remover such as "goo gone" when you choose to remove your sign.
- Avoid placing stickers where there is a notice about not posting bills etc. Your individual artwork will be highly recognizable!
Things You'll Need
- Acrylic varnish
- Gloss varnish
- Acrylic inks
- Markers (see types suggested above)
- Blank sheet of paper, matte finish paper is good
- Pencil
- Printer
- Artist's pink soap or soap or brush cleaner and restorer
- Exacto knife or sharp paper scissors
- Spray adhesive
Related Articles
- Make Home Made Stickers
- Make Stickers Using Clear Tape
- Make Stickers Using Contact Adhesive Paper
- Make Foam Bath Stickers
- Make Collectible Stickers Using Double Sided Tape
Sources and Citations
- Original source of article and photos, Señor Codo, The Process of Making Stickers, shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
