Snowflake Lovin' It Vinyl Plaque

Winter sports fanatics and romantics love it!)

(Commuters and shovel-ers hate it!)

Either way, here is a vinyl design that celebrates SNOW!

Circular design fits on an 8.5" round plaque - 

or other foundation as desired. 

Intricate snowflake is focal point, with words ring 

that expresses "Snow" & "Lovin' It" with 

snowflake and dot cluster between segments. 

(Cut file includes a dot-for-cluster substitute version 

for simpler stencil painting.) 

Cut as vinyl decor, or use as "reverse stencil" 

to paint design and background as contrasting colors. 

This tutorial will explain the "reverse stenciling" process,

in which vinyl is cut and applied to project surface,

then a "seal" coat virtually eliminates over-paint bleed thru,

with vinyl removed completely for paint-only finish.

ASSEMBLY: 1. Prepare and cut the vinyl design.

2. Weed the non-design portions of the vinyl

from the carrier sheet, leaving the words ring,

snowflake design, and . . . 

. . . positioning guide ring in place.

3. Follow customary procedures to apply

transfer paper to the vinyl design.

4. Remove the carrier sheet, leaving

the vinyl design on the sticky side of

the transfer sheet.

5. The sample project is composed of a 8.5" mdf disc,

composed in a somewhat larger frame.

To make the disc appear to "float" in front of

the mounting surface, 1/4" to 3/8" shapes are

 glued in balanced positions to the disc backside.

6. Paint the disc face and edges with the paint color

that will show through as the letters in finished design.

Acrylic paint such as Delta Ceramcoat (Ivory used here).

7. Use a sanding block to lightly smooth out 
the paint and distress the surface as desired.
Allow to dry completely.

8. Prepare to position the vinyl design and

apply to the disc face surface . . . 

. . . which may more easily be accomplished

by turning the vinyl design face up on work surface,

and working to position the disc over the design

with EDGES of disc WITHIN the guide ring.

NOTE: If using a larger size disc or different shape,

etc., you may wish to leave the guide ring off

the prepared vinyl transfer; use cutting machine

software tools to change the ring's size to match;

trace the disc or other shape, then position

the trimmed transfer vinyl unit paper backside

over trimmed-to-size tracing to use as guide, etc.

9. Once positioned, use squeegee tool to

burnish the vinyl to help it adhere to disc.

10. Carefully peel away the transfer sheet
and guide ring, leaving only actual vinyl design
on disc.

Here is the model at this point in assembly.

11. To help prevent bleed of top contrast paint coat,

paint a light coat of the letter show-thru paint

over the entire face, including vinyl, and disc

side edges if not previously painted. 

Allow to dry completely.

12. Paint over the plaque surface with

the final color. (The sample disc has a white

side edge - masking of that edge does not

show in this image.) A single thorough 

but not too thick coat

of paint may be better than two coats.

Allow to dry completely.

13. Use tools and fingers to lift and peel the
vinyl away. NOTE that this will take more time
and patience than the regular peeling of vinyl.

14. If desired, lightly sand the final coat
to give the surface a distressed look.

15. Mount the disc in frame, or complete

other mounting arrangements.

Here again is the finished project.