Here’s a quick and easy photo tutorial that illustrates how to apply a die cut vinyl decal to your laptop.

Prepare

You will need masking tape & a credit card or squeegee and a clean laptop (no seriously, clean it before you stick a decal on it). Your vinyl laptop decal is sandwiched between a white backing paper and a top layer of clear transfer tape. Lay the decal on a flat surface, graphic side down. Press firmly over the entire decal with the edge of a credit card. (You are re-activating the bond between the decal and the clear transfer tape.)

Tape

Place your decal face up on top of your laptop. Use a few pieces of tape to make a hinge across one edge of the decal & laptop. Make sure your decal is positioned the way you’d like it to be applied. I’m holding up my mac in this photo to show the tape acting as a hinge – it’s wrapped over the edge and all the way to the back of the laptop.

Peel

Once your decal is taped down on one edge, you’re going to peel up the clear top layer of transfer tape – the decal will stick to this layer. Note: If pieces of the decal aren’t transferring, then lay the transfer tape back down & smooth over with a credit card – and use a little elbow grease this time.

After the decal has been transferred completely to the clear tape, you can discard the white backing paper.

Apply

Hold the decal & transfer tape layer taut with one hand and slowly use your credit card to press down on the decal, taking one light stroke all the way down the center.

Apply the rest of the decal by starting at the center and working your way out to the edges of the decal. Finish the application by rubbing over the entire graphic to remove any air bubbles.

More Peeling

Remove the tape hinge & gently peel back that clear transfer tape. Tip: Don’t pull straight up on the transfer tape, try to keep your hand down low, close to your computer & pull back slowly.

Finished!

Removing your design is easy! Just peel up a corner of the decal and slowly remove it. My laptop decals generally leave very little residue behind, just make sure you are peeling the decal off while the laptop is cold.

Questions about the process? Send me an email!
Feel free to check out the wall decal application tutorial as well.
P.S. You can find this weeping willow laptop decal in the shop.

Anatomy of a wall decal:

Sketchbook drawing

I make my designs from scratch. Rough ideas start out in a sketchbook.

Ink Drawings

I like to have a few different versions of each design to work with. These sketches are pretty rough, but they show the basic next step – which is a cleaned up ink drawing.

Vectorized

The drawings are then scanned into the computer and traced in Adobe Illustrator. Final design tweaks happen at this point. This is the file that will be used to cut the decals.

Final work

Final designs for wall decals are usually a simplified version of the original drawings. At this point the designs are sized and grouped to fit either a laptop decal or wall graphic set. Decals are all die cut from rolls of vinyl when orders are placed & I do all of the production work in house.

I work pretty heavily with vector graphics because they can scale to any size without affecting the artwork and designs are easily tweaked to create new projects. This is a small piece of a digital art print entitled Grape Jelly. I created this from a few of the original jellyfish sketches.

Graphics can be applied to walls, wood, glass, metal, etc. Your surface should be clean, dry, smooth and free of dirt or dust.

Your wall graphics have been cut and are sandwiched between a white backing paper and a top layer of clear transfer tape. Lay each decall on a flat surface, graphic side down. Press firmly over the entire decal with the edge of a credit card or similar object. You are re-activating the bond between the decal and the clear transfer tape.

Arrange your wall art on your surface by placing a piece of tape on the top edge of the graphic. Make sure you are happy with your layout before you begin applying the graphics, wall art is removeable but it is not repositionable.

Flip the decal up, using the tape as a hinge. Starting from any corner, slowly peel the white backing away from the transfer tape, the vinyl decal should be sticking to the transfer tape. If some of the decal remains stuck to the white backing, stop. Rub down on the transfer tape in that area and slowly continue peeling until the white backing is completely removed.

Lower your decal against the surface and slowly use your credit card (or hand) to press down on the decal, starting center and working your way out to the edges of the decal. Finish the application by rubbing over the entire graphic to remove any air bubbles.

Gently peel back that clear transfer tape away from the design at a 180 degree angle (flush with the wall).

Removing your design is easy! Just peel up a corner of the decal and slowly remove it. Blasting the decal with a hair dryer on low heat for a few seconds will help make the decals even easier to remove.

Check here for instructions on how to apply your laptop decal.