Vinyl Wallcoverings

[Pygmy]

Yep, it's true -- my entire set is covered in printed vinyl. I do...how do I put this delicately?...corporate theatre in a well-known venue best to remain un-named. That being (not) said, our show is in year four of a, very likely, ten year run. We run five shows a day, seven days a week, with no time off for either good or bad behavior. (I've tried both.)

And my walls are covered in printed vinyl. Did I mention that part? Now, this wouldn't ordinarily be a problem except for certain areas where my boys have been putting their sweaty paws several times a day for several years no longer have any ink left at all. For small touch ups, I've used -- no kidding -- colored Sharpies with great success over the years, but these areas are beyond hopeless. I come from a small theatre, small budget mindset, so I'm determined to get every last show out of this huge printed vinyl piece that I can before replacing it -- besides, you and I both know the new printed piece is going to look radically different, no matter what I do, and is going to stick out like a sore thumb -- but I'm running out of creative ideas.

So here's the question: does anyone know of any process I can do to re-tint this vinyl? The repair has to be fast: I'll have, conservatively, fourteen hours between application to hands being on the surface and the surface being back in front of an audience. I'm in Florida, so I have a lot of humidity. The vinyl in question is on a 2500 lb set piece that can't be temporarily cut from show, nor can the vinyl be removed. It is, of course, vertical. And I need multiple shades of blue.

Don't you wish you were me right now?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Van]

Is reprinting the area in question then doing a quick cut and paste job with exactos out of the question ? If not I think your best bet is going to be equiping a really good senic artist , hopefully one who with a background in Pointillism, with a teeny tiny airbrush and some really good solvent based ink.

 

[Pygmy]

Boy, I was really hoping you'd come up with something other than that.

Looks like that's the plan I'm going to have to run with since any cut and paste would be far too visible and vulnerable.

Sigh.

I'll report back if I ever track down the mythical scenic artist of whom you speak. Thanks, Van -- and nice to meet you.

 

[Kelite]

Pygmy,
When you mention 'fourteen hours between application to hands being on the surface' , does that mean the vinyl is handled physically every day as part of the performance, or is this set moved by the stagehands' hands?

Sorry, just trying to get a better visual here...

 

[Pygmy]

Ah -- very good question. To clarify this set is being moved by the stagehands' hands. Yep -- we're the ones who have eaten the ink right off the vinyl over the years. We have bull ropes attached to the unit as well, but the constant rubbing of hands as folks make the final adjustments -- or put on the emergency brakes when they get the unit moving too quickly -- have taken their toll. I also have a few spots that need touching up from those self-same bull ropes rubbing across the surface, but, primarily, it's the sweaty hands that have done the dirty deed.

Maybe I'm making this into more of a problem than I should. Sharpies have worked on small areas, so maybe I need to expand my permanent marker knowledge. Anyone ever worked with some of the bigger, better, faster artist's markers like Krink or COPIC? Is their ink durable enough to handle a little use and abuse without turning the palms of my whole crew a brilliant blue every day?

 

[mstaylor]

Two possible ideas. Take a digital picture and print to a vinyl material to spot replace. The other is to pull some material from a low visibilty area and use it to spot replace. To make the patch fairly invisible, cut the patch a little big, tape in place, then double cut the seam.

 

[Pygmy]

Very good suggestions. In fact, I may utilize the digital picture trick for another problem location on the set. Because of the nature of the use and abuse these locations suffer, I'm attempting to avoid a patch since this is a huge piece of vinyl and this is a very visible, downstage angled edge section. If I do any vinyl replacement on this unit, it will be the whole -- expensive and difficult to swap out -- piece. On the plus side, if I break down and do that, I'll have loads of patch material for the future. My big concern even on replacing the whole piece is that I won't get a decent color match from the vendor and I'll have a noticeable difference in vinyl on the stage...a 12' tall, 20' long, 2500 lb difference. This is not a subtle set piece.

 

[BrianWolfe]

Airbrush with Parasol paint