Wicked Wraps: Visualizing Lamination

Owners Katherine and Wade Becher of Wicked Wraps (www.wickedwraps.net), located in the Seattle metro area, wanted to add flare to their newest fleet with bright green and black graphics to represent their “wicked” shop.

Katherine designed the graphics that were printed using the shop’s HP Latex L26500 printer onto Avery MPI 1005 Supercast Easy Apply RS Cast Vinyl Film. They then turned to their Kala Mistral 1650 laminator with Avery DOL1360 overlaminate to put the finishing touches on the wrap. Wade completed the installation, utilizing Geek Wraps Power Slam magnets, squeegees, propane torch, and other tools.

They see many benefits of lamination when wrapping vehicles, says Katherine, including:
• Protecting the printed graphics from scratches/fading;
• Providing the desired “finish” – high gloss, matte, or luster;
• Enabling the vinyl to be stretched more during installation, making for an easier install;
• Making future removal of wraps easier; and
• Enabling wraps to be polished with specialty products like Wrap Care.

“We hand-wash our fleet two to three times per week, on average, in order to make sure that our work always looks its best” she says. “Without lamination on the graphics, and with the high frequency of washing that we do, the latex ink would get destroyed in no time. The lamination, however, provides protection and preserves our wraps’ brilliant shine. It also enables us to be able to polish our wraps with vinyl-specific products.”

Wicked Wraps’ primary area of focus has been on vehicle wraps since it opened its doors in 2007. As the economy struggled, Wicked Wraps moved its emphasis away from customized cars to helping small businesses at a time when the economy made it very difficult for those companies to stay afloat. “Customers who started out with one wrapped vehicle came back with a second, third, or even fourth to get wrapped because their first one(s) were proving to be so valuable to their business,’ says Katherine Becher.