september 2011 | by ben harrison | show project 
Sea Reach gets a job redoing all the signage for the Grand Canyon. It's a huge project (pardon the pun), which includes the design, fabrication and installation of what seems like a ton of signs. The largest one is this giant map of the South Rim featuring all the trailheads, villages, and bus routes. Just so you that have an idea of how large - this sign measures over 5 feet tall and 10 feet wide and we are making it double-sided!
Unfortunately, the size of this sign is too large to produce in the more familiar materials we commonly use for outdoor exhibits, but we are up to the challenge. The plan is to get a giant sheet of aluminum and adhere a huge vinyl print to it. We're talking industrial vinyl; the stuff they use for vehicle wraps. Combine that with the best adhesive 3M makes and it becomes permanent. Well that all may sound easy enough, but for me this means don't mess up - because there is no "undoing it."
With the aluminum plate on the floor, we paint adhesive on the entire surface, and then, three of my co-workers hold the giant vinyl print off the adhesive while I run back and forth sticking the print to the aluminum. One side takes about 45 minutes of constant back and forth, burnishing the print to the substrate. The closest thing I can liken it to is scrubbing the floor...really. Except, if you miss a spot, it creates a bubble, and bubbles are not acceptable in QC.
Good thing for me, I've done this on smaller pieces more times than I can count. An hour and half later, and over 100 square feet of giant sticker stuck, I have a new sign for the Grand Canyon... and very sore fingers.