Any pro tips out there for board art?

What works and doesn't break the bank? Printed/laminated paper for a short term thing? Stencils? Stickers?

Anyone have a tried and true solution?

Two years ago my parents got me legit rink board art from a reputable local company. One each for backyard-hockey.com and elite backyard rinks. They were awesome...then. Now, two years later, they are bubbling and cracking and look like hell. They were supposed to work well outdoors, but they have not. Once I get sick of them, I may look into creating a stencil and just painting the boards. Sorry, nothing tried and true in my world at the moment...

I have professionally made signs on corrugated plastic that have lasted for many seasons. They were a gift for the rink from a friend of mine and they look like this:



They are getting a bit dinged up over time but they are by far the coolest present I have received for the rink.

I've also recently received some NHL rink board stickers that were left over from Scotiabank Place (Ottawa Senators) during the lockout and they look like this:



I applied this one directly to the freshly painted plywood and it looked great, that is until it started lifting and peeling. At that point, it started ripping in the wind or whenever someone hit the board. I didn't bother putting them up again because I didn't want to ruin anymore. I'm considering getting them applied to the same corrugated plastic as the ones above.

I've also seen people paint directly on the boards. I know over time that the paint on my boards wears away, especially since I store them outside. Maybe if you coated the painted stencil with polyurethane or something similar then they might last longer. Not sure.

For my taste and if cost isn't an issue, I would go with the corrugated plastic signs. They last and are easily removed from the boards and stored somewhere else. Hope this helps.

-Kevin

I was thinking about trying out something like this from Fathead ----

http://www.fathead.com/street-grips/

You can create your own CUSTOM Fathead and then stick them onto the boards....

http://www.fathead.com/custom/street-grips/

Those are definitely neat and pricey, but hopefully you get what you pay for. I made sure to read the part where it said "will put up with blazing sun, freezing cold, snow, mud and whatever Mother Nature wants to throw at them!" Except for the mud part, that pretty much covers everything for the backyard rink.

Agree on the price factor....will definitely post a review if i end up trying...

Not sure if this will be helpful, but if you are at all handy with photoshop/illustrator type programs and can do your own image resizing/uploading, I did all of the signs and banners for my rink through vistaprint.com.

I used their medium size banners (4' x 2.5'). You can edit/upload whatever design you like to their website and they'll print them out in full color on heavyweight outdoor vinyl. Took the vinyl banners and used contact cement to adhere them to plywood backing for my signs (or onto your boards if desired).

Normal advertised price for a full color medium banner is around $30 each, but they frequently advertise periodic sales/promo codes/specials and think as a first time buyer I got them all at %50 off. So far they've lasted 3 seasons with no fading.



-Magnus


by , on Flickr

Where's the Like button?!!

work great for this situation and won't break the bank. You could always order a couple at a time and then add more banners as you go along. Good luck in your endeavor.