Gelling Car Windows

Hi all,

Just wondering if anybody has a good technique to gel / nd _curved_ car windows, found in most modern automobiles. I tried to stick the gel on with water but ended up with lotsa big bubbles, so I had to tape em on, which seems to me is also a little woggly in the wind... any ideas?

Regards,

Daniel Pauselius
Spark, Leipzig/Germany
www.kunstlichtkollektiv.de

Daniel Pauselius wrote:

>just wondering if anybody has a good technique to gel / nd _curved_ car >windows, found in most modern automobiles. tried to stick the gel on >with water but ended up with lotsa big bubbles

One little trick while using water is to add a little dish washing liquid (a drop or three) to the water beforehand. This increases the "stickability" of the gel to the window... use a squeegee (sp?) to apply the gel and squeeze out any excess water. To stop the edges of the gel from lifting in the wind, dry the gels edges thoroughly and tape them down.

This is not a miracle cure, but it works pretty well.

Piotr Jagninski
Gaffer / NYC

I always used the water plus squeegee method...on large flat areas of glass...but found it didn't work too well on the compound curves they seem to be able to get in modern car windows...so it was spray adhesive on the edge of the rubber and gaffer tape, (very time consuming.)

For some time I have found the Scotch 3M glue tape to be the go. You need a gun applicator ... you just roll it onto the surface the gun rolls the backing paper away leaving just the adhesive.

Keep the glue near the edge and once you press the N.D. to it the glue becomes almost invisible just like "magic tape" on paper.

The sun will eventually heat the gel enough that it may start to sag... but this is a problem with any method.

The beauty is that the glue tape is really quick.

Graham Rutherford
Gaffer
Australia

Great American Market http://www.gamonline.com/index.php makes a window gel the has a sticky side to it.

I used it on a car window and actually was able to roll it up and down. They have lots of great products.

Bob Hayes
DP LA