Advice needed for adhering acrylic pieces on wall

Hi everybody! A friend who works with a (new-to-our-area) nonprofit organization (that I am really excited about) just reached out to me. They are creating a mural of trees on a wall. They want to use acrylic for the leaves (which will be roughly about 3.5 - 4" square). I’m excited to help make this because it’s going to look amazing. But I need your help with recommendations for adhering the leaves to the wall.

If this was your project, what would you use? I was thinking of a roll of 3M 468MP - applying it to the material before cutting. That seems like the easiest idea. But I haven’t attached acrylic to a wall before.

I’m hoping someone has experience with this and can give me some great advice. <3

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Are these going to be engraved for donors to have their name? Or just put up and done?

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That adhesive will be permanent. There will be no moving it around, even if you make a mistake, unless you want to take up the paint or material from the wall. I use it all the time. It would be the easiest though. I might consider those little foam sticky squares, but I don’t know how they will fair long-term.

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I offered to engrave or score the leaves but she said she has a plan for adding names and all she needs is for me to cut them. (She’s a great artist by the way, so I’m kind of excited about how this is going to look!)

They already have the donor names and they will have some extra leaves to add later. But once they are up, they will remain up.

I just also confirmed with her the permanency - she said she expects this wall mural to remain up for years, so she isn’t worried about that.

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I have a small amount of it but I haven’t used it yet. (I had all of these things planned out before our kitchen had water damage and had to be repaired and my work area was taken over by a 7 month unplanned remodel, ugh. It’s been awful. Still trying to finish reorganizing everything and get back in my groove lol)

3M says 468MP is temporarily repositionable, and I was under the impression that was just like when you are first putting it down if you need to move it a little. Then it’s done - no moving. Is that correct?

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permanent signage is typically done with the 3M tape or sometimes (depending on how the sign is built) with tiny brads. i know the acrylic logos we attached (before we had a laser cutter and had a signage vendor do it) was done with the nails.

i used brads from home depot with this two-layer acrylic technique to do my house numbers.

much less destructive, just two tiny holes to spackle in if you take it down.

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Yes, 3M VHB, our sign installers use it all the time. For something so small as these leaves you don’t need to cover the whole thing. A couple 1" squares will more than do. To test placement or leave changeable, put blue painters tape down on the wall first then VHB and object.

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Yes, I usually adjust, and then press.

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Since it’s permanent, I would use an adhesive like Liquid Nails.

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I like that! It’s not really what she wants in this scenario but that looks nice and I’ll keep that method in mind for other projects! (Like at my home.) Thanks!

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Thanks!

With translucent acrylic, would you be able to see a difference if you don’t cover the entire back of the acrylic with 3M tape?

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If it’s clear, you already run a little risk of seeing the adhesive. It’s clear, but can show some bubbles and stuff- I’m probably not great at applying it smoothly.

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Yes, this would be my concern. The benefit of the 3m tape is actually that it isn’t as noticeable when you cover the entire piece.

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@ChristyM that’s what I was thinking, too! Glad to know I was on the right track. :smiley:

@CMadok
It’s not clear acrylic but it’s transparent color acrylic (I misspoke earlier when I said translucent) - for the leaves of the tree. I’ll just play it safe. Apply the adhesive to the whole sheet prior to cutting. This will make things a lot easier anyway.
I’ll pay special attention to trying to make sure I smooth it. I use a plastic razor blade to apply regular masking, and it works really well. So maybe it will work for this, too. I’ll give it a try. :smiley:

I got everything ordered! Thank you everyone for your feedback! I appreciate it a lot. I’ll try to share a pic when it’s done.

BTW, It’s for Gigi’s Playhouse, which is an organization that provides free programming for people with Down syndrome. I’m really excited that they are opening here and our family will have a great resource to help support my amazing daughter and the whole Ds community here (which is such an amazing group of people). I haven’t been able to volunteer due to COVID concerns (my daughter is high risk), so this gives me a way to contribute!

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I hope you share a photo of the finished wall. What a great way to use your Glowforge and make a lasting contribution to a wonderful community resource.

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It would depend on the specific acrylic and the wall color. VHB comes in a few colors depending on the application - some of them are clear.

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I’m using 468MP clear. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Slight change, just want to confirm something.
I will be painting the acrylic on the bottom side before applying the adhesive. I’ll wait at least 24 hours (or more if needed) before applying the 468mp.
Is there any concern with the paint changing the bond between the adhesive and the acrylic?

Absolutely. Paint will not bond as well as an adhesive, it’s not designed to - but there’s no way to know as there are thousands of “paints” and nobody can say whether what you’re using will work or not. I can guarantee “craft” grade acrylic won’t hold up at all, for example.

I wanted to ask this earlier, but why are you not simply using solid-color (opaque) acrylic? It’s available in every color under the sun.