Introduction

Window appliques came out of a desire to decorate one's case with a unique touch, so that one's case would stand out from the rest. They quickly became popular, as they were relatively cheap and easy to install on a window. While they certainly aren't essential, they constituted an easy "finishing touch" for a window that one had just installed, and for that reason many people adopted them. A while ago I had the chance to look at some custom appliques from The Shattered Web, and found them to be quite professional in quality. They have since expanded their line-up of ready-made appliques and are now offering many different colours and kinds. Today, I'll be looking at three of their newest coloured-appliques.

Specifications

I was sent one of each of the following coloured-appliques: blue transparent, red transparent and gold-etched. In total, these are the colour choices one will have: red, blue, white, green, yellow, black, chrome, gold, gold etched, red tranparent, blue transparent, lime green transparent (same as the x-box color), fluorescent green, fluorescent blue, fluorescent orange and fluorescent yellow, purple and silver etched. You can also specified whether you will be using the applique on the inside of a window or the outside of a case as a decal, and it will be produced accordingly. (So that you don't end up having to mount a window applique on the outside.) In addition, 3.5" and 7.5" sizes are available with 10" and 12" options also available for non-window decals. Custom designs are also negotiable should you be looking for something very unique!

Appliques instruction sheet and plastic card.

JK-II logo.

JK-II logo from opaque side.

Hello Kitty and Bacardi logo.

I chose three of they many designs available. A JK-II logo in blue transparent, a Bacardi bat in gold-etched and a Hello Kitty in red transparent, just for fun. The JK-II logo was specified to be applied on the inside of a window while the other two were meant to be mounted to the outside surface of a case. Also included is an instruction sheet and a plastic card for application of the applique. Everything came nicely packaged in a bubble envelope for protection.

Installation and Testing

Installing these appliques is a fairly easy job, and moreso because of the simple instructions. Simply lay your window or surface down and select an ideal spot and then clean it. I used rubbing alcohol for this as it seems to work well and evaporate quickly. The instructions then tell you to spray a fine mist of water over the surface, to allow for repositioning of the applique if needed but I found that if you are careful this wouldn't be needed.

Selecting a spot.

Removal from the opaque backing.

Smoothing out any bubbles.

The trickiest part is then to remove the opaque backing from the transfer backing. This is because the applique may inadvertently stick to the opaque backing. To remedy this, I've found that pressing the transfer backing and opaque backing together for a while will eventually make the applique stick to the transfer backing. Note that this may only be a problem with small, thin parts of an applique and even then it wasn't a major one. Once you've peeled away the applique on the transfer backing it will have a tendency to roll up on itself so make sure you catch it.

In place.

Removing the transfer backing.

Nice!

Now all you have to do is stretch out the applique so that it is flat and make sure you apply it to the window/surface the way you intended. You can now press it down firmly and use your fingers a bit to flatten out any air bubbles. The included plastic card also comes in handy at this point to get out any smaller bubbles. When this is done you can peel back the transfer paper and the applique will hold tightly to the surface it is on. Voila! Not a hard thing, by any means!

I also installed the Bacardi bat on this side panel, except it was placed on the outside. The gold-etched colour blends in quite well with the anodized black of this Lian-Li case!

Conclusion

The Bacardi bat is installed as well.

These appliques from The Shattered Web, as usual, were easy to install and I encountered no quality problems whatsoever! I can wholeheartedly recommend them as they are a fairly cheap investment in personalizing your case. There are many ready-made designs and the fact that custom designs are accepted in a multitude of colours and kinds only makes The Shattered Web your only place to look at when you're shopping for appliques.

Pros

• Quality made - no issues with appliques peeling or tearing
• Many colours & designs available
• Custom designed accepted in different sizes/shapes
• Easy to install, and they look nice

Cons

• None!

Lastly, I'd like to thank Terry from The Shattered Web for making this review possible. E-mails to him were promptly answered with all necessary details, and it was a pleasure to deal with him!

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