Welcome to TD Garage, a place full of purple, win, and home to Norcal’s most awesome sticker collection. If you don’t know what shop owner Kia does on a daily basis, you’d best check out his OMGDrift feature article! What brought me to TD Garage today is the brilliant idea for Kia to flock my phone case.
Flocking is a process whereby tiny nylon fiber strands are applied to a surface giving it a fuzzy, soft, anti-glare finish. It’s most popularly used on race car dashboards for it’s anti-glare properties but some other places you may have seen flock include the fuzzy insides of jewelery cases, faux carpet/grass in model houses/cities, and the anti-glare fuzzy stuff inside lens hoods! You can see the flocked finish on Kia’s dashboard in the picture above.
Phone: Before being flocked by Kia
The first step was to wash any hand/ear/face gunk off the case so the primer would stick.
I spotted this hilarious sticker on the toilet…
Next, Kia sprayed the phone with black primer to help the flock-glue stick to the case, and to insure that none of the case’s original color would show through the flock.
This glue is pretty nasty stuff. “Maybe I should put on a glove” said Kia, as he opened up the container.
I told you this shop was full of purple! You literally cannot look anywhere without seeing one shade or another.
Flock time! Kia really flocked the hell out of my case, I guess you could say he’s a world-class flocker.
Here’s the case, all flocked up. I was eager to install it, but Kia said I’d have to wait a few days for the glue to really set. Considering that this is probably one of the highest-wear applications flocking has ever been used for, I took the case home and put it in my oven. Since it’s gas-powered, the pilot light keeps the inside about 80F all the time, perfect for curing stuff. Funny side-note, this is the same oven I baked my Canon 20D in at 100F for 10hrs after leaving it out all night in the rain. Works fine!
All done! Looks and feels great. It seems like I talk to people on the phone longer now so I can feel the soft flock on my face. haha!
If you want to get something flocked, contact Kia at TD Garage!
-G
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