I knew that this project was coming and I needed a design. I carried around a small pocket notebook that I made and when I thought of a design, I wrote it down. I also sketched out all of the designs. Below is a picture of my notebook with the sketches and notes. Some of the pencil and pen marks blurred due to the pages rubbing together.
I contemplated on which design to use. One would have been tricky to make from scratch and another would have been too simple. There were also a few requirements for the sticker which I had to keep in mind. The sticker had to be 5 x 5 inches and not too complicated, which I will get to later. There were also a few recommendations, such as the design should be made, or recreated, by the student. I made all of my designs using Inkscape. Inkscape is basically a free version of Photoshop. Admittedly, it is limited and there is a learning curve, but it works and it is free. I decided to go with this design:
For those of you who do not know what this symbol is, it is the Deathly Hollows symbol from Harry Potter. I will spare you the exact details as to what it means. This was the rough sketch, which was hurried. I later went back and redid it using a few different methods.
I had never used Inkscape and this whole process was a big learning curve. I used Inkscape again for this design. The different method I used yielded a better result.
I had never used Inkscape and this whole process was a big learning curve. I used Inkscape again for this design. The different method I used yielded a better result.
As you can see, this version has a sharper outline and the height-to-width ratio is better. I used the render triangle function under the extensions tab. Here is the navigation to it: Extensions > Render > Triangle. I then made a circle using the circle tool and moved it to the inside of the triangle. I made a rectangle and using the rectangle tool and then centered it.
I chose to use my original design because it is more compact and would therefore cut better on the cutter. The next hurdle for me to jump was making the image into an outline so that it would cut. The way I made it into an outline was that I merged the shapes into a single shape. This gave the shape one outline. This was done by playing with the path options on Inkscape. I used a combination of the different path options until it worked. I did use two separate rectangles in the middle in order for the outline to work correctly. Once the sketch is a single object, I removed the fill and set the outline to a certain width.
Here is the outline:
I had to set the outline to hair width using the fill and stroke tool. This is not the final width of the outline, it is thicker so you can see it here. I then sized it by setting the width and height to inches and making it 5 x 5 inches. 5 x 5 inches is the required size for this class project. I also had to save the Inkscape file, which is a .svg file, to a .pdf file in order to cut it.
Most of what I learned was from a video that the professor, Dr. Harris, made for this class. You had to watch the video and be trained by a TA before you could use the vinyl cutter. This was for safety reasons. It was to ensure that the user did not get hurt, but it was mainly for the machine. The machine cost around 2,000 dollars and would be a pain to replace.
The vinyl that was supplied came in rolls and is on a wax paper backing. Once the design is cut out, the excess vinyl is peeled away using tweezers. Then another adhesive sheet, called transfer paper, is used to transfer the sticker to the desired surface. I also had to test the thickness of the vinyl and how well it would cut. You could press a button on the vinyl cutter and it would make a small test cut. The cut was a simple shape, a square within a circle. If the circle peeled away from the paper and left the square, then the force or pressure was correct. If the circle did not peel away or the cutter cut through the paper, then you could adjust the force. There is a small menu along with ten or so buttons on the cutter. You would go into the menu, select pressure. Then hit the up or down arrows to set the force and press enter and then menu to exit out. I selected 80 gf for the vinyl I used.
There were a multitude of colors to choose from. Here is a picture of the different rolls of vinyl in the FabLab:
You can also make multicolored stickers by cutting and layering different colors on top of one another. This process is more involved, but I decided to stick with a monotone sticker.
I was going to use black vinyl, but there was a scrap of silver vinyl that was the right size. Waste not want not. However, I think the silver turned out fairly well. I made a 5 x 5 inch and some ≈ 2 3/4 x 2 inch stickers. The PDF file for the smaller sticker has three separate sticker cutouts on it. When the smaller sticker was re-sized, it was smushed. You can see that the circle turned into an ovaloid shape and the height/width ratio got thrown off. Below is a picture of the final stickers covered by transfer paper:
The graph paper is 3/8th inch per square
I decided to put one of the smaller stickers onto my water bottle to see how well it showed up.
The whole process of coming up with a design and learning how to use a new software, plus a new machine, was challenging. I had never designed any kind of artwork, never used Inkscape, and never used anything remotely close to the vinyl cutter. I did have a few failures because the machine is simple and does have some limitations. I did double cut a few stickers and someone else's design was too complicated.
Vinyl cutters do have a few limitations, which I shall address here. These are the main limitations that I have found: the machine is essentially an Exacto Knife on a X-Y axis. The X-axis is controlled by a head running along a bar, similar to a standard printer. The Y-axis is controlled by rolling the vinyl, or other materials, in and out with a roller. The roller is the main bulk of the machine and the vinyl is clamped or pressed down onto it. There is a lever that you push or pull to force the sheets onto the roller. The blade's kerf, the thickness of cut, is the approximate width of a human hair. To give you an idea as to what the machine looks like, here is a photo:
Roland GX-24
The main problem with cutting material in this fashion is that the knife can pull up the design. If the cut or design is too fine, the blade will shift the material around while it cuts. The sticker starts peel up from the paper and can mess up the whole cut. The cuts are not always perfect either. I have noticed that the lines are not always smooth or straight even though the lines on the file are smooth.
Overall, this was a fun project. I learned new skills and got to play with a machine that I would not have been able to otherwise. I was able to design something fun and actually play in a class. It was great, I had an excuse to mess around with something cool. I did have a hard time learning a few new things, such as a new software and how to design something.
Here are the files for the stickers:
I corrected the scaling problem of the smaller stickers.
There were also a few things that I did along side this project. Feel free to take a look.
Check out the other stickers I made. (Coming soon)
Here are some of the tools that I used for this project.
I also made a folder to carry the stickers.
As of 2-5-16
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