Let's talk about using a Cricut!
Added 2020-09-16 21:00:55 +0000 UTCAs I mentioned in my last post, I purchased a Cricut! It showed up a lot sooner than expected, so I've actually had it for about two weeks now. If you're unfamiliar with what Cricuts are/do, they're basically a cutting machine - you insert various materials (printer paper, cardstock, vinyl, fabric, etc.) and you're able to program the machine to cut a specific design or pattern. Cricuts are really popular amongst papercrafters for this feature, but they're also very frequently used for cutting out stickers!
There are two popular brands of cutting machines out there - Cricut and Silhouette. I wasn't super familiar with either, buut Cricuts are a lot prettier in my opinion so that's what I ended up going with. There are a couple of different full-sized Cricut models available right now - the Explore Air 2, and the Maker. From the small amount of research I did, it looks like the Maker just has a significant amount more of cutting power, but considering my primary use for getting a Cricut was to make stickers, it didn't make sense to drop an extra $100 or so on a model with a feature that I don't need.
It took a few days for a pink Cricut to be in stock (my mentality was "if I'm spending $230 on a machine that is available in pink, I'm waiting until it's in stock in pink") but thankfully the Cricut website restocked their Rose Explore Air 2.
I purchased my Cricut directly from Cricut's website, and a link can be found here.
Upon receiving my Explore Air 2, I very quickly learned the biggest downside of using a Cricut for making stickers - the Cricut Design Space, which is the program that you use to send the cut design to the machine, limits print and cut designs to 6.75" x 9.25" - meaning that you can only take advantage of a fraction of a regular 8.5 x 11 sheet.
For more context - Cricut's Design Space has two cutting options:
- Print and Cut: Printing a specific design from Cricut's software, and having the machine register the design and cut around it
- Cut: Solely for cutting out a shape from a material - like cutting out cardstock or fabric
This was honestly a huge disappointment initially, as I was hoping to make stickers being 3.5"-4" on their longest side, but in doing so, I'd only be able to print 2 stickers per sheet of paper. The sticker paper I use is rougly $1.50/sheet, which would bring the cost of the stickers (excluding ink!) to $0.75/ea, making it extremely inefficient, and putting me in a position where I'd just be better of getting them printed from a manufacturer.
I found some videos online regarding a "hack" to get around this restriction (basically tricking the machine into cutting on the full sheet) but it was always waay off on the cut. The process itself is kind of hard to explain... basically you make a masking tape template on a mat for the size of a standard sheet of paper, make a "print" file and a "cut" file... and hope for the best.
Long story short, it didn't work, my cuts were really off, and it was bad news bears all around. I didn't take any process pictures of my bad cuts, as I was very frustrated, and when I run into a wall like this, I need to keep working until I find a solution.
It started to get really frustrating, so I took a break and watched how other people handled the size restrictions of the print and cut, and finally, I decided I was just going to have to size down my stickers.
In my last post, I mentioned I had a set of clear vinyl sticker paper that I wasn't a huge fan of, and thankfully that stuff came in handy, as I had a LOT of misprints/test prints that went into the trash. If you're getting a Cricut, I recommend testing initial cuts with a cheap paper with a similar thickness to your ideal paper, that way you don't end up wasting a lot of the good stuff. I probably went through 10 or so vinyl sheets before finding out what works best for me.
Pictured on the left is the size of sticker that I hand cut a couple of weeks ago, and pictured on the right are the size of stickers that I'm able to make with my Cricut. I've had some other small issues with the Explore Air 2, but this restriction has been the biggest hurdle for me in learning how to use the Cricut.
Aside from getting used to this - using the Cricut has been a fairly decent experience! I still have a lot to play around with, and I'm sure my opinions and thoughts will change as I use the Explore Air 2 more, but it's a really convenient tool that saves a lot of time. So let's talk about tools!
The Explore Air 2 comes with a couple of items alongside the actual machine - you get a light grip mat and a pen (the explore air 2 has a slot to insert a pen to do drawing/writing to a specific design) to start you off, but I did go out and purchase some helpful tools!
If you're planning on getting a Cricut to make die cut or kiss cut stickers, I HIGHLY highly highly recommend getting a set of tools that includes a weeding tool and a spatula. The weeding tool is very helpful for picking off pieces from the mat that didn't peel up correctly (lots of trial and error), and the spatula is insanely helpful for lifting stickers from the mat.
I also purchased a set of two standard grip mats, as I wasn't sure how long the light grip would hold up, and I wanted some extras.
Like I said, there has been a ton of trial and error, and lots of troubleshooting for me when it has come to using the Explore Air 2. Overall, even with the sizing restrictions of print and cut, I'm much happier having the Cricut to cut my stickers versus cutting by hand. I haven't done a ton of stickers yet - only 3 or 4 good batches - so I'll update you guys in the near future when I have a much more rounded opinion!
I still haven't been able to make "perfect" stickers with the Explore Air 2, but thankfully it has been fairly good to me. My stickers still don't have super crisp and clean outer cuts (I'm still trying to find a perfect cut depth setting for the material I'm using for my stickers) but overall the Explore Air 2 is doing a really good job!
I know a couple of you guys showed a lot of interest in the Cricut as a whole when I mentioned it previously, so if you guys have any questions, let me know and I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability!
I know some of this information might be confusing if you're unfamiliar with how Cricuts work, but I hope it was beneficial to you guys who are interested in the topic. Big thanks to Aslan for keeping me company for a bit while I made this post!! <3
Have a great day!!
♡ Chrissy
Comments
i didnt realize about this limitation - im sorry. the other person i am a patron to, she does sheets, and they are like 4.25 x 6 inches. she will do like 6-8 stickers in each sheet. i know maybe thats a little smaller than what you were originally planning, but maybe if you have images you wouldnt mind doing smaller you could do something like that? or like if the design space isnt the full area of your sticker sheets, could you cut your sticker paper in half? so it would be 8.5 x 5.5 , if you halved again could do 4.25 x 5.5 . which your ideal size would fit on, and then you could make 4 stickers out of one sheet. idk if the cricut will work that way since i havent used mine yet oops but thought id suggest that. i know it might be more effort to you to cut the paper down but the 8.5 x 5.5 should fit in the cricut so you could do 2 stickers on that size. you could even do two 3.5x4 stickers, and then also a smaller stickers of like 1x something if you wanted. im trying to picture all this and measure things out so if im wrong im really sorry lol cause im not sure how it works but i just want to figure this out for you lol
VEE
2020-10-01 13:24:07 +0000 UTC...aand I hit enter too soon.. whoops haha. But I work through Cricut's design space for organizing how the stickers print on the individual sheet (that way the machine knows exactly where to cut) so sadly there's not the option of easily printing excess on the side of the sheet of paper to hand-cut later :( it's not the biggest deal in the world though! and I have been holding on to all of my "bad" stickers and prints to be able to give away as freebies!! thank you so so much for your support and kind words!! <3
tirameowsu
2020-09-21 01:35:19 +0000 UTCI wouldn't worry too much about snagging the sale price for the time being - I'm sure they put their Cricuts on sale here and there, and especially with the holiday season coming up, they're bound to go on sale several more times this year!! I really don't know how much interest there will be in anything shop-related as far as my own following goes right now.. but you never know until you try! Either way I think having a shop, even if you aren't consistently bringing in sales, is still a really good start.
tirameowsu
2020-09-21 01:33:30 +0000 UTCThanks for sharing this! It was awesome to get all the insight! Michaels currently has a sale on the cricut and I’m so tempted to get it :’( but I have a small Instagram following and I don’t know if I could succeed in selling stickers or prints! It does suck about the sizing of it, but maybe you can fill in any extra space with small thank you, do not bend, or logo stickers for packaging? I’ve also seen other artists give away they’re messed up stickers as freebies too. Just some ideas I wanted to share, good luck! Can’t wait to buy some :)
Celions
2020-09-19 12:32:09 +0000 UTC
