Vinyl Cutting

Assignment

1. Create a sticker design using Corel Draw

2. Export that design as an DXF/SVG

3. Import/Open that DXF/SVG file in Silhouette Studio

4. Properly load and set up the machine

5. Cut the vinyl, weed, and apply

6. Discard all waste and return the machines to their normal state

7. Apply your sticker

Corel Draw Design

For this project, I made a sticker of a cartoon character I saw when I was in Taiwan named Gudetama. It is an egg yolk that is separated from its egg white, and I love the creativity and aesthetic of the character. I found a picture of Gudetama online, copied it, and uploaded it to Corel Draw. I then unfilled the picture and Bitmaps Outline Traced it to the design below.

Sillhouette Setup

After exporting and importing the design as a DXF file, I decided to go with white, yellow, and black vinyl.

I then placed a color of vinyl on cutting mat in the top left corner (matching my digital design) appropriately and loaded mat into machine.

After loading the cut mat into the machine, I sent the file and watched the design cut. I repeated this for each of the three colors of vinyl.

Weeding & Application

This design was a little tricky to weed. I used the outline of the sticker in the black vinyl, the eggshell part of the white vinyl, and the body/yolk part of the yellow vinyl. I weeded the eggshell part and carefully placed it into the black outline of the black vinyl, and did the same with the body/yolk part. Finally I applied transfer tape over the completed Gudetama, pressed down well, removed, and carefully applied to my iPad case.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed making this gudetama sticker. However, I did face some obstacles while making it. The first time I cut the white vinyl, I used the wrong type of vinyl (where the actual vinyl was not sticky but the back piece instead). After I cut the three color versions of the sticker, weeding was rather difficult. Placing and fitting each piece into the outline required a lot of care and focus, and was pretty challenging to weed. Overall though, I like the sticker and its aesthetic and am pleased with how it turned out.

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