autometrik

its weird, i thought i already replied on here, but i must of typed my reply in the message box, but did'nt press submit, but when i went back to the page, my text was still there to send, so sorry, it probably looked like i was just being rude and not saying anything back, but i just thought i already sent my reply on here. i was'nt saying i wanted to cut vinyl by hand for the long run, for years or anything, i was just doing it to try it out and see how it is creating stuff like decals, but of course i plan on getting a cutter soon, but your right, i should use my time practicing using software until i get a cutter. i graduated from the art institute of dallas in 1995, in visual communications program (graphic design/fine art/photography/ad design), and they did'nt teach much in depth computer stuff back then, and we did alot of stuff by hand, like in ad design class we made newspaper type ads in black ink on illustration board and taped layers of clear overlays and amber overlays to make a print-ready ad, cutting small detailed objects out of amber overlays with exacto knifes and stuff like that, and i've even had jobs doing tedious stuff by hand, in printing/pre-press departments and photo labs, so i guess i'm kind of used to that kind of thing, where it does'nt bother me as much, but of course i would rather choose to do it with a cutter instead, and would'nt want to do everything all by hand if i got into selling product. another thing i've done that is overboard tedious is making my own t-shirt designs by tracing a logo off my computer screen onto a piece of plastic-coated freezer paper, then cut the logo out of the freezer paper with exacto knife, and iron the freezer paper lined up onto the t-shirt, and apply silkscreen ink with a foam brush inside the logo area, putting a couple different layers, letting each one dry fully, then heat-setting it with an iron, ironing over a thin undershirt over it all, and it is like a real shirt, but its doing it the hard way. after reading online, i realised i can get a vinyl cutter for alot cheaper than i thought they would be, one site recommends getting either a Silhouette Cameo 3 or a Cricut Explore Air 2 for beginners. but the comparisons showed that the Cricut Explore Air 2 has to be connected to the internet in order to use the design software and cut stuff with it, but the Silhouette Cameo 3 does'nt have to be connected to the internet, and i like that better, cause you never know when your internet might stop working or have problems. and you can get the Silhouette Cameo 3 on Amazon for $189.99, which is more affordable for me, and i plan on getting something like that pretty soon, in the next few months, after i sell more stuff of mine on ebay, (cause thats the money i use to blow on stuff on the side). maybe part of my problem trying to cut the vinyl stickers by hand is that i'm just using a regular exacto knife, with the pointed triangular blade, which even bends side to side and not real sturdy, i was looking at different types of cutting knifes or exacto type tools at Hobby Lobby, where i bought my rolls of adhesive vinyl, transfer tape, cutting mat and other stuff, and i only saw one tool with a wide blade with an angled edge with a big knob handle, but looking at it, i figured i could use my utility knife to do the same thing that thing does, so i did'nt get it, and there was another tool which is meant for cutting around curves and rounded things or tight corners, which had a tiny blade, but i did'nt think i needed that either, i just bought a curved pair of big tweezers, and a regular exacto with a wide rubber grip. i am not familiar with all the other types of knifes or cutting tools, i know theres lot of different kinds, but probably only available at certain specialty shops or ordering online, but hobby lobby did'nt have much options, theres a place in dallas called Asel Art, which is the best art supply store in the area, but they close kind of early, and were'nt open that day, so i had to go to hobby lobby, but i also did'nt check Micheal's arts & crafts store or Joann's Fabric Crafts store.

i had a feeling i was going to get answers like that, cause i know its not the best and most proper way of doing it, but i just wanted to know from a newby perspective, for someone who does'nt yet have a cutter machine and can't afford at the moment, i was giving it a try, doing it by hand, as a first attempt, since thats the only way to do it without a cutter machine, even know i realise its kind of overboard tedious to do it that way, but i still don't have an answer as to how people cut vinyl by hand without cutting through the backing paper ?, i guess now i'm curious and its just stuck in my mind, but it probably is just like you said, they practice, practice, practice like hell, over and over until they get it right, wasting away vinyl materials. when cutting my logo, mine ended up cutting right through the backing paper, but what i did was i popped the cut pieces out of the piece of vinyl, and peeled the surrounding scrap vinyl around it, and then i traced the outline of the logo through the hole in the vinyl backing paper onto a piece of plastic coated freezer paper, and peeled off the sticker and stuck it over the outline on the freezer paper, then put a piece of transfer tape over the top of the whole thing and burnished it good, and it worked that way, but its more than most would want to do.

i'm new at this, and just trying out making my own vinyl decal stickers by hand, since i don't have a cutter yet, and i bought some rolls of single color adhesive vinyl, a roll of transfer tape, and everything else needed to do it, i traced a logo over my computer screen on a piece of thick card stock paper and then i placed that over a piece of vinyl and traced around the outlines of the logo with a pen real hard, where it pressed the outline lines through onto the piece of vinyl, enough where i can see it, then i taped the piece of vinyl down to my cutting mat, and i started to cut the outline with my exacto knife and a ruler, and then i just realised that i was confused about one thing?, if i just cut through the outline into the vinyl, then it will just cut right through the vinyl backing paper too, and from videos i've seen, they cut the letters on the piece of vinyl, but somehow they cut it with just the right pressure, where it only cuts the vinyl layer, not cutting all the way through the backing paper?, and end up with the vinyl letters cut out but still attached to the full piece of backing paper, and then they apply transfer tape over the top of the vinyl letters, and burnish the transfer tape against the top of the vinyl letters, and have a finished product, where someone buys it and they peel away the top transfer tape with the vinyl letters stuck to it, and it all peels away from the piece of vinyl backing paper. i don't understand how you cut vinyl sticker designs by hand without cutting through the vinyl backing paper too ?, an example of what i mean is in this short video on youtube, where shows a guy cutting a vinyl logo sticker by hand, and he cuts all the letters but they are still all on the backing paper, and he did'nt cut through it. https://youtu.be/nq6vdmpum-I any help you can give me to understand how to do this, would be appreciated - Jonathan