mforsman

It comes in an envelope, incredibly small for what I originally figured

I agree, this forum is great. I've had a great time cutting so far and the orders are starting to come in from friends of friends so I have a good feeling about my investment. Now I just need to order a boatload of vinyl

Here's a quick auto trace, you'll probably need to clean it up a bit. Hope it helps! rat9.eps rat9.eps

thanks!

I've thought about that, sometimes the risk is worth the reward. I'm not going after Disney or any other large corp that would flip. I'm shooting more at products that I personally use from small businesses, most of them local where I could get a face-to-face.

The only thing that I'd be cautious about is poaching someone's business. If you aren't part of the car culture, then make sure you aren't insulting someone by handing them that. Since I'm not part of that world, I wouldn't go for it. If you can talk shop with them about their cars you're a huge step forward. At least that's my approach. My plan is to send packets of decals to companies that I would want to do work for. Also these potential clients are selected carefully to make sure that they wouldn't just be an order for one, but repeat customers. Part of that first packet is their logo in different colors showing options. Sure it costs a little money, but it immediately gives people an idea of whats possible. Most people don't have a CLUE what I'm talking about when I say "decal" or "vinyl sticker/cutter". Once they understand it's the coolest thing in the world to them. Making people clear of what it is has become an essential part of my business plan. Just a simple 1,2,3 printout can show the whole process.

With most business, there's no magic formula. The key thing is hard work. Pick up the phone, open of your yellowpages and start calling to businesses. Drop by and show them what you can do, have a price sheet and business card ready. Also, part of it appears to be about the culture that you're in. Notice how this forum seems like it's full of gearheads? When you're part of a car culture/club that is something that automatically lends itself to needing decals. Think about all of your buddies, if all of you were going to places to get something made and then suddenly you had the ability to produce what you were paying for they would gladly support you. Car clubs hunt for decals and go to a local sign shop, but then a member gets a cutter and of course they are going to be flooded with requests. I'm attending college for graphic design. I did one thing for my friend and gave it to him in class. Within 5 minutes people were asking what it was and where they could have their own made. I was sitting right there and had jobs before the class began. Think about one part of the market. Sure you can do banners, shirts, decals, so on and so forth, but if you're really good at one thing there's a specific market for that. Knowing that you can always expand. Try and start slow in one section and watch it grow out. Of course, I'm just starting out as well, so these are all speculations, but this is my approach. Hard work with a bit of luck & timing. Just how I like it. Vinyl is cheap to produce, put together little packets of decals and photos of examples, send those to businesses that you'd WANT to do work for.

It might be the live paint thats throwing your cutter off. After you life paint, select everything and click on the "Object" menu, then "Expand". All fills, strokes and objects. In the picture below you'll see that even after expanding it the black shape where the circles overlap still has an inner line from where the stroke of the circle is. You need to eliminate this. Open up your pathfinder tool box (Window > pathfinder) and click the "unite" button (pictured below after being united, merge also works most times ) I know that what I did was a VERY simple example compared to most live-traces, but practice with the easier ones and use more tools on the pathfinder tool panel. I've attached a similar .eps to see if the problem occurs still. I hope this helps! circle_livepaint.eps circle_livepaint.eps

Just got mine as well. I love it, just feels good to swipe the card.

Whoa, calendered is not OK outside? Isn't that was 651 is? I thought that was the standard for small decals (which is primarily what I'll be doing). I'm in Brooklyn, so if there's a local supplier that has a fair price in NJ let me know! Signuniverse is out of TN, that's better than the west coast. Maybe I'll just have to use them if I can't find someplace better. Thanks guys, MDF

I bought mine from USCutter on ebay. It was lower priced than their refurbished so I'm assuming it was. So far I've had nothing but good things to say. This is my first cutter though, so I'm not sure how it compares to others. A little bit of research on how to set it up with your computer is important, but in the end it's really not that difficult. Hope that helps!

Jeez you've been busy!

Log cabin? I'll trade you this place for that!

Welcome! Great to see the community expanding!

From the moment to when I plugged in the cutter to when I hit cut and had it running a job was less than five minutes. Sure it took a bit of research, but I also didn't buy it until I had done all of that research.

I've recently heard that doesn't hold up in court. But I'll do it anyways, it's worth 44

I'm not quite sure what you mean with your question so hopefully one of these responses will provide the answer! Copyright from my understanding begins as soon as the logo is created. It's proving that you were the original creator that can be the troubling part. Usually the easiest and most secure way is to register it as a trademark. Since this is just a small hobby thing, I'm not worried about someone stealing my logo. Also I'm not willing to invest any money in to the trademark process. The fact that I was inspired by the "quality" banner doesn't void their copyright in any form or shape. It may have similarities, but overall it's pretty clear it's different.

Thanks guys! I'll update this thread as it progresses and is refined. Also how it is applied in different situations such as promo items & the web.

http://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/ High quality stuff there.

A great tip to have, thank you!

Hey All, I longboard (a long skateboard) and just picked up a new deck. I've been wanting to do a multiple layer design with different stain colors to showcase the wood, but I'm worried that if I apply the vinyl for a stencil to fill in different parts it won't come off. How hard is this stuff to pull off of a sheet of wood? I have a heat gun if that helps. My fear is that after staining the first layer, and then pulling the vinyl that a gummy substance will be left and effect the next layer. Any ideas? Thanks a ton! MDF

Just started cutting, planning to be around for a while. Sorry the picture is so serious, it was the easiest one to grab.

Perfect, thank you.

This method worked perfectly for me! Thanks a ton, you made my life WAY easier.

You can manually enter in the card, expiration date, CCV and Zip code on the square app. At least on the iPad app. I'd assume it was the same across the board. That should work for phone orders