Beginner showing off some of my work. :)

[bbreault 0]

Wow. honestly I subconciously noticed that the spacing looked wierd but I didnt think I had much control over that. Im going to have to mess around with the "Kern" thing because that could def help me out with future designs. Im working with inkscape. Could you just give a simple explaination as to how to use it and where to find it? Thank you.

[midwaste 4]

For weeding, I take a new Xacto blade and drop it tip first approximately 1 foot onto my concrete floor.  It breaks off the very sharp tip, so when you are stabbing the vinyl to weed, it doesnt cut right through the backer paper.  I generally aim for about 1/8-1/4" from the cut line to grab a piece, no need to try to get it right on the line.  If you scrape/scratch the backer paper, no big deal.

Also, you don't need to weed each piece singly, especially on small elements, stab/lift, stab/lift, stab/lift, etc.  You can stack up 5-7 small pieces before you need to remove the chunk from the blade.

Use the balled up big piece of vinyl (the easy one to remove, lol) to pull off the small elements from your blade.

Looks good, welcome!

[bbreault 0]

I GOT MY FIRST PAYING JOB YESTERDAY!!!!

It was from a friend of mine from the car club. He wanted the car club name and a few other things. Here are some pics.

It was a 6" x 39" Decal, of which I applied after. I charged him $33 for this one

http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu237/braindomain333/IMG_2067.jpg[/img]

We ended up cutting the "customs" part out and moving it a little bit to where he wanted it.

This next one, omfg. Keep in mind that this is a 4" x 5" decal, and it has all this detail in it. I only charged $4.25/ea. I can now COMPLETELY understand why people charge weeding time. Do people normally do stuff this intricate?

http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu237/braindomain333/IMG_2079.jpg[/img]

Then I wanted to see if I could clean it up and make it a little easier, didnt really work with the bitmap tracing but it was a little easier to weed:

http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu237/braindomain333/IMG_2081.jpg[/img]

Here it is applied

http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu237/braindomain333/IMG_2082.jpg[/img]

Personally I am very proud of this decal. Its very intricate and it is probably the most difficult Ive done so far.

Then I got another order for a three color decal of which I had to design. Took me forever to design and then lay them all out. I had to do 8 of them. It was formy fiances brother and it was because his best friend died in a four wheeler accident. So I gave hima huge discount. The shop down the road was going to charge him $58/decal. Im charging him $90 for all of them. I know.....thats really cheap. But here they are:

http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu237/braindomain333/IMG_2063.jpg[/img]

http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu237/braindomain333/IMG_2064.jpg[/img]

So what doyou guys think? Do you think my pricing is good for those? I know the three color decals shouldve been alot more, but it was more than one and it was for a good cause. Let me know what you guys think......constructive critisism is still very welcome!!

[JoeCamaro 11]

All I can say is: You are hooked on Vinyl! Addictive, huh?

Thanx for sharing 

[bbreault 0]

Yeah I am definitely. lol. My friend holding his decal in the first pic said that he might want to get one eventually. lol. I love designing stuff and then seeing people walk away happy. especially after yesterday. Ive decided Im definitely going to try to start up a business because everyone who has found out that Im doing vinyl work wants something. lol. Even at my job as a CNC Mill operator. lol. So we will see. Im off to a good start I think. Any words on how I priced the decals?

[Guest Schramm]

Looks like you are on track...  I use dental picks that I buy on Ebay for my weeding.  Before I had to use it much more then I do know with the new cutter as I just start and pull it off with the Graphtec as long as I am only weeding the background.

[bbreault 0]

yeah I think I got the weeding down pretty good. I just use an exacto knife. I think I might invest in some nice tweezers though because Ive already seen where it wouldve been nice to have some. thanks for the advice

[lowone 3]

Good looking work!

Weeding will go faster and faster as you practice.

Everyone has their own favorite tools for the process.

I prefer the simple exacto knife, extremely accurate and fast in my opinion.

Welcome to the obsession you get from the first thousand cuts. LOL

This forum is unique for the truly friendly atmosphere and expert advice. So ask away as questions arise.

[thebuttontaylor 1]

Great Stuff!

[leadermon 0]

Soon you'll have decals on your car, toilet, mailbox, trash can and any other smooth surface 

Mailbox was my second decal...lol

[NiteWalker 10]

Nice job! And congrats on your paid vinyl jobs. It always feels good to get paid for something you like doing.

For weeding I use mostly a pair of small tweezers that I got from specialty graphics. I also use an exacto when needed.

Can't wait to see more of your work.