The most time-consuming part of the decal making process is choosing the right graphics and designs to work with, so I devote a day every week or two to just this. I have a subscription at a graphics design service and I pick a couple themes to focus on each session, choosing or creating graphics that match the themes and then tweaking the graphics as needed as they don't always come in a format that is best for cutting.
Here's what the rest of the decal test workflow looks like:
Vinyl sheets fresh off the Cricut Machine (I always test with cheap vinyl and save my expensive name brand vinyl for non-test decals as it saves me materials when a design fails to cut properly.)
Step 1: Cut sheets down into individual sticker pieces
Step 2: Weeding - weeding is the process of removing the unwanted vinyl bits from the desired design. This can be super relaxing or frustrating, depending on how well the graphics cut 🤣.
Orange Complete - Theme is So Crafty
Blue (Mythical) and Red (Gamers Unite) Complete
Step 3: Transfer Tape - Adding a layer of transfer tape to the top of decals makes placing vinyl onto their forever homes easy.
So, there you have it - a behind the scenes look at how decals are made 😁.
All the best,
Da’Nela