Vinyl Plotter Fun!

After hearing that a relative was in the process of purchasing a vinyl plotter, I quickly fired up Adobe Illustrator and whipped up some logos for my online nickname "OneSeventeen", a few bible verses (Jer. 1:17 and Matt. 4:19), my URL (www.woventhorns.com), and some pre-made logos that I copied/cleaned.

Now that I had my large illustrator file (copied into about 10 formats, just to be sure their plotter software would read it), I figured it would be a simple matter of loading my graphic, loading some vinyl, and clicking print.

Wrong! I now have a greater respect for signmakers. First, I aligned the graphics with the sheet of vinyl (we were using 15" vinyl on a 24" plotter), then I cut the vinyl, then came the fun part! I spent at least 45 minutes "weeding" the vinyl. Meaning I had to pull out all of the vinyl that would not be a part of the final window sticker. After going through the smaller graphics with a precision screwdriver and some tweezers, I was finally ready to put them on my window.


Now, all I had to do was clean my window, apply this thick clear plastic tape (application tape) to the front of the vinyl window sticker. Then I used a stiff piece of plastic to rub the tape onto the sticker. After that, I peeled the paper backing to the vinyl off, which left me with a clear piece of thick tape that had the window sticker on it. So now I just stuck it wherever I wanted it on my window, used a stiff squiegee to press it firmly into place, then I slowly peeled away the clear tape. Leaving me with what I consider a very attractive window sticker.

Overall, I am very pleased with the outcome. Feel free to click the two images on this blog to view larger images. You are also more than welcome to view the original artwork I used for the design of the stickers.