How I Make My Stickers – Printer, Plotter and Laminating

Every sticker in my shop was made at home: printed, laminated and cut by a plotter on my desk. It took a few attempts before everything ran smoothly, though. Here I'll tell you which plotter I ended up with, what else I use and how you can make your own stickers, including glitter and holo.

Why I ended up with the Siser Juliet

My clear favourite is the Siser Juliet. Before that I had two Silhouette plotters, and neither of them made me happy.

I started with the Silhouette Portrait 3. Later I added the new Cameo 5 Alpha with the automatic sheet feeder for A4. The feeder was supposed to be compatible, but in the end it just didn't work with the machine. Silhouette's support was practically non-existent. And because I don't live in the US, they couldn't even send me a replacement part.

On top of that, glitter simply didn't work for me with Silhouette. But glitter stickers were important to me, they just belong in my shop. So I switched.

This is what won me over:

• The built-in camera recognises the registration marks. These are the little marks printed on the sheet so the plotter knows where to cut. The camera finds them even on glittery or shiny surfaces, where a normal optical sensor often gives up.
• The software is so much easier. Set up the Wi-Fi and off you go. The program doesn't lag, it recognises the stickers right away and everything lines up. With Silhouette it was a lot more fiddly.
• The blades are cheap to get. I don't buy the original blades. Cheaper compatible ones work just fine for me.

Of course, you'll have to play around a bit with the Juliet at first too. How deep does the blade need to be for which material? Where exactly does the camera need to look to find the registration mark? Once you've got the hang of it, though, it runs smoothly.

What you need

What	What I use	Why
Plotter	Siser Juliet	The camera finds the registration marks, even on glitter
Printer	Epson EcoTank ET-2810	Fairly cheap to run, because you simply refill the ink
Sticker paper	Printable vinyl sticker paper	Completely normal printable vinyl
Holo film	Holographic sticker film	For the holo stickers
Laminator	Laminator	Protects the stickers, self-adhesive laminate works too
Cutting mats	Cutting mats	Cheap, light tack, in the larger size instead of A4
Blades	Compatible replacement blades	I don't use originals, the cheap ones do the job

One more word about the mats: the A4 mats somehow didn't work for me, the larger ones do.

Step by step: how my stickers are made

1. Set up and print your designs. Lay out your designs in the Juliet software, Leonardo Design Studio, then print the sheet on normal vinyl sticker paper.
2. Laminate. I laminate every sheet so the stickers last longer. If you don't have a laminator, just use self-adhesive laminate and smooth it on.
3. The laminator trick. Put two sticker sheets into one laminating pouch, back to back, so the designs face outwards. After laminating, cut off one edge and pull the pouch apart. Now you have two sheets that are each laminated only on the front.
4. Put it on the mat. Place the sheet on a light tack cutting mat and feed it into the Juliet.
5. Let it find the registration marks. The camera looks for the registration marks. If it can't find a mark, adjust exactly where the camera should look.
6. Cut. Set the blade depth to suit the material and let the Juliet cut. For your first sheets, a test cut is worth it until you've found the right setting.

Glitter and holo stickers

For glitter stickers I put a glitter film over the printed vinyl stickers instead of the normal laminate. This is where the Juliet's camera really pays off, because it still finds the registration marks through the glittery layer.

The holo film I just leave as it is, without extra laminate. It seems to be harder to cut, so I let the Juliet do three passes here. Then the stickers come away cleanly.

My tips for getting started

I'll tell you right away: take your time. Not everything will work straight away, and it takes a while to find the right workflow. But once everything clicks, it's just unbelievably satisfying.

• Only use light tack mats. If the mat is too sticky, it can be really annoying. You'll quickly ruin your first stickers on a mat that grips too hard, because they bend or tear when you peel them off.
• Go for large mats instead of A4. The A4 mats didn't work for me, the larger ones do.
• Test the blade depth for every material. Normal vinyl, glitter and holo all need different settings. Write down what worked.
• Be patient with the camera. At first you'll need to try out where exactly it should look. After that it finds the registration marks reliably.
• Save on consumables. Cheap blades, mats from Amazon and a printer with refillable tanks keep the cost per sticker low.

Your turn

If you don't feel like plotting yourself, you'll of course find my finished stickers in the shop: have a look at the individual stickers. And if you do get started, I'd love to see what you make!

Note: the links in this article are affiliate links (advertising). If you buy something through them, I get a small commission. The price stays the same for you. I only link to things I use myself.