I want to make stickers...
But god-damn it is expensive. Automatic cutters are like $250, a decent printer is like $500 (not including ink refills), then all the paper. I just want to draw shit and stick it on stuff!
Stickers would be a cool outlet for drawing stuff. Give me an end product instead of just doodling aimlessly.
Buy some plain sticker paper and draw on it?
https://www.avery.com/products/labels/usage/sticker-project-paper
Yeah, buy label paper, draw/scan/design your graphic, paste it onto the label paper template, print stickers.
I should give these a try.
The graffiti kids by me use these.
https://store.usps.com/store/product/priority-mail-address-labels-P_LABEL_228
Came here to say this, you can just walk into a post office and grab these for free
Shit, that's a good idea. I imagine they just draw on them right, not print on them?
That they do, but if you've got a friction feed printer I imagine you can just shove one in there. I don't remember how glossy they are though. That might be hurdle.
What about drawable sticker sheets and an exacto?
I was in the same place, and eventually just bit the bullet and started getting them printed by a company, and I'd use money from side projects to buy batches of 50 or so. Now I sell them, and it makes some money, but not a lot. First I was using StickerMule until they turned out to be kind of fashy, so I switched to customstickers.com. It isn't free, but now my designs don't wash off in the rain, and if I spend a bunch of time on a design, I don't have to draw it every time I want a sticker of it.
Otherwise, USPS labels are your friend. Avery products come off insanely easily, and printer ink bleeds/fades.
Hmm, interesting. One of the appeals of printing this stuff at home was the kind of immediacy and spontaneity of it all. As a dad with two kids, one of which is obsessed with stickers, the idea of pulling out my iPad drawing something with the kiddo, and turning it into a sticker she could slap on her sticker wall was very appealing. However, that isn't the only reason I wanted to get into it. Ever since I finished the drawing of Bill Burr in the communist lineup, I thought it would make a pretty dope sticker. Which only got me thinking, "maybe I could make dope stickers."
I'll give customstickers.com a bookmark and think it over. Thanks!
whereever this amazing journey takes you on, do not under any circumstance purchase a Cricut device for cutting stickers. first off, they are complete garbage, then they want to nickle and dime you with always online software, then the machine will malfunction 50% of the time so you have to start over with printing a on a new sheet of paper, then if you attempt to buy a used one they might have bricked it by locking the device to the previous owner's device, then if you attempt to return it for being garbage, some stores will surprise with you a return policy that excludes hardware. seriously you'll find unlimited horror stories if you look into that.
if buying $1000 of printers/cutters for something of a mild occasional hobbyist curiosity seems out of budget for the expected value of the stickers in question, consider seeking out a maker space or local print shop, or in a worst case scenario, see if places like staples/walgreens can meet your demands.
whereever this amazing journey takes you on, do not under any circumstance purchase a Cricut device for cutting stickers. first off, they are complete garbage, then they want to nickle and dime you with always online software, then the machine will malfunction 50% of the time so you have to start over with printing a on a new sheet of paper, then if you attempt to buy a used one they might have bricked it by locking the device to the previous owner's device, then if you attempt to return it for being garbage, some stores will surprise with you a return policy that excludes hardware. seriously you'll find unlimited horror stories if you look into that.
Really hope this isn't related to the recommendation I made a couple months ago that you should grab one from a thrift store.
Yeah, I tend to forget that places like Staples or Walgreens tend to offer print services. You're right, though, the Cricut we have at work for the art classes is always being a POS.
if you wanna do basic square stickers with no inside cut-outs you can just skip the automatic cutters. I mean it'll be a bit of work more, sure, but they're not actually needed unless you want negative space on the inside, you can just use like 20 eurodollars worth of cutting mat and sharp knife.
The printer, too, I don't think you need to get up to $500 with. If you have access to one just try some sticker foil for your regular ass printer and see where it lands you.
what is the deal with those cricut machines? I've seen their materials and wonder if they're bullshit, but never have I gotten to play with one.
I did get a color laser printer some years ago, and I have fucked around with printing on transparent sheets with an adhesive side. that came out pretty good, and since I needed the printer anyway for other shit, it was kind of a low budget way to make my own shit.
but they aren't super tough like vinyl decals or true bumper stickers.
what is the deal with those cricut machines?
From my experience they're kind of the apple of sticker making in the sense that sure, their shit works and offers nice software suites to people who don't want to futz around with any number of FOSS software and that's why they get bought and recommended. The self-made-sticker-community at large is, excuse the hyperbole, suburban moms front and foremost before it is leftists trying to spread propaganda
I believe I used Avery labels. you can get whole sheet ones and then print a shitload out crammed on a single page, individually cut out. which was an exact knife style process, but wasn't bad.
here's one I made