Updated By TeckWrap Craft On August 28, 2024
How To Weed Small Letters On Vinyl - Like A Pro!
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Aside from design creation and the actual application of vinyl, most crafters find weeding fun and a good stress reliever. Somehow, some crafters find weeding a stressful part of crafting probably because they don’t know how to do it properly.
When you are dealing with large texts and designs, weeding is a breeze. Weeding becomes a challenge when you have to work with small letters and tiny details. The good news is there is a less stressful way to weed vinyl reverse weeding. Read more about it in this article.
What Is Vinyl Weeding
Weeding is an important step in crafting. It involves removing excess or negative vinyl pieces from your decal. It is easy when you are working on a large design but if the pattern is intricate or the letters are small, it can be quite stressful. A weeding pen or tweezers can be used for this process.
What Is Reverse Weeding?
In reverse weeding, you first apply transfer tape to the decal, then take off the backing and remove excess vinyl. This technique is recommended for designs that are small, fancy, or intricate. It is time-efficient and requires less effort.
Reverse Weeding Tips
Use Good Quality Adhesive Vinyl
Quality adhesive vinyl is easy to cut, weed, and transfer as compared to poor quality vinyl. You will feel less frustrated if you use quality adhesive vinyl by TeckWrap Craft! Aside from quality vinyl, you also need quality crafting accessories.
The Right Type Of Transfer Tape
Transfer tapes have different tack levels. It is important to choose the right one for your vinyl. Those with high tack are best for textured films like glitter adhesive vinyl. The ones with medium tack work best with smooth vinyl films such as glossy, matte, candy color, reflective, and so on. If you are making a layered design, you will use the transfer tape with low tack.
Steps On Reverse Weed Adhesive Vinyl Procedure
Before trying the reverse weeding method, you must first prepare the materials and tools needed. Here is the supply list of materials and tools you need for weeding:
- Adhesive vinyl of your choice
Transfer tape - Cutting mat
Weeding tool
Learning how to reverse weed can be a big advantage to you. This will make your crafting experience more enjoyable and efficient. Here are the steps that you need to follow to do reverse weeding:
- 1. Prepare your design using design software and cut using a cutting machine
- 2. Cut the edges of the vinyl as close as possible to the exact size of the design.
- 3. Then, cut a transfer tape of the same size as your design. Stick the transfer tape over your vinyl.
- 4. Using a squeegee or any scraper that you may have, rub both the front and back parts of the vinyl decal. When rubbing, remember that you want the small details to stick to the transfer tape.
- 5. If you think you have rubbed enough and the vinyl has completely transferred to the transfer tape, you may peel off the vinyl backing. You will be left with your vinyl decal on the transfer tape.
- 6. Next, it is time to remove all excess vinyl. When you are peeling off vinyl from texts, you should be careful because you may end up tearing your decal. If the vinyl doesn’t stick to the transfer tape, continue rubbing it onto the transfer tape on the front and back sides.
- 7. When your decal is securely positioned on the transfer tape, you can now apply it to the surface of your choice. To secure the vinyl on the surface, use a squeegee.
- 8.Carefully peel off the transfer tape from the surface. You are now done!
Check Your Cutting Machine
Weeding large decals is easy and relatively a no brainer. However, there will come a time when you would find yourself weeding small letters and designs with intricate details. These are hard to work with for you may end up tearing a big part of your vinyl and waste it all together.
Aside from using quality vinyl and appropriate transfer tape, you also need to check whether the blade of your cutting machine is clean and if you used the appropriate cut setting. These two problems should be looked into if you want to have an effortless weeding process.
Cleaning The Blade
If you are using a Cricut cutting machine, here are the steps on how you can clean the blade:
- You can depress the plunger to check on the blade. There may be pieces of vinyl or glitter that got stuck on it.
- To clean your blade, you need a ball of foil. You need to stick the blade to the foil and do this several times until the blade is clean.
- If the blade pops out while you are sticking it to the foil, you can easily put it back in.
- When the blade is completely clean, you can put it back onto the cutting machine.
Washi Sheet Setting
If you are using Cricut Explorer, use the “custom” settings. On the Cricut Maker, check out the “browse all materials” in the “set material” tab. For both machine types, you can search for “washi” or “washing setting”. The washi settings provide your vinyl with smoother and flawless cuts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
Reverse weeding is as simple as counting 1, 2, 3. When you master this technique, you can weed almost anything effortlessly. When doing reverse weeding, be patient because this technique lasts longer than regular weeding. Nonetheless, it does the job!
Also, it is advisable to regularly maintain your cutting machine so it can give you crisp weeding lines. For more details about reverse weeding, you can check out this instructional YouTube video above from TeckWrap Craft.
