First Steps in Print and Cut: #2 — Temporary Tattoos

This the second in my beginner series on Print and Cut Projects. You can find the first project here. I definitely recommend starting there, as it has all the basics about set-up which is critical for a successful print and cut. In today’s lesson, we’re going to build on that one. Now that you know how to print and cut a design from the Silhouette Design Store, I’ll show you how to make very simple print and cut projects of your own. I’m using temporary tattoo paper (kids in my family request new ones all the time), but you could use regular cardstock or another material if you like. I’ll also give you ideas of other ways to use tattoo paper.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click the link and purchase something, I may receive a small commission. You pay the same price. This helps me to be able to keep my business going and provide more tutorials.

Raster vs. Vector

I’m going to revisit these terms, because if you don’t understand them you won’t be able to make your own print and cut images.

Raster

Raster images are things such as photographs and clip art. Common raster image types are jpg, png, bmp, gif and wmf. They are made up of many tiny squares, called pixels, that are filled with a variety of colors in rows and columns. They form what’s called a bitmap image. Think back to the old Paint programs (if you’re as old as I am). You could make pictures by filling each square individually with color. Because the squares are so tiny, you don’t realize that they are actually squares unless you zoom in really, REALLY far or make the image very large.

Say it’s a clip art image of an apple. What you have is a grid with squares of red, green and brown. Around that, all the rest of the squares in the grid are filled with white (jpgs) or are transparent (pngs).

Raster images are meant for printing. When you open one in Silhouette Studio, there are no cut lines turned on (unless you’re cutting by fill). That’s because the only thing that would cut would be the outer rectangular edge, which is not typically what we want. I mean, why would you bring it in to Silhouette Studio to print when you could just straight out print it elsewhere? Here’s what a raster image looks like in Simple cut mode. I have it selected, and you can see it’s set to No Cut.

I’ll go into cutting by Fill and you can see it’s now on cut, but the only cut line is the outer rectangle.

It does that because that particular shape (a rectangle) has a raster fill (the pattern of a flower). Even if you cut in Simple mode and turn on the cut lines, it’s still just going to be that outer edge.

Vector

In any graphics program, a path is a set of points (nodes) connected by curved and straight lines that create a single design. It doesn’t by itself have any visual component to it. You can’t see it, like you don’t see what the picture is in a connect the dots puzzle. These are called vector images. You create vector designs in programs like Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Inkscape, etc.

If you add what’s called a stroke to the path, that gives it visual weight (you can see it). That’s like raising the line thickness in Silhouette. In the connect the dots analogy, this is like drawing the line with a pencil. If you use straight lines to connect the dots, you begin to see a picture emerge, even if you didn’t know before you started what it would be. Or, you can fill a closed path with color and see it that way. That’s like coloring inside the lines on a connect the dots page. Without one of those 2 things, there is no printable information.

Shapes or text you create in Silhouette Studio and cut files you purchase from the Silhouette Design Store are all vector images. The design is a path — a set of points and lines. The software interprets those as cut commands. “Start at this point, make a curved line to here, go in a different direction and cut a straight line to here,” etc. The software helps you see the path by showing you the red lines — the path where the machine will cut — but there’s no visual component because the line thickness is 0.0. If you double click quickly on the image to get into point editing mode, you can see and alter the nodes to change the shape of the design.

Vector + Raster

Once you fill a shape (a vector image) with color or pattern, you’ve added printable (raster) information. Or if you raise its line thickness above its 0.0 default, you’ve added stroke material, which is also printable. That means if you send it to your printer, the page won’t be blank. You can then add cut lines and cut around the design if you want. That’s a what makes up a print and cut.

Creating the tattoo designs

Step 1: set up the page

Before you do anything, you’ll need to set up your page. Since I’m using Silhouette’s temporary tattoo paper, I know I need the page size on Letter. It’s okay to use other brands as long as they are this standard size.

I’ve also checked to make sure I have a Cameo mat chosen as that’s the machine I’m using. Don’t forget to turn on the registration marks and hit Restore Defaults just in case.

Step 2: add shapes

Let’s use our knowledge of rasters and vectors to create a simple print and cut project in several ways:

1. Add a shape from the library — Go into your library and find a simple, solid shape. The free shapes that come with your machine are great. Put that on the page just as you would if you were going to cut it. Add several if you like.
2. Type some letters — When you type words in Silhouette Studio, you are creating cut lines (vectors). I’ll bet most of you as a beginner typed some words in the software and then couldn’t figure out why they didn’t print. Silhouette Studio is not like a word processor, which gives words a solid fill (raster info) automatically. The primary function of Silhouette machines is to cut, so adding text is telling the software you want to cut out the words. I’m going to recommend you use a simple block font, understanding that each letter will cut as its own piece. I’m making mine for my great niece and nephew so used their initials. If you use a full name, just know that each letter will cut individually. You can also use a simple dingbat font.
3. Draw simple shapes — This one is optional, but I want to show you how it works. Look in the icon bar on the left side for the one that looks like a rectangle (it could be a rounded rectangle, circle or regular polygon if you’ve drawn one of those shapes recently). Draw any of those shapes.

HINT: If after you draw a shape your software keeps drawing them endlessly, see this post for how to change that in your Preferences.

Here’s mine with a Valentine theme. Fit as many as you can on your page.

The shapes I used

In case you want to know where I got the shapes:

• • Unfilled Hearts: Silhouette Design Store here. This is my go-to basic heart set.
  • Filled Hearts: Drawn with the Flexishapes tool in Silhouette Studio. This is a feature of Designer Edition Plus and up.
  • Letters: Chunky Sans font from the Silhouette Design Store here.

Step 3: add fills

If your design is already filled with a color, you could just print and cut from there. That’s how one of my hearts is. But that’s not very exciting for a tattoo, so let’s add a pattern instead. Your software comes loaded with several fill patterns. Or, you can find more from the Silhouette Design Store here.

If you have a one-way type pattern, you may not want to rotate your shapes. But if it doesn’t matter, you can often fit more on the page by doing so.

A word about tattoo paper

Before you pick out a pattern, let me give you some info about colors on temporary tattoo paper. There are several products from Silhouette America:

1. Clear has, wait for it, a clear background.  Anything that’s white in your tattoo design won’t print — it will be see-through (skin tone) because white is only the absence of any color. Non-white colors print well, particularly darker ones. It’s also nice for softer coloring.  If you have this kind, look for a fill that doesn’t have white in it or one where you don’t mind what you see as white being see-through.
    
2. White has a base of specially printed white on it already, and other colors are laid on top. Because of that, the white will be visible (even though it’s not technically printing), and other colors laid on top of them are sometimes more vibrant.
   
3. Gold and Silver have just the specially printed metallic color. You can’t print on top of that, so it’s not useful for a print and cut project. I don’t know if that’s because the machine wouldn’t be able to find the marks on a colored background or because the base is just different. They are fun to cut, but that’s not our focus here.

Fill the shapes

Now that you know that, you’re ready to fill your shapes.

1. Select all your images.
2. Open the Fill panel and go to the third tab for patterns.
3. Scroll through to find a pattern you like a click on it. That fills all your shapes with that printable pattern. You can use more than 1 if you like. I decided to use these:
   Pink Plaid
   Roses
   Red Grunge
   Buffalo Plaid
   The pink polka dot preloaded in the software
   HINT: The patterns are very small in the panel. You can see them larger in your library in the Patterns folder.
4. The red cut lines can alter your perception of your color, so set that to clear if you like.
   
5. If you’re using temporary tattoo paper as I am, then you need to flip your images. Otherwise, your letters will be backwards. Select everything and in the Object drop down menu select Mirror>Flip Horizontally. Double check to make sure your designs are still inside the red border and out of the hash-marked area.
   

Printing on the tattoo paper

Go through all the same steps to setup up the printer for the tattoo paper. If you need to remember what all those are, see the previous lesson. Use a good print quality setting, such as for photo paper. Print on the glossy side of the white sheet.

Once printed, be very careful to not touch the ink until it’s dry, especially the marks. I prefer to let mine dry overnight. You have 1 shot to get the cover sheet on and you don’t want to smear it. Do NOT move any of your designs on the page.

Applying the Adhesive

Once that ink is good and dry, you’re going to apply the adhesive sheet (the one with the green backing). It can be tricky. You can see a video of the whole process here (longer, but goes slowly — start at 1:45 in) or here (shorter, but she puts it on very quickly).

Lay the green sheet on the table in front of you, shiny side down. There’s a 1/2″ strip across the top of the backing. Peel that off to expose the adhesive.

Turn the shiny side up. Line up that sticky portion on the printed side of the page above the 2 registration marks (top edge even with top of page). Make  sure it’s straight. Push that down to adhere it to the tattoo paper.

Flip the backing up so that you see the matte side.

Don’t remove all the backing at once. You use the piece that’s stuck down as a hinge. Slowly pull the backing away, pressing the adhesive onto the tattoo paper, trying to not get any wrinkles. One trick is to use the edge of a ruler. Use your scraper tool or an old gift card to smooth out any wrinkles by pushing them toward the edge of the page. You can see I had some wrinkles in the upper right of the page to remove this way.

Cutting the tattoo paper

Put the page down on your mat, just as you did in the last project, being sure to ever-so-slightly cover the grid lines on the mat. Load your mat into your machine. Even after using Silhouette machines for 10 years, I still ALWAYS do a test cut. For a print and cut, I recommend testing this way:

1. Start a new page with the right size.
2. Turn on the registration marks.
3. Draw a 1/2″ square in the lower right margin of the page, outside the red border. The machine won’t be looking for any marks or printing there, so it’s out of the way of everything. That way you can make sure your cut settings work well.
4. Turn off the registration marks. You only needed them to see the red border.
5. Send that square to cut. For temporary tattoo paper, you want to cut all the way through. Keep testing in the margin as needed. (You can see my test squares on the pic below).

When you’re sure the settings are good, go back to your original file and send the job. Since the covering is slightly shiny, avoid having an overhead light on that would create a glare. Or, close the lid of your machine while it looks for the marks. Don’t forget the steps for manual registration mark reading and the troubleshooting steps from our last lesson if needed.

I’ve got some great tips for using up those margin scraps on white tattoo paper in this post.

Applying the tattoos

You can read this on the package directions, but just in case:

1. Get a wash cloth damp.
2. Remove the clear covering on the front of the tattoo paper.
3. Flip the tattoo and lay it on the skin (design side down). Once you do, don’t move it around.
4. Press over the tattoo with a the wet cloth for 10-15 seconds, or until the paper backing slides off easily. I wait 30 seconds just to be sure.
5. You can remove the tattoo by scrubbing with a wet wash cloth and soap.

Other uses for tattoo paper

If you don’t have any kids in your life, then you can use the tattoo paper to try out a tattoo you’re thinking of getting. But you can also use it on pretty much any surface where you’d use a waterslide decal. Here are a few ideas:

• fingernails
• balloons
• back side of clear plastic plates (how fun would that be for a wedding?)
• windows
• Easter eggs
• glass Christmas ornaments
• wood — painted or bare
• metal
• your Silhouette machine

Up Next

Great! You designed your very first print and cut project! Next time, we’re going to work on a print and cut of planner stickers. We’ll play with making the marks smaller, I’ll show you how to send the page to a print shop, and we’ll try cutting without the mat. We’ll also learn how to put text on a shape and have only the shape cut. Still lots to learn!