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I have a love hate relationsnhip with weeding vinyl. I loved the projects I can make with vinyl, but I really dislike weeding. But that's good news for you, because it means I've looked for and found every tip I can on how to make weeding less painful, and I'm going to share them all with you today and answer all the questions I can.
So first, for anyone who is new to this, weeding means to remove the extra vinyl away from, around, and within the design. We use a weeding tool to very carefully peel away the extra background vinyl …also referred to as the negative space or the part of the vinyl we don’t want to include in our finished design.
Here are my tips and tricks for weeding vinyl:
WEEDING BOX: Make a weeding box in Design Space for easier weeding!
WEEDING TOOLS - Weeding vinyl is challenging when you’re not using the right tools. Most people just use the Cricut weeder, not realizing that while it is a fine tool, it may not always be the right tool for the job. Other great weeding tools include dental tools, tweezers, and craft knives. You can also use an empty 5mm pencil and a size 70 needle in place of the lead and make your own weeding tool. Or get fancy and buy a special weeding tool that also serves as an air release pen for bubbles - the other end can hold down small pieces that lift up when you’re removing vinyl.
MAT - A lot of vinyl comes on rolls, specifically Cricut vinyl, and that means when you’re done cutting it can still be really curly and not want to lay flat on your surface. And frankly trying to keep the curl down while you weed can be a nightmare. You can try to keep your vinyl in place while you weed, as that will make it so much easier. There are a few ways to do this. One way is to weed on a slightly sticky (not super sticky) mat to keep it in place. You can use a blue LightGrip machine mat or an older green StandardGrip machine mat.
You can also just tape your vinyl down to your surface with some painter’s tape and that will keep it in place.
Or use fabric weights and that will keep it in place.
SECTIONS - Work from larger to smaller sections during weeding.
POKE - Poke your weeding tool into each section you want to remove. Gently lift it away from the design. Make sure you do not pull up any pieces you want to keep. If they come up, gently pat them back in place and try again. Don't forget the middle parts of the letters!
FINGERS WORK TOO - Once the corner of the vinyl is up, I find it easier to use my fingers to pull up most of the excess vinyl. Then I use the weeding tool again to pull out the centers of the letters.
CUT AS YOU GO - It’s also a good idea, especially with large designs, to cut off the excess vinyl as you go. That way it doesn’t end up sticking to the parts of the vinyl you want to keep.
PULLING UP -- If you find your vinyl is pulling up as you weed, scrap everything down to the liner with the scraper tool to stick it well to the liner, then weed it.
NOT COMING UP -- If, on the other hand, you vinyl isn't come up very well and you know you had the right material setting, it's possible that you cut your vinyl with too much press and it's edges have been sorta of pushed into the cuts on the liner. Try cutting the vinyl again with less pressure.
HACK -- Something else you might want to try with designs that are all connected -- with no floating parts -- is to increase your pressure by a LOT so you can cut right through the liner. This then allows you to pull your design up from the mat ALREADY WEEDED! Try the glitter cardstock when you're cutting iron on vinyl to see if this hack can work for you!
INTRICATE -- If your vinyl has really intricate designs, like thin lines and tiny letters, and they keep pulling up no matter what you do, try reverse weeding instead. We have a whole tutorial on this over at jennifermaker dot com slash four four nine.
1:00 - Save Vinyl with Weeding Boxes in Cricut Design Space
2:20 - Unusual shape - make an Offset Weeding line
3:25 - Common weeding issues
5:40 - Use Custom setting on the Explore Air 2 Smart Dial
8:00 - Common weeding tools
10:15 - How to keep vinyl in place during weeding
12:30 - Vinyl weeding process and troubleshooting
15:30 - Vinyl won’t come up
17:00 - Custom pressure setting to avoid weeding on fully-connected designs
23:55 - Use light to see vinyl cut lines
28:35 - Use a pen to highlight vinyl cut lines
30:45 - Add powder to highlight cut lines on dark vinyl
32:30 - How to control weeded vinyl with containers or tape
36:00 - Hidden compartment in the weeding tool
38:00 - What is the difference between kinds of transfer tape?
40:00 - Answers to Questions on Weeding Vinyl
#cricut #crafts #craft #designspace