Silhouette UK: Hybrid Whiteboard Labels

Saturday 2 March 2019

Hybrid Whiteboard Labels

Hello, Janet here from the Crafting Quine blog. Today's post shows how to make hybrid wipeable whiteboard labels. I've combined the Silhouette Whiteboard Vinyl with other vinyls to give extra detail and decoration which could not be achieved by using the whiteboard vinyl alone. You get the best of both worlds - fancy labels with a wipeable panel which can be written on, erased, and re-written with a regular dry erase marker.

I've chosen to add my labels to some clear paint pails which I'll admit have been sitting in my stash for way too long (they are still available to purchase at various online stores). The whiteboard vinyl has a semi-permanent adhesive backing and the product description says it can be used on many surfaces, both indoors and out, including walls, so the surface options are not limited to storage containers. I've combined it with both regular adhesive vinyl for this project, and with premium translucent vinyl too, in order to show you just how versatile this product is.

Selecting the Design
I'd recommend choosing a design whose outline is not too intricate. The whiteboard vinyl is thicker than regular sign vinyl, and cuts well, but I don't think lacy or delicate outlines would be easy to work with. I chose a coffee cup design (#175243) for my coffee bean storage pails, there are many other alternatives in the Silhouette Design Store.

Coffee Bean Pails
I store my coffee beans in a sealable container, but often get the different beans confused. These labels should end that confusion and hopefully I'll no longer end up with an unexpected cup of decaf. Almost any coffee cup design could be used. The one I used originally had writing on the cup.

Simplify the Design
To remove the writing open the design in the Silhouette Studio software, ungroup the elements, remove the letters, and regroup the remainder. With some designs it might be necessary to release the compound path, delete and remake (or a combination of ungrouping and removing path). You'll see when you've isolated the elements you need when they have a light grey box around them when the design is selected.

Add an Outline
Make an outline of the whole cup using an External Offset.

Simplify the Outline by deleting any tiny pieces.

Make a Panel for Writing
Use internal offset to make a writing panel on the cup. This panel could be placed on top of the cup, but I chose to delete the shape from the cup. An internal offset gives an unwanted part to the shape near the handle. Remove this using Point editing.

Here are the shapes ready to cut; the one the left from whiteboard vinyl, and the one on the right from brown glossy vinyl.

Cut both vinyl pieces and weed (remove any unwanted parts). There is a cut setting for the whiteboard vinyl in later versions of the software, use a test cut and adjust/reduce to where the whiteboard still cuts through.

Apply the Vinyl
First pick up the brown vinyl onto transfer tape, then align it over the whiteboard vinyl.

Lift up both layers on the transfer tape and apply them to the pail or other surface. Burnish it well and carefully peel off the transfer tape leaving the vinyl layers behind.

The same technique could be applied to other designs. Here is a bunny label made in a similar way with Silhouette Translucent Vinyl instead of the glossy vinyl.