Silver Bullet Cutters Forum

I read somewhere that when cutting vinyl you should mirror your text. Is this true for printable vinyl? I will be using Print and Cut for my text.

No, you don't mirror for all vinyl. For example, you don't mirror if you are cutting on wall vinyl because you are cutting it from the "top". Mainly, you just mirror in a vinyl that has a backing and you are cutting from the "back side" like HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl). So you would not mirror a vinyl that you first print on because you would be cutting from the top or where you have printed from.

Thanks. Now ready to attempt my first vinyl project.

Thanks Melanie.

@Granannie
And want to be sure you realize that you don't have to use print and cut to cut text - if the font is patterned then of course. I just don't want you to go through more than you have to!

Gigi. Thanks for thinking about that. I was printing using a pattern so did indeed need print and cut. And, the print and cut webinar was great in helping me get my machine calibrated with ease and I'm pleased to say the vinyl cut beautifully. I did have some user error i.e. using a special font (press) that was full of lines, but that's part of the learning process.

Oh ok - great. Just wanted to be sure.

Yes they did a great job on the webinar. And you are right - fonts can be problematic - not all are "cutter friendly". It doesn't mean they can't be cut, but may need some cleaning up.
You might find it useful to view your fonts in the node format and see just how many nodes you have and if you can simplify them. I do that pretty consistently unless I am cutting a font I have used before. Some cut so well (thank goodness!) You can go to Path>Simplify to quickly see how many you have, and based on the threshold you have set, how many you can reduce - and you can do that repeatedly. You just don't want to do that so much that you lose the integrity of the shape.

So glad you had success. And user error is ok - we have all been there . But that's one of the best ways to learn - at least for me. When I make a mistake and work through it, I tend to remember that better than anything else!