For this project, I decided to do a symbol that has quite of significance, at least in context to my novel. It is the crest that the faction has that the protagonist is in. Its had quite a few variations, but the core design is a compass rose(or funky 8-pointed star) with bright green on one half and navy blue on the other, with a tan or brown circle withing the rose, and a smaller gold circle within that. The first version of this was made 4ish years ago, and I've made two other iterations besides the ones I'm showing here.
Using a vinyl cutter and Illustrator to make, design and cut out the decal, the item has come to be. It was hard choosing a design to do, I chose what I did due to significance. Using Illustrator, I made six art boards. After that, I made a white octagon, green 4point star, a dark blue half-4point, sky-blue 4point, copper circle, and gold/yellow circle. Separating the shapes to their corresponding artboards, the design is ready.
Going to the vinyl cutter with the design on a flash drive, I sign into the computer connected to the machine. Using the plot-printing function and loaded up vinyl material, the individual components are cut out. Since I had 6 different colors, I had to cut six different pieces. Due to a lack of colors, I had to substitute white with silver. With the six pieces, I weed excess vinyl using dental tools. Then I layer my pieces onto transfer tape to get them ready for putting the decal onto the item of choice.
Going to the vinyl cutter with the design on a flash drive, I sign into the computer connected to the machine. Using the plot-printing function and loaded up vinyl material, the individual components are cut out. Since I had 6 different colors, I had to cut six different pieces. Due to a lack of colors, I had to substitute white with silver. With the six pieces, I weed excess vinyl using dental tools. Then I layer my pieces onto transfer tape to get them ready for putting the decal onto the item of choice.
For what I learned, I need to pay attention to the scaling of the plots. The light blue 4point is a little larger than I had first intended. Also, when transferring the layers, you have to be careful in the layering. It starts with the topmost layer first, then goes down each subsequent layer till the base.