Introduction: How to Make a Product Label With Silhouette

By Baltimore Hackerspace
About: An educational nonprofit in west Baltimore, we run a shop where you can borrow tools, learn to use them, and collaborate with other nerds IRL. Find us on facebook or twitter and peruse our member projects!

First many thanks to Silhouette and Instructables for supporting local hackerspaces. In this tutorial I'll demonstrate just how easy it is to create a product label to make your product stand out. We started off using the Silhouette Portrait for this project but also got great results using the Cameo.

Materials Used:


Step 1: Design Your Label

Option 1: Import Method -This step seems self explanatory. However, there are a few things you should know. When you create a graphic and import it into Silhouette Studio you will likely lose quality and therefore when you print the image from Silhouette Studio the image could be less than ideal. The benefit to this option is that you can use free software such as GIMP or InkScape.

Option 2: Silhouette Connect Plugin - The preferred method to ensure no quality issues is to print directly from your graphic editor. There is a plugin from Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW called Silhouette Connect. This plugin is easy to use and allows you to print your artwork with the registration marks needed to get precision cuts.

Step 2: Importing

I have used the Silhouette Plugin and I prefer using Adobe Illustrator for my designs. However, it's expensive so I'll be explaining to you the not as expensive method of importing an image made from InkScape.

Importing to your Library:

  1. Save your Design as a JPG from your Graphic ediotr
  2. In Silhouette Studio click on File -> Import -> Import to Library
  3. Select the label you saved and click OK

Dragging from Library to Work Area:

  1. Select the Show Library and Drawing Area icon at the bottom of the left tool bar. (See Image)
  2. Resize the split panes so that you can see both your work area and your library images. (See Image)
  3. Drag and Drop your image from the Library into your work area.
  4. Copy and Paste as many instances as you desire. Evenly spacing them will make adding cut lines easier later

Step 3: Add Cut Lines

For a simple rectangular label such as the one used on the TrueRNG product adding cut lines will be as simple as drawing a box. One thing to note is that you need to make your cut lines a little smaller than your image to allow for misalignment issues.

Step 4: Print With Registration Marks

Print your layout and be sure to use Registration Marks. Print on the highest quality so that you get nice dark black registration marks.

Step 5: Prepare to Cut

  1. Load the Printed sticker paper onto a carrier sheet aligning the corner of the paper with the appropriate marks ons the registration sheet.
  2. Press the Load cut mat button on the Silhouette device. The cutter will attempt to auto align to the printed registration marks.

Step 6: Press Cut

  1. Press Cut
  2. Watch the Magic Happen