Crack in the Universe (+ A Giveaway!)

I’m so excited for today’s post.  It has a tutorial on how to do a very simple vinyl cut, a free cut file, some awesome geekery, and a giveaway!  Are you ready to get started?

So, first things first, if you aren’t familiar with Doctor Who, there is a long running story arc about a crack that runs through time and space.  It’s first seen on Amy’s wall in Series 5, Episode 1 “The Eleventh Hour” when Matt Smith is introduced as the 11th doctor.  It’s woven it’s way through the series all the way up until the most recent Christmas Special, The Time of the Doctor.  While people can quibble about whether or not they like Moffat as a show runner, the crack has definitely become an iconic image reminiscent of Doctor Who.  Well, it has for me at least.  So I wanted to put a crack on my wall.  If you’ve never worked with vinyl before, this would be a great first project.  Here’s how I did it.  (Psst… don’t have a silhouette?  Check out the giveaway at the end!  And stop by tomorrow when I show you how to make this same vinyl decal without the silhouette!)

Step 1: Setting up the cut file

First, I created the cut using a screen cap from the show and the trace feature.  I don’t want to go into the details of that here, as I’ll do a post on tracing in more detail later.  You can download my cut file here, and this is what the cut file looks like:

FREE CUT FILE

I needed to re-size my cut, since I only had 20″ of vinyl to use.  I have the Designer edition, so I was able to the Scale settings and re-size it to fit a 20″ length.  To keep the aspect ration, just make sure the “Lock Aspect Ratio” button is clicked.  This is nice because you can have the width change automatically for you.

For the page settings, I set it up for a piece of vinyl 24×12 with no mat.

And for the cut settings, I just used the silhouette brand pre-set cut.  I was using Oracle 631 inside vinyl and the settings worked just fine.

Step 2: Cut

To cut vinyl, the first thing you need to do is change the roller.  It’s really easy.  Just press the lever down, twist and slide the white roller, and then flip the lever back up to lock the mechanism in place.

Then align your vinyl.  I use the interior grey piece to make sure it’s straight.  If it’s even a little bit crooked, you will see the tilt as it goes down the page.  Sometimes I need to send it in several times.  I’ve found that gently holding it up next to the rollers works best for a quick alignment.

Hit “cut” in the cut settings and wait for it to cut!  This cut went pretty quickly.

Step 3: Weed (Well, sort of)

Weeding refers to removing all the extra stuff you don’t want.  In this case, we’re just going to remove the part you want.  Using your fingers (or your weeding tool if you really want), lift up the corner of the crack and pull it all off.  Make sure that it doesn’t fold over on itself, and head over to where you are applying the crack. (And make sure you know where you want to put it ahead of time!)

Step 4: Apply

Without touching the wall, align the piece how you want it.  Then press the middle part down first and follow the vinyl outwards towards each end.

That’s it!

See, I told you it was easy!  Now I have my very own crack in the wall.  I wonder if any timelords will be talking to me through it?  I choose to stick with just basic white, but you could layer it on top of some black to give it a clean break from the rest of the wall.   And it’s totally ok that I put it on top of a firefly poster, right?

The Giveaway!

Remember I wanted to do more giveaways?  Well, here’s the first official one of this year!  I’ve teamed up with all of the lovely bloggers below to be able to offer you the chance to win a silhouette Cameo!

So, get excited, meet some new bloggers, and good luck!  The giveaway runs from January 27th (that’s today!) to January 31st, so you’ve got till the end of the week to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you enjoyed this bit of geekery in your day, and good luck with the giveaway!  I’ll see you all again tomorrow with instructions on how to make this without a silhouette.  Thanks for stopping by!

Oops!  I almost forgot the craftermath.  Not only is this project simple, it’s also super clean!  Here’s the only bit of craftermath I have, and you can even cut up the vinyl to reuse it later!

 

Stay crafty friends!

Do you like nerdy home decor?  

You might also like some of these other projects that I’ve done!

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