Introduction: Spider-Man Vinyl Tray Cover

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About: Makeademic

I love decorating our home with beautiful metallic accents, but I especially love when we can sneak in some of our nerdy interests! This is a tutorial on how to use vinyl to personalize your dinner tray with your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man (complete with glowing eyes!)

Step 1: Gather Supplies

For this project, you will need,

  • Tray
  • Ruler
  • Scissors
  • Bone folder
  • Vinyl
  • Silhouette Cameo
  • Computer with Illustrator

Step 2: Design in Adobe Illustrator

  1. Make your artboards the size of your vinyl.
  2. Make your design in Illustrator as paths with no fill, no stroke.
  3. Ungroup everything and release all compound paths.

Step 3: Export DXF to Silhouette Studio

  1. Select File>Export
  2. Select Autocad Interchange file (.dxf)
  3. Open Silhouette Studio
  4. Open your DXF file and it should appear as gray lines as the right size

Step 4: Adjust Silhouette for Cut Settings

  1. Adjust cut settings for adhesive-backed vinyl.
  2. Make sure Cutting Mat checkbox is selected
  3. Readings will likely be: Speed 8, Thickness 9, Blade 1
  4. Select the Cut Page button

Step 5: Prepare Vinyl on Cutting Board and Cut

  1. Line up your vinyl to your cutting mat.
  2. Load the mat on the machine by aligning the mat with the white rollers, selecting ‘Load Cutting Mat' from the machine, and pressing the ‘ENTER' button.
  3. This process is slow, especially on such a big design, so be patient. Make sure your machine is on a flat surface without any obstructions nearby as the mat is fed to the front and back of the machine.

Step 6: Weed Design (Remove Excess Vinyl)

  1. Gently remove the excess vinyl that is not part of your design.

Step 7: Place Design on Transfer Paper and Remove Backing

  1. Carefully transfer the vinyl design to transfer paper and remove the original backing from the vinyl.

Step 8: Transfer Design and Peel Away Transfer Paper

  1. Transfer the design to your tray surface and burnish the design with a bone folder.
  2. Gently peel away the transfer paper, leaving your design on the surface.

Step 9: Final Touches

  1. Align the extra designs.
    • I wanted this minimalist design to have just the spider web, spider emblem, mask, and glowing eyes.
    • I found blue glow-in-the-dark vinyl from a car supply store online.
  2. Place a protective layer of 20 gauge clear vinyl to protect your design from crumbs, spills, etc.
  3. Bask in the glow of your nerdiness.