CD player decals for the vision impaired

My mum has macular degeneration, and so she reads books on a CD player. The buttons on the edge are black on black. Hard to read, even for a sighted person.  Product designers should ask themselves if their buttons can be read by a person over the age of 43, when close-up vision becomes more of a challenge.

So, I dug out some black adhesive vinyl and made some decals for the functions. Their positions on the top surface corresponds to the location of the button on the edge.

As usual I used my Cricut expressions machine with Sure Cuts A Lot. [But you can't get that combination any more, if you were to start out now you'd have to get a different cutter if you wanted to use SCAL.]

I will create a pay-it-forward listing on my etsy shop for the decals at cost if you want to do the same for your vision-impaired loved one. 

Hockey Game Crowd Sign

My husband and son found themselves on the Jumbotron at a recent hockey game. After that, the plan was to see if they could have a "camera-catching" sign when the Edmonton Oilers came to town. So this was the happy result! Go Flames! The presence of the letters "CBC" is to promote the broadcaster. They get a crowd shot AND some promotion. So fans put those letters in to make the signs more attractive.  Edmonton has the sign "City of Champions" at the edge of town, so that's why the "City of Chump-ions" reference.

I'm actually from Edmonton, and I enjoyed many seasons of cheering for the Oilers.  But family trumps hockey loyalty!  So here it is. It would have worked better if the flames were in adhesive vinyl instead of glued-on foam from the dollar store. The large amount of Vynabond glue I used caused the tarp to warp.

Cut out using a Cricut Expressions, with Sure Cuts A Lot software, which is now vintage due to the lawsuit. (If I ever get another vinyl cutter I'm going to make sure I get one where I can design and print my own designs.)

Living Pixels lamp by Yanko Designs

These lamps are made from recycled banners. The coloured part of the banner is on the inside and only shows when the lamp is turned on. I'm going to have to give this technique a try sometime.

It looks like the individual pieces are squares with folds at the corners. So a Sure-Cuts A Lot file could be created for the Cricut Expressions from drawing software. The drawing file would be comprised of squares with optional dashed lines for the folds. I'm not sure how the vinyl is attached to the underlying frame though.

Floral Necklace Prototype

Here's the first cut of a prototype floral necklace, cut on a scrap piece of vinyl tarp. I'm trying to see how small or fine of cuts I can make. I like how this first one turned out. I plan to finish them off with a chain that goes around the back of the neck and closes there.

Here's the discussion of how I did it for those who are interested: In Illustrator I started with a basic oval shape, and an inner shape to make a compound path. (Two ovals; Object, Compound path, Make). To make ovals with veins I overlapped ovals and used the divide tool, erasing extraneous parts. Then the parts were recombined piece by piece to make a petal with veins. Then I copied and rotated the ovals 72 degrees each time until I had 5 petals. I used the combine tool to finish the flower. I used blends (specified steps) to generate different sizes and copied enough shapes to fill in the design area of the necklace. Once the shapes were placed right they were combined. The too-tiny-to-cut shapes were deleted using the Direct Selection tool. Finally, I highlighted the whole shooting match and uncompounded the path to make the different cutting layers.

In Sure Cuts a lot I have a layer of inner cuts and an outer cut layer. The inner cuts get cut first so the work does not slide around on the Cricut Expressions cutting board.

Expandable mesh in billboard vinyl

I have been designing different mesh patterns for my soap totes. I decided to create an expandable mesh using cuts designed in Adobe Illustrator, then cut with Sure Cuts a Lot and the Cricut Expressions machine. its a real simple cut pattern as you can see, and it produces diamond-shaped holes.

I am enthusiastic about the possibilities, from garden fencing to bags, to oversized-soap-bar totes. I wrapped the sample around an applesauce jar jusst to see what would happen. A bunch of this mesh would be good for packing or storing glassware, and it itself does not take up much space when not in use, and is reusable. Better than wrapping stuff in newspaper, IMHO.

Jar with vinyl sleeve

I converted a plain cylindrical jar to a Mid Century Modern vase. I created a drawing of simple, overlapping rings in Illustrator then cut them with my Cricut via Sure Cuts A Lot. This jar was a simple cylinder but I am going to try this technique on my Method soap jar next.

I can't wait to try this mesh design out on some other things! Stay tuned and please comment!

Using Cricut for my billboard vinyl wallets

I put my paper wallet pattern pieces into Illustrator then printed them onto the Cricut.

The biggest challenge was getting the vinyl stuck to the mat so it was true.

I am delighted with the results. Not much leftover vinyl to go into the landfill. I had always found it a challenge to cut out the driver's licence windows so they looked tidy enough. Now they are cut with precision.

Below is a small video with very annoying Cricut machine sound.