I’m old and am sure most of you already know all this, but this is a first for me! Special thanks to those who gave me info!
So I finally got brave, spent $175 buying lots of colors of Siser EasyWeed HTV at Walmart (they had a great sale!) and tried my hand at making some Christmas ornaments. I tried three different methods. The first two attempts I had the wood already cut:
Cut the Siser and weeded it; placed it on the cut wood and ironed it on. It slipped just enough I don’t like it.
Cut the Siser, placed it on the already cut wood design, lining it up as best I could, ironed it on, then pushed out the areas to be weeded. Definitely easier than try #1 and it didn’t slip, but still a pain trying to match it up without it slipping.
Removed the masking on one side of the wood (I was using PG light ply), ironed the Siser on the wood, cut the whole thing using the wood’s PG settings, punched out the pieces that didn’t just fall out, GENTLY pulled off the clear HTV cover , and it worked beautifully! The clear cover protected the HTV from smoke, the masking on the back of the PG kept the back clean, and there was no trying to get it to fit properly.
The two on the left are 3rd try.)
So, now I know how I will be doing Siser from now on. When using wood, just iron it on and then cut out the design all at once. I don’t even need to remember to flip the design, which I had to do for the first two tries.
LOL - I just did a very similar testing run with putting cork on the back of a coaster - and I did all the same tests you did, and came to the same conclusion Nice to know it works for multiple things!
Left to Right: Slippy, Ok but WAY Too Hard, and Glue it to the Wood First
@evansd2, I don’t think Siser would risk their reputation to have a product labeled laser safe uf the whole thing wasn’t. The directions state to cut/laser, weed, ironing it on, and then pull the clear off. All I know is my GF is still wirking beautifully, the Siser cut very well, and I’m still alive.
@deirdrebeth - I don’t think I would have thought of doing the same with cork! I’ll have to try that too! I do have a roll of cork!
That would be nice. Maybe it’s something they haven’t considered? You could always call them (they actually answer!) and ask if they have something that can be cut with a diode. Surely with all the lasers (how many more are going to be developed?!) they would want as much variety as possible.
While the process probably would have been my first choice (out of sheer laziness), it didn’t ever cross my mind to put HTV on wood. This has kind of blown my mind.
It’s because I’m lazy that I decided to try it on wood. I didn’t want to paint, and if I wanted it glittery without all the glitter mess, this seemed the way to go. So glad it works!
I have lots of Cricut vinyl - iron on, permanent and repositionable. If I attached it to the wood and masked it, would it be safe to cut? I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize the machine or myself. Thank you in advance.
The product must be laser safe. Attaching it to wood and masking will not change anything regarding its composition. If you are uncertain about whether or not it has vinyl in it, don’t put it in the laser. It will destroy the laser and the fumes are toxic.
The laser safe non glitter colors are already diode compatible. Is there a particular reason you thought they wouldn’t be? Most Siser/HTV is basically the same stuff as GF Eco Iron On, polyurethane.
Nice to know it works for multiple things!
This has kind of blown my mind.