These are some photos taken during a vinyl cutting workshop that I cohosted with Julio at the UTeach Workroom.
I worked with Julio to host a vinyl cutting workshop at the UTeach Workroom (PAI 4.12) on March 5, 2023. In this workshop, we had people create their own tote bag designs using heat transfer vinyl and the Silhouette design software.
I first learned vinyl cutting during my freshman year at UT. This is what got me to first join UTeach Maker. I ended up really enjoying it, so eventually I expanded from cutting vinyl to heat transfer vinyl to create my own designs on t-shirts and tote bags. When I started interning at the Foundry, I worked with Julio to host a vinyl cutting workshop for UTeach. We first tried to host a few workshops in the semester prior, but we struggled to promote it. For the spring semester, we did a better job promoting it, and we had 4 people show up to learn how to use it. We first had everyone practice the different tools needed for vinyl cutting, and we taught them different techniques. (All of these techniques can be found in the attached flyer for this post.) We also got people familiar with using an iron for transferring designs onto fabric. For this, we just used sample designs with leftover scrap fabric. We then showed them how to use the vinyl cutter, showing them different aspects of the Silhouette design software. Then we had them cut out their designs and transfer it onto a tote bag.
For the most part, I thought that this was a success. We had a good turnout, and we also had people create really good designs. However, I wish I ended up taking more photos of people and their final product. This workshop has made me realize how accessible vinyl cutters can be, and I really want to have one for my classroom. Having students have access to a vinyl cutter can really allow them to express their creativity, especially in mathematics. This inspires me to get my own Cricut and learn about its different functions and features. This could be beneficial if I wanted to have students design different things using functions, shapes, and other mathematical concepts.
Vinyl Cutter Tips and Tricks Infographic:
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