Guide
Sticker sheets and cut lines
A sticker sheet is printed, then a cutter cuts round each design. Tick "Sticker sheet with cut lines" in the builder and we draw that cut line for you, a set distance outside each design.
Where the cut line goes
The line follows the outside edge of the printed part of each design. Holes inside a design, such as the middle of a ring, are not cut, so each sticker comes off in one piece.
A design whose parts sit further apart than twice the margin is cut as one sticker, with the line round the outside of all its parts. A design with no see-through edge, such as a square photo, gets a rectangle with rounded corners.
The margin
The margin is the gap between the printed edge and the cut line. You can set 0 to 5 mm, and we start at 1.5 mm. A cutter can sit slightly off the print, so a margin stops a small shift from cutting into the artwork. Ask your printer which margin they want.
Spacing on a sticker sheet
With cut lines on, we keep designs at least twice the margin plus 1 mm apart, and at least the margin plus 1 mm from the film edge, rounded up to whole millimetres. Two cut lines then never touch, and every cut line stays on the film.
With a 1.5 mm margin, designs are at least 4 mm apart and 3 mm from the edge, so our usual 5 mm spacing stays as it is. A margin above 2 mm raises the spacing, which can make the sheet longer and the price higher.
Which file to send
- PDF: the cut lines are inside the PDF, on top of the artwork, in a spot colour named CutContour. Ask your printer whether their cutting software reads that name.
- PNG: the PNG is the same as without cut lines, and you also get an SVG file of the cut lines at the same size in millimetres. Send both.
We add only the cut lines: no bleed and no registration marks. Ask your printer if they need either. Before a large order, send one small sheet first, so you see how the cut lines come out on their cutter.