Transfer stickers are the coolest. No backing, super vibrant color, totally rad designs—they beg to be seen and scream excitement. At the same time, you can create an understated and elegant design, perfect for advertising your business or side hustle on your vehicle.
Now is the time to learn how to make your own transfer stickers!
What Are Transfer Stickers?
Transfer stickers are a means of having multiple individual pieces to a sticker that need to stay together as a design or lettering. There are three layers to a transfer sticker:
- Paper protecting the sticker
- The vinyl sticker itself
- The protective backing
What Makes Transfer Stickers Different?
The main difference with transfer stickers is that they have no backing applied to the surface. Once the decal has been carefully placed on the desired surface and peeled away, only the individual vinyl pieces remain, creating a pretty awesome piece.
Equipment and Materials Needed
You will need vinyl decal transfer paper to make your stickers. You can buy it by the sheet or the roll, depending on the magnitude of your product, and it comes in about a million colors.
To make just a few transfer stickers, you can probably get by without a vinyl cutter, but if you want to do bigger projects or start a small business, you will want to invest in a high-quality vinyl cutter. The money you spend now will save you later.
5 Steps to Make Your Own Transfer Stickers
Step 1: Create your design. A unique component to designing transfer stickers is to make sure your parts are large enough. You should be able to fit a .08mm circle into the solid parts.
Step 2: Print your design. It is always good practice to do a practice print on a plain piece of paper.
Step 3: Remove the protective paper and extra vinyl.
Step 4: Adhere to the desired surface. Be patient and take care when placing the sticker. Begin with one corner and slowly move across the backing to the other side. Use a credit card or other thin, flat piece to smooth out all bubbles.
Step 5: Remove the backing and enjoy your transfer sticker.
Amazing Uses for Transfer Stickers
In addition to your traditional uses like car window stickers and advertising your business, you can also:
- Place small transfer stickers on employee phones to identify ownership and brand your company.
- Make custom mugs and cups for business or pleasure.
- Brand some corporate swag.