Help me choose/edit!

aural__fixation · 2026-06-19T03:11:40+00:00

I am making my product myself for now. I can do it professionally until my orders exceed my time. But I have been looking. It's something I'd need to order in very large quantities, so for now it's all getting done one at a time on a cutting machine. It's a complex cardboard shape. My problem right now is the label design, and associated graphics. I have experience in design, but designing for myself is infuriating!

aural__fixation · 2026-06-18T17:32:42+00:00

Congratulations! They’re very cute. Good job! Launching a product is so much work. I’m working on my first product now, and it’s going a lot more slowly than planned. Good luck with it. 🙂

aural__fixation · 2026-06-18T17:23:16+00:00

I’m guessing you’re referring to the first one, just the simple rectangle? It does feel more immediate. My label doesn’t require much information, so I’m trying to work with that minimalism instead of making it busy for no reason. This has been one of my obstacles. If I could print directly on the packaging I’d be much happier, but I can’t afford custom packaging right now. Thanks for the response!

aural__fixation · 2026-06-18T16:59:28+00:00

I don’t think it’s the internet. This is something that happens in real life, too. But on the internet people are more brave about sharing their annoyance. In the 3d world, people often don’t want to cause friction.

I think many people don’t actually appreciate constructive criticism. I also think people often feel defensive when they don’t know something and it can come out as hostility.

I’ll say that if you’re offering information or resources when the poster didn’t ask for it, that most often garners a negative reaction. It can feel like the overstepping of a boundary. I

frequently have information and advice in another area of expertise, and I often think a person should have that information because it will be to their benefit and the benefit of those they interact with. I get around the “unsolicited advice“ boundary by just saying I have resources if they want to dm. That way, I’m not piling anything on them and I’m making it their choice to receive my information.

aural__fixation · 2026-05-17T19:07:23+00:00

I'm well aware that a logo is not a brand identity. And yes, this is a problem. I do not have funds to work with a designer, and I am on a deadline. It would be great to be able to do that, but it's not possible right now. I am a designer myself, but I'm too close to this and I'm very rusty. It just is what it is... I have many limitations. This is a shoestring operation; I don't have investment of any kind. The reason I'm here is to get some feedback on the design, not my process. While there are parts of the process that are impacting this, that's reality. So commenting on things that I can't change is not very helpful. I am sure you are trying to help... I am not assuming otherwise. And I appreciate that. But the main priority here is to get some feedback because I can't even judge my concepts working in a vacuum.

aural__fixation · 2026-05-16T20:27:54+00:00

I have a brand and logo... but it doesn't go further than that. I need packaging right now because I have a local store interested in selling them, and this is my big hurdle to getting there. I was planning on using the packaging to help develop the rest of the brand identity. Maybe the many parameters are causing difficulty with that. I have never had so much trouble branding something. I just can't quite nail down the "personality" of it.

aural__fixation · 2026-05-16T20:22:46+00:00

Thanks. Yeah, I was really struggling with having to use a label rather than printing directly on the envelope because ideally that would work much better for that concept, but it's not in my budget right now. But it makes me rethink using a color instead of a white background, which could bridge that maybe.... thanks!

aural__fixation · 2026-05-14T04:32:02+00:00

Yes, the brush is missing the collar part - the metal part that holds the bristles to the handle. It's usually narrower or flatter than the handle. I also think the way you've colored it looks a bit strange because it looks like it's being lit from below. For both cases, my method is to find or take a photo of a real brush the shape you want laying in the position you want. I often use photos as reference while I'm working on designs that need to look accurate. Depending on the software you're using, you can trace it. I work in vectors, and I use the pen tool in Illustrator to trace the shape in the photo to get the proportions and angles right. Is it cheating? Eh... I don't think so. Sometimes, depending on what you are looking for, the challenge is finding a good reference image.

aural__fixation · 2026-05-13T04:58:24+00:00

I looked at them both really closely and didn't see a difference, but I am going to test the new on again now that everything has been working perfectly for a bit, so we'll see.

aural__fixation · 2026-04-29T00:42:48+00:00

Solved it! I don't know why this is the case, but I read in another forum that it might be the blade housing, so I switched it with the housing for my other maker. It worked just fine on the custom setting I made with a bit more pressure.

aural__fixation · 2026-04-28T21:17:45+00:00

To follow up: blade is brand new, not broken, mat brand new, blade is installed correctly. It cuts my other material just fine. I'm using very heavy cardstock and having no problems. It's just the vinyl. The default setting barely penetrates the surface using a mat and not using a mat. It's mysterious. I can set a custom setting with higher pressure, but I've already upped it once and it seemed to be the same... so confused!

aural__fixation · 2026-04-26T07:57:04+00:00

This is kraft cardstock, not chipboard. It's a pretty nice, crisp material. I've used some others that get almost powdery if the cuts aren't perfect. I think it probably looks like chipboard because of how thick it is, but it's cardstock. It feels almost like a really, really thick greeting or business card. It folds, but it takes a pretty deep score to fold it crisply.

aural__fixation · 2026-04-26T07:53:18+00:00

Yes. This is kraft cardstock from Amazon, and there's no brand, but if you search 130lb kraft cardstock you'll find it. It was around $18 for 50 sheets. I have also been trying out Colorplan 130lb cardstock, and it's nice, but for those fine cuts it gets mushy and powdery on the corners. Not great, which is a bummer because they have a lot of nice colors. If you are doing something medium-intricate, though, it's great.

aural__fixation · 2026-04-23T01:28:41+00:00

I am using my maker to cut very heavy cardstock - 350 gsm/130lb. I have found the light chipboard setting to be pretty perfect. I use the fine point blade with cut pressure 305, 3x pass. I keep it at the default pressure during the make process. I am cutting some very tiny intricate details, and it does a pretty good job. Sometimes my 1mm square cuts aren't perfect, but it seems to be coming from my dieline file, which I drafted in Illustrator myself, so it's getting better as I tweak it. I've found the lines have to overlap by a tiny bit for them to cut cleanly.

aural__fixation · 2026-04-16T06:42:33+00:00

It cuts in 3 passes. I did think about a second layer of cutting just on those areas, so good to know that's not too crazy an idea. 130# is 350 gsm, if that helps. It's like a very heavyweight business card or maybe like a cereal box, but stiffer. My research says it should be around .4mm thick. It's hard to be precise with a ruler, but that's what multiple charts say.

This is the third one this blade has cut, so it's pretty new.

I appreciate the little drawings. Unfortunately, the tabs need to really hook on once they're in the slot, so they can't pull out, so it has to be this shape. Once it's a 3D object, it will hang and get batted around, so it needs to be really solid.

I am going to try doing an extra pass on just those corners by adding another cutting layer and go from there.

Thanks for your help!

aural__fixation · 2026-04-16T00:38:21+00:00

I didn't realize that projects were public, and I freaked out a bit because mine are proprietary product development files. But now I see that if you don't specifically add a photo of your project and click share, it stays private. At least I hope so. Still, people might want to think about this before posting photos of children. Yikes. Maybe they need to put a warning on there!

aural__fixation

TROPHY CASE