Reverse Weeding Adhesive Vinyl

School is right around the corner and one of the best parts of beginning a new year is labeling all the fun supplies with my cutting machine.  For super small areas, like pens or pencils, I have found that the easiest way to work with the tiny cuts of adhesive vinyl is a technique called reverse weeding.   Today I’m going to walk you through the simple process of how to reverse weed adhesive vinyl.  I’ve even made a short video for y’all because I think it is a lot easier to see in action than explain.  So, thanks to the reverse weeding technique, no school supplies will be left behind!

Let’s Get Started

First up gather some pens and pencils to label.  For today’s project I used some bright neon pencils and this free SVG of fun grammar phrases pictured below.  I just split up the phrases and shrunk them down to the size I needed in my program.

Next up I cut the design for the pencils on Black Adhesive Vinyl using my Silhouette.  The settings that my machine cut the best with that small of a cut were Blade 3, Speed 5, Force 5.

This is where things get fun.  Flip flop the normal steps of weeding an adhesive vinyl design.  Instead of pulling off the vinyl you don’t want first, apply the transfer tape DIRECTLY to the unweeded (is that a word?) vinyl.  Then, as you peel up the transfer tape the tiny letters will stick and will be weeded for you.

Using a weeding tool, pull out the tiny insides of any of the letters that came with it onto the transfer tape.

And I have recently updated my Amazon shop with all the best supplies and tools to use with your machines.  Check out all my favorites here.

Next, line it up on your pen or pencil, smooth down, and then remove the transfer tape.  The design will be left on the pencil.

Want to see this process in action?  Check out the video below:

Worried about the vinyl peeling off?  Add a layer of clear nail polish over the top to seal it.

Now, using the reverse weeding method, your can label all the things… no matter how small the cut is!  Learn something new or have you tried this method?  Tell us about it below or head over to our FB community and show it off!  We can’t wait to connect.

Also, make sure to share with a friend, because nothing makes a good friend even closer than sharing your awesome crafting tips!

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