Stickers

We make most of our stickers at home.

I am personally not anal about stickers I make, buy, and use being weatherproof for 50 years laminated with the thickest industrial plastic.

I sorta LIKE when stickers will eventually fall off, disintegrate into nothingness, and die. Plus less plastic in the world.

Most homemade/handmade stickers inkjet are not going to be totally waterproof anyways. I've found with most laminates + paper combos I've tried, water eventually seeps into the sides and melts the color on the edges. You're gonna have better indestructible results with outsourcing to professional sticker printers with $10,000 machines.

1. Print sticker on sticker paper. (currenty use koala)
2. Cut stickers with plotting machine (currently use silhouette)
3. ???
4. Stick the sticker.

We personally use a Canon ip8720 (~$200 when we bought it), because it's one of the more budget-friendly options with more than 4 CMYK ink tanks (it has 6!). I've found the colors satisfactory, and the ink doesn't immediately run off if it gets wet. We've had some stickers go through the dishwasher a couple of times without dying - though I still wouldn't recommend putting DIY stickers in the wash. We buy off-brand ink, which discolors faster in the sunlight than the official ink - but everything discolors in the sun eventually.

We've previously used a Canon Pixma Pro 100 (~$500 after rebate), and loved it very much before a lightning storm fried it. It has 8 color tanks (more than the default CMYK!), and I found that it printed my bright magentas and blues very beautifully. I didn't even have to convert my digital art to CMYK, it prints from RGB pretty well! This type of printer is out of stock, but they have modern versions like the Pixma Pro 200, 300, and so forth that should have similar capabilities.

The process is simple, but selecting the materials takes a bit more work. Homemade stickers won't be completely waterproof 90% of the time unless you invest in heavy machinery.

Most any label or sticker paper will do. Label paper is meant for temporary uses (like mailing labels!) so they won't be the most durable. Sticker paper that's labeled as “vinyl” material is more durable and slightly more waterproof.

There are a couple different finishes of sticker paper:

• Matte: I consider this “standard”. It feels nice and smooth, and works best with traditonal art or light/pastel colors. It won't look the best with deep black areas though, they will always look grayer than they should
• Glossy: I don't like this texture. It feels sticky in a bad stim way. But it will absorb deep black areas better than matte paper.
• Semi-gloss: I like this better than glossy texture. We use this for art with digital colors, high saturation, or a lot of deep black areas.
• Satin/Luster: This is the holy grail for me. I found some paper from A-Sub brand years ago, but they've been sold out since. They have a nice texture that reflects the blacks well, and doesn't feel sticky like glossy paper.

We currently use Koala brand sticker paper, for their matte and semi-gloss finishes. Some people don't like Koala sticker paper because the backing says “label paper” and that ruins their branding. I don't really care.

• Some people swear by onlinelabel's weatherproof paper.
• More suggestions for sticker paper brands, mostly on Amazon: https://www.thewestcoastkraeers.com/craft-supplies/paper

We don't always use lamination for our stickers. Sometimes if we feel fancy we laminate them. Lamination helps protect the print if they're going to be touched a whole bunch, and it feels better to the touch than regular sticker paper.

• Oraguard 215 is most recommended for its durability and UV resistance: https://creativecraftvinyl.com/shop/printable-vinyl/oracal-uv-laminating-film-oraguard-215/
• Oraguard 210 is decent for its pricing: https://creativecraftvinyl.com/shop/printable-vinyl/oracal-oragaurd-210-laminate/
• You can also try any Avery or Scotch cold laminate.
• We use whatever holographic laminate that's on Amazon for shiny effects.
• I've found that hot lamination sheets that require a machine are too thick. Because of the added thickness (3mm for our glossy, 5mm for our matte), they're unable to flex around round surfaces and can't stick anymore. Your mileage may vary if you've found a brand that works.

You can start out hand-cutting your stickers, but this takes a lot of time and will hurt your wrists eventually.
Eventually you'll want to upgrade to a machine that cuts your stickers. We only have experience with the small Silhouette Portrait, and we find it satisfactory for our needs. I hear Cricut software is less user-friendly, but it's what's most common in IRL stores.

Occasionally you may NEED industrial grade stickers to put on your car or water bottle or something. Here's some printers I know of:

Don't use Stickermule cuz they'll spam your inbox with awful political propaganda, and their acrylic charms are very poor quality.

• An Idiot's guide for making good stickers