Craft Vinyl for Cutting Machines Questions

I can give you some basics here.

There are two kinds of vinyl you would want to use for glass blocks, or crafts in general. I will talk about the Oracal brand, since that is the most common.

Oracal 631 is a matte finish vinyl. It is considered removable (but not re-positionable). It is the kind that you would use as "wall words" because you can apply it to most walls and remove it down the road without damaging the walls. It works great on glass blocks and a variety of surfaces. I have used it on car windows too for sports type decals. It stayed on quite well in that environment for over 2 years, but I was still able to remove it without leaving a glue residue behind.

I think it is the easiest vinyl to work with because it isn't quite as sticky as Oracal 651...

Oracal 651 has a glossy finish and is considered "permanent". You can remove it from surfaces, but it will likely leave a residue behind and damage walls if you applied it to them. It would also work fine for your glass blocks. It has a stickier glue, so it can be just a bit trickier to work with - but not bad.

For both of these types of vinyl - you do the "kiss cut" - you only cut through the very top layer of vinyl (the colored part). You do not cut through the backing paper the vinyl comes on.

You will need transfer tape for both of these. After you cut out your design and "weed" it (remove the excess vinyl that is not part of your finished design) you place transfer tape over it and the vinyl adheres to the transfer tape and you pull it off the backing paper. Then you take the transfer tape/vinyl design and place it onto the surface you want it on and rub it - then you pull up the transfer tape - leaving behind the vinyl design on the surface. I DO NOT recommend using contact paper as your transfer tape - but the real stuff! Medium Tack clear transfer tape is the easiest to work with.

Heat Transfer vinyl (HTV) - that is the kind you would iron onto shirts and fabric in general. There are many brands and types. With HTV, you cut it entirely different. You "mirror image" your designs and cut it on the backside of the vinyl. You do not need transfer tape with it - the carrier sheet it comes on is the transfer material.

I buy my vinyl and my tranfer tape from Expressions Vinyl online. Their prices are good (sign up for coupons) and their customer service is TOPS! There are other retailers online also.

I don't recommend buying Cricut or Silhouette vinyl. It is usually VERY overpriced and not good quality. It often does not cut well.

There are some great facebook boards - Silhouette for Beginners is a good place to start. There are also some Cricut Explore boards if that is the machine you have.

Silhouette School Blog is also a good resource for newbs with Silhouette cutters.

Watch a YouTube video and then just cut a simple shape. All will be made clear with that one trial project.

I find vinyl to be the easiest material to cut in my Silhouette. It cuts clean and perfectly every time. And I still get a little thrill at how great it looks!

I buy my vinyl from Craft E vinyl or Vinyl Oasis on Amazon. I also bought a big lot of 12? 15? Colors of 12 x 24" vinyl. All work great without any problems. I fought some Silhouette brand removable vinyl and hated it. It didn't stick to the release sheet long enough to cut the design and bits of it lifted off as it was cutting. It completely ruined the design. I tossed that roll and won't buy Silhouette removable vinyl any more. But I haven't had a problem with the Oracal brand.