Crack n Peel
making my own stickers*
Stickers have always been a way for me to express myself. As a small child I would put them on everything, a way to mark what was mine or that I had been there.
“Shepard Fairy said: Repetition works, and stickers are a perfect medium to demonstrate this principle.”
Step one: Idea
Come up with an idea. This step is easier said then done. To combat this I often look at work I have done with the lens of “could this make a cool sticker”. I then rework it into a sticker.
Step two: Production
For this project I reworked a print I made last year. When I was printing this poster I started with a pencil and paper to get the general layout. Due to the nature of printing I looked through the physical wood type available in the Letterpress Depot’s collection and landed on this small font. I tested out several “handles” a question mark, a number 2, and a number 7.
Ink & Paper to Digital
Next I scanned the finished print and opened the file into Adobe Photoshop. I color selected the background color, in this case black and masked it. I applied the layer mask and inverted the color to get black. I exported the image as a png and opened it in Adobe Illustrator. I next used the Live Trace tool. This transforms the raster image into a vector image.
Step three: Play with layout/Upload to vendor
After getting the texture I wanted I made several copies of the vector. Next I change the color values to CMY, I already had the K. Taking advantage of a sticker vendors deal I uploaded my file. The vendor added a die cut line for me to approve (saved me the hassle).
