Everything you need for sticker making.

Every product marked with an * is linked to an affiliate link, so you can go directly to it on Amazon.

The questions often come which printer I use, which plotter and why and which material is used for making stickers.

Especially those who want to start their own sticker shop are looking everywhere for an answer. I was no exception. I spent nights and nights researching.

So I found all the blogs, Instagram and TikTok accounts that deal with the topic of sticker production and sales and then watched on YouTube how to go about it all.

If you don't have a problem with English, I can highly recommend the girls from Stickerguru . I learned a lot from them. I was particularly able to pick up a few tips on how to get a clean foiling on the stickers. Their Big Plans Academy courses are expensive; I only bought the"Flawless Foiling" course and that was worth every cent. As I said, I put the rest together myself and learned a lot through trial and error. If I had invested the money directly in all of their courses, I might have gotten away with it cheaper. But sometimes you just like to be self-destructive.

Having run three small businesses of my own, including a Dawanda shop that even moved when Etsy was first launched, I know very well that money is tight at the beginning of self-employment.

Attention, there is some nostalgia coming

Man, those were simple times back then. You put something up and sold it without any SEO knowledge. Back then, selling on the platform was really fun. Today it's a struggle, but every success = sale ensures that it remains fun.

Now here comes the equipment list:

Every product marked with an * is linked to an affiliate link, so you can go directly to it on Amazon.

printer for sticker production

So I started with the Canon PIXMA TS6351a color inkjet printer *, it was relatively cheap, had very good Amazon reviews and was recommended by several sticker shops. The print quality is also very good. However, the consumption is high when printing a lot. Especially with the many, many failures that I caused and until I found the right setting for the sticker paper.

Because each paper's surface is coated differently, it absorbs ink differently. This is why ink can "bleed" (which creates blurry edges) or simply not stick/dry to glossy paper and smudge days later. The latter is a problem between certain paper surfaces, for example the combination of glossy and pigment-based ink.

Big BUT! - You can't tar all glossy papers with the same brush. Every manufacturer has its own "recipe" for the coating. For example, on glossy photo paper, nothing smears with the setting (generally speaking:) "photo paper". On glossy sticker paper, I personally didn't like the color reproduction with the photo paper setting. In the other setting, however, the colors were very nice, but the black smeared.

In the end I switched to the drama-free matte paper ;). More on the sticker paper topic below.

The start with the current main printer , the Epson Eco Tank ET-8500, was extremely bumpy and I once again produced a lot of good sticker paper that went to waste. And yet, after a year, the tanks are still more than 3/4 full.

The Epson likes things to be specific. I've explained how you can unlock additional settings in the print options in this short clip.

A small overview of the consumption of the two printers:

In one year of sticker printing, the Canon produced 889 high-quality color pages.

During this time I spent over €130 on ink. A pack of original Canon PGI-580 CLI-581 * costs around €45, and prices vary constantly. Amazon in particular often has offers. When buying, always pay close attention to the item description, as original inks get lost among all the alternative brands. I always prefer the original; if something leaks and damages the printer, you lose the guarantee if you use ink from alternative brands.

The Epson has printed 569 pages so far, also in the highest quality.

The 6 Epson ink bottles cost around €78 all together, and I still use the ones that came with the printer when I bought it.

In a year the tanks are still more than 3/4 full.

Refill packs Epson C13T03R640 ink * with the four most important colours CMYK cost about 40 €

The complete set with grey and pigment black for a brilliant result, especially for photo prints, costs around €85.

The great thing about both printers is that you can buy the individual colors when they are empty and the printers do not stop working just because one color in the combination cartridge is empty.

A toner printer is essential for transferring the foils. The foil has to fuse with the toner, which doesn't work with the ink from an inkjet printer. We are very happy with the HP Neververstop MFP 1201n * it has low consumption and has worked very reliably for two years.

Important: A stable Wi-Fi connection. It is a bit sensitive if the signal is too weak. Either it doesn't carry out the process at all or, what is worse, it stops in the middle and spits out the paper. This waste of paper is very annoying.

You are on the safest side if the printer is operated with a cable. However, this must not be longer than 3 meters. Unfortunately, I discovered this myself when I wanted to operate it with a 5 meter cable. The cable is then simply too long for the printer to receive the information. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But sometimes it is not enough if you want to be productive. Under HP troubleshooting online, it says that the cable must not be longer than 3 meters. So I moved the printer closer to the computer and reconnected it with the much shorter cable provided. Since then, everything has been running smoothly again.

paper for sticker production

Whether you use stickers with a paper/paper-like surface or made of vinyl is entirely a matter of taste. Here I have created a small overview of the different types of sticker paper.

I prefer working with paper stickers and have tried many sticker brands - everything that is available to buy in Germany and I have also tested some products from Asia and the USA out of curiosity, but this is no longer an option due to customs duties, high shipping costs and long shipping times.

The sticker paper from PPD * was a good alternative for the initial budget. Then I switched to the more expensive Evergreen Goods glossy vinyl paper *, which is shipped from England, so the shipping costs are quite high and you may have to pay additional customs duties.

The same goes for the paper I'm currently using, which is a lot more expensive to buy and of a higher quality. Online Labels is based in the USA, but they also have a branch in England. When it comes to high-quality stickers, the Americans are simply ahead.

plotter for sticker production

I have already used the Cricut Maker * in my husband's interior design company to label work clothes. The Cricut is a powerful tool that can be used to implement many great projects.

The software is designed to be particularly user-friendly and simple for beginners.

Nevertheless, since I have been used to the Adobe software interface for over 20 years (graphic design and photography), Cricut Design Space was a pain for me. I simply have to rethink things too much.

The Silhouette Studio is more similar to Illustrator & Co and I got along with it perfectly from the very first second. So I have been working with the Silhouette Portrait 3 * plotter ever since and as the volume of orders increased I switched to the successor, Silhouette Portrait 4 *.

The Silhouette Portrait 4 * (left) and Portrait 3 * (right) are always used at the same time when a larger order comes in. Otherwise, I prefer the quieter new Portrait 4. There is no difference in cutting efficiency between the two models.

hot laminator for foil sticker production

To make foil stickers, you can also use a simple hot laminator like this simple one here * from Amazon.

Because I assumed that a name is better, I treated myself to the large Mink Foil Applicator * from the first sales proceeds. ... OK, and because it's really pretty. I'm a grateful victim of beautiful designs. Both laminators work wonderfully, though. I get the best results on the highest heat setting. This may vary with different materials.

foils for foil sticker production

There are many foil manufacturers on the market, such as Minc * or DecoFoil *, so it's best to test them yourself to see what suits you best. It's important to note that the foils are made for toner transfer , also known as reactive foil .

If after peeling off the sticker sheet it looks like the one below then it was NOT a toner activating film.

There are other films that you can work with heat pens, and you can usually find them very cheaply in craft stores. In my shopping spree, I bought all the available colors (my brain stopped working at 50 cents per roll), only to find that with the very cheap films that happens up there. Other films just sprinkle the whole paper. On the one hand, that looks quite interesting and the stickers can also be used if you set a barely existent sticker border. BUT I wouldn't recommend that , because plotters, as much as they like, often miss the mark by half a millimeter, so a larger offset border is preferable so that nothing of the motif is cut off.