Cutting Datex with the Cricut maker!
Want to make various applications yourself without a laser cutter? That's possible from now on!!
You probably already know that you need to cut latex with a rotary cutter. You can also do it with scissors, but that never really looks good because your scissors have 2 blades where the latex can get in between and you have to move the scissors every time. That is not the case with a rotary cutter, with which you can cut long pieces nicely in one movement. The same goes for datex. The end result is best with a rotary cutter. You can of course also use a laser cutter. Then it gets really nice and tight. But the disadvantage of cutting with a laser cutter is that you have to clean a lot after cutting because the latex is quite dirty after cutting. And not everyone has the budget to purchase a laser cutter.
But there is super good news!
Datex can also be cut with a cutting plotter such as a Cricut maker! The Cricut maker comes with a mini rotary blade... perfect for datex! We tested it and were pleasantly surprised... how cool and what a lot of creative possibilities that creates! Latex is difficult to cut with a cutting plotter, but datex is not because the back is textile. But it only works if the cutter is equipped with a rotary cutter. So it doesn't work with a cutting blade like a stanley knife! The result is really nice clean shapes that you could not possibly cut and cut by hand so tightly yourself. A cutting plotter is of course many times cheaper than a laser cutter. And .... you don't have to clean anything after cutting, great, right?
What do you need?
- A cutting plotter (we used the Cricut maker with rotary cutter)
- A mat of the plotter for textiles
- Tip! There is also an extra long mat for sale for this cutter...so you can work on long pieces!
- Datex
- Glue spray (which sticks temporarily)
- Pressure roller
Settings:
We did several tests and the setting below worked best for us. If you have another machine, we recommend that you do a few tests yourself. Our settings for the Cricut maker with rotary cutter:
- Material: Spandex
- Pressure: More
- Blade: rotary cutter
Method:
- Make sure the mat is free of leftovers from other projects
- With the glue spray you spray a thin layer of glue on the datex at a distance of about 30 cm
- Then put the datex on the mat
- Do not pull, do not put down under tension
- Roll the datex gently with a roller
- Let it dry for 1-2 minutes
- Place the mat in the plotter
- Choose material 'spandex', press 'more', knife: 'roller knife'
- And cut it!
- With us the datex was only still attached on a few small points, not really worth mentioning. It may be different with you, so cut a few tests first.
And then...?
- If you want to stick datex ON latex, work the back of the datex (which is natural textile), first with a thin layer of liquid latex/zipper glue; that way it gets a latex surface and you can stick it to latex with latex glue. Let it dry first of course!
- If you want to stick datex UNDER/BACK transparent latex, stick it as you would with latex (so thinner, drying, latex glue, drying, sticking, rolling).
- You can also stick datex BETWEEN 2 layers of transparent latex (or the top layer is transparent and the bottom layer is non-transparent latex).
Sky's the limit!
Tip!
Liquid latex/zipper glue dries slightly yellow/amber. You can mix the former with some regular standard acrylic paint (available at all craft stores) in the color of the datex/latex. Make a test first because liquid latex is lighter in color than when it is dry (see also our page with tips and facts).
Click here to watch the video of our datex and Cricut Maker tests!
