@louise4745
I’ve got a Maker, but the basic principle is the same.
You don’t have to use the Smart Vinyl for the Joy. You can use any vinyl you like and cut it to size. You certainly don’t have to pay £7 a sheet. Have a look at Oracle 651, which is a good permanent vinyl and much cheaper than Cricut’s own brand. You will need to buy the mat for the Joy, however, as normal vinyl can’t be used without one. Don’t buy Hobbycraft’s own brand of vinyl as it’s pretty poor.
I love Cricut standard grip transfer tape (I only use the strong grip for glitter vinyl), but you have loads of other options available to you if you don’t want to use it. I also use masking tape which is brilliant. Tesco book cover is something a lot of people use (was recently on sale for 50p for a metre and I’ve bought a load, but as the transfer tape is re usable, I haven’t needed to try any yet so can’t give you an informed opinion).
Again, the monthly fee (£7. something) is optional. You get a 30 day free trial when you set your machine up so you can decide during that time whether it’s worth it for you to subscribe. There are lots of sites (Da Font, for example) where you can download free fonts or SVGs, get them onto Design Space (which is also free to download) and cut them from there. I’d download Design Space now (you can do it before getting a machine) and have a play about with it.
There is definitely a market for these products, but everyone and their family appear to have bought a Cricut over the summer, so you need to come up with something a bit different to stand out amongst the crowd.
Social Media Cricut sites can be very helpful but they are currently full of people who have ‘set up’ businesses, having had a machine for twenty minutes, having no idea how to use it, no imagination and who put up posts saying that they’ve had an order to design 30 Disney themed t shirts, so everyone needs to drop what they’re doing, show them their ideas and tell them how to make them. They have no insurance, no concept of copyright and are thoroughly annoying. One recently wrote a huge post complaining that nobody had told her that she could layer over glitter vinyl so she’d wasted loads. Zero understanding that it was down to her to research this stuff! Everyone is currently making Santa plates (again, no understanding that they won’t be covered by insurance because vinyl isn’t food safe) and glitter baubles. Last month it was hand sanitiser bottles. If you have a good idea, do not put it on any of the Cricut sites because everyone will copy you! (Can you tell how much they irritate me?!)
Other things to be aware of are Angel policies and Commercial licences. If you buy something from a shop with the intention of personalising and selling on, not every shop allows you to do this. You can’t buy a dozen t shirts from Asda, personalise them and sell them on, for instance. Some shops do allow it, but have a limit you need to stick to. If you download a font with the intention of selling it, you’ll need to make sure you buy the commercial licence as well. If someone on an SVG site says you can buy the licence for a Disney design for an extra £5, ignore them because they are lying. These large companies pay people to go searching for copyright infringements and even small crafters have been caught out. Also, if you’re planning on personalising baby clothes & children’s nightwear, there are various safety tests you need to have done. They differ from area to area, so your local Trading Standards office will be able to help you.
Best piece of advice I can give is to devour every You Tube tutorials you can find. Jennifer Maker does lots of good ones. If you have any questions, just shout 🙂