How to Cut Stickers Using the Slice Safety Cutter

In order to make stickers easy to use, they must have a slit through the backing material, so that you can peel off the backing. Machines that cut sticker backings cost anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

The Slice® 00200 Safety Cutter, with its micro-ceramic blade and finger-friendly® blade edge, can easily make this type of cut, without damage to the sticker or cuts to your fingers. This makes it a great tool for hobbyists and smaller companies that can’t afford expensive machinery.

Knowing how to cut stickers, and having the right tool for the job, helps you reduce waste. It also eliminates the frustration of trying to remove a sticker from its backing the old-fashioned way. A crack-and-peel or slit-back sticker makes application easier.

Stickers are used in a variety of ways, both at home and in commercial applications, such as:

  • Hobbies
  • Bumper decals for vehicles
  • Advertising
  • Brand recognition
  • Promotional giveaways
  • Labels for retail boxes and bags
  • Signs
  • Vehicle registration
  • Car wrapping
  • Children’s entertainment

Sticker cutting tools are handy in any of these situations.

Many stickers are manufactured without a crack-and-peel or slit-back liner. If you want to use a sticker without this feature, you’ve got two choices. Either try to wedge your fingernail between the sticker and its backing or find a sticker cutting tool.

Using your fingernails is almost certain to damage the edge of the sticker, as it rolls under and adheres to itself, leaving an unsightly ridge when the sticker is applied to a flat surface. Finding the right tool is a much better choice. Then you just need to know how to cut stickers by hand.

Sticker Cutting 101

Of course, the easiest thing to do would be to purchase a sticker paper cutter. Unfortunately, these machines cost hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars. Unless you’re starting up a business manufacturing and distributing stickers, where you could eventually recoup the upfront investment through your sticker sales, this option for sticker cutting is going to be cost-prohibitive.

Cut Your Own Stickers

The good news is that you can easily learn how to cut stickers. Without machine access, it just takes a little patience, some practice and the right tool for the job.

For your practice sessions, it’s a good idea to practice on the same backing material that you will be cutting for your finished project(s). This helps you get a feel for the amount of pressure required to cut the backing without harming the sticker itself.

Meet the Slice 00200 Safety Cutter

Fortunately for individual hobbyists, crafters, and smaller-sized sticker shops everywhere, Slice® makes the perfect sticker cutting tool: the 00200 Safety Cutter. Don’t let its tiny size and cute, mouse-like shape fool you; this is a serious cutting tool.

Its micro-ceramic safety blade is perfectly suited to cutting through the liner on the back of a sticker, without cutting or creasing the sticker underneath. This means that your finished project will have a professional look, once your sticker is applied.

Perhaps even more importantly, the Safety Cutter is just that: safe. Its tiny blade is a scaled-down version of the safety blades on our larger tools. Made from 100 percent zirconium oxide, this micro-ceramic safety blade is manufactured with the same proprietary double-angle grind as our larger cutting tools.

The result is a finger-friendly® blade edge that is far less likely to cause a laceration if the tool slips while you’re cutting. Knowing that you’re safer means you’ll be able to quickly make crack-and-peel cuts on large numbers of stickers. This small-but-mighty Slice tool makes worrying about how to cut stickers a thing of the past.