How to Make Waterproof Stickers with Silhouette CAMEO or Portrait

When making waterproof stickers with Silhouette, it's all about the sticker paper. 

Not only do you need a strong adhesive but you need a material, that when wet, the ink won't bleed. 

My go-to sheets to make waterproof stickers with Silhouette CAMEO are the Online Labels inkjet printable weatherproof sticker sheets.  

They print and cut really easily and you can opt to laminate, although it's not necessary, to make them water resistant. One thing that's important is, waterproof stickers should not be considered a direct alternative to permanent adhesive vinyl. They really have different applications and adhesives...

Waterproof stickers come in really handy for things like water bottle labels, custom wine bottle labels, or food jars where there is the chance of coming in contact with liquids, but the product likely won't be fully submerged or handled for long periods of time. 

How to Make Waterproof Stickers with Silhouette

So let's get down to how to make waterproof stickers with Silhouette. 

In Silhouette Studio set up your design like any print and cut by changing the Media Size in the Page SetUp panel to "Printer" and adding registration marks (click M on your keyboard). 

I am using a pre-designed water bottle template from Online Labels. They have a ton of free designs you can use and import into Silhouette Studio with a simple File > Open. 

You can print directly from Silhouette Studio..but here's where the trick to getting the best print comes in. It's all about the best paper and the best print settings. I am using the Waterproof Matte Printable Sticker Sheets (there is also a glossy version). 

In the print settings you want to change your paper type to either photo or brochure. This provides the best, most vibrate print...and when set to "Best" the printer will lay down more ink on the weatherproof sticker paper giving it that rich color!

Laying down more ink will cause the printer to print more slowly so that the ink has time to dry which helps prevent smudging. 

Once printed, now you can cut on your Silhouette machine. 

All Silhouette machines can print and cut stickers for the Silhouette Portrait on up to the 24" Silhouette CAMEO Pro.  I actually like to cut my sticker sheets without a cutting mat. 

The best Silhouette cut settings for Online Labels Waterproof Sticker paper is: Blade 2, Force 14, Speed 4, Single Pass. 

For these water bottle labels, I just stuck them directly over the label already on the water bottle. 

The ink didn't smear at all with the condensation on the bottles.

I even went so far as to pour a pool of water directly on the waterproof sticker sheet and you can see the ink was still totally fine! 

You can see even after I wiped the water away, the waterproof sticker still looks perfect! 

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I receive a small commission. That's what helps fund Silhouette School so I can keep buying new Silhouette-related products to show you how to get the most out of your machine!

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