Let’s learn all about how to slice on Cricut Design Space…
This is a great post for anyone, beginners to advanced, for a complete understanding of the slice tool. Or you may have tried to slice and are wondering, “why cant I slice on Cricut?”. Because there are so many different cut features with the Cricut, let’s first define what the “slice” function actually means.
What is Slicing how do you use Slice on Cricut?
As stated on the Cricut website, “The Slice tool splits two overlapping images or text into different parts.”
Essentially the slice tool creates new shapes from two images overlapping each other. I like to picture a big cheese pizza in my mind. When you cut a slice from the pizza, the perfectly round pizza shape now sort of looks like Pac Man. Or if you cut more than one slice, it starts to look like a half circle. You get the point.
But until you eat those pieces of pizza, you actually have created more than one new shape. The pizza itself has become a new shape, and you created a totally new triangular shape with the piece of pizza you sliced out.
With Cricut, the slicing tool does the exact same thing but with craft shapes, text, or whatever else your creative mind dreams up. Slicing an image creates three or more completely new shapes for you to use.
What types of projects use Slicing?
Here are some examples of popular Cricut projects, how to slice on Cricut, and where the slice tool would be applicable…
Cards with cut-out design – I’m sure you have seen cards that have intricate cut out designs that back to another layer of card stock. It could be shapes, words, or even trim. The slice tool is perfect for this kind of project. Check out this post on how to make cards with Cricut.
Gift Tags – in this instance you would use the slice tool to punch holes in the gift tag for where the string or twine goes. You can always do the standard circular hole or you can get fancy and create shapes like hearts or hexagons.
Form words or sayings into shapes – How to cut text out of an image Cricut. You can take a regular word and add into into an existing shape, like a star for instance, then play around with manipulating the word to fit into a star shape. How to cut out words on Cricut. Once the word has stretched and moved around to mimic the shape, you can slice the word out of the shape for it to stand on its own.
How to Slice on Cricut Design Space…
So now that you understand exactly what slicing means and types of projects you can use the slice tool for, it’s time to dive into the actual steps for slicing with the Cricut machine.
The materials you need all depend on the project you are making. The slice tool does not require any special supplies other than the Cricut Machine and Cricut Design Space, which you can use on your main computer or phone.
How to slice with Cricut…
The instructions are fairly simple for hot to slice on cricut and can be broken down into 5 steps.
- First add the main shape (or base layer I like to call it) of the outline you want the shape to be. For instance, if in the end you want to outline to be a square or circle, you need to add that shape first. I like to think of this as the pizza crust.
- Next add the secondary shape, or the shape you want to actually slice. This is the shape you want to be “cut out” of the main shape. This would be the triangle or “slice of pizza”.
- Take the secondary shape and overlap it onto the first shape in the position you want it to be cut or “sliced”.
- Highlight the entire shape to select both of them together.
- Click on the slice button on the layers panel and you will notice that the shape will split into two or more shapes.
Once this is complete, you will likely have 3 images. The shape with the slice. Then the secondary original shape, as well as a third shape that came from cutting the original shape.
Think of it like putting a stencil shape onto of a piece of paper, then cutting around the stencil shape. You would end up with one shape with the hollow cut, as well as the original stencil AND another copy of the stencil.
You likely will not need the secondary and third cuts or images. You probably will only want the first shape with the slice. You are able to delete the other shapes if you do not need them.
I hope this tutorial helped you understand how to Slice on Cricut. You can also check out this Youtube tutorial by Hey Crafty Hannah Sue for a visual breakdown.