Supplies:
- Acrylic bookmarker blank. Make sure it is less than 2mm thick if using a Cricut machine.
- Pretty ribbon to decorate your book marker if the blanks do not already come with some
- Cricut Maker or a laser machine like the Glowforge (make sure your machine can engrave on clear acrylic)
- The engraving tool for the Cricut Maker if using this method
- Purple strong grip mat
- Blue painters tape
- Rub n Buff or acrylic paint
- A lint free cloth to apply your color and clean off your acrylic
- Isopropyl alcohol to clean your acrylic if you use the Rub n Buff
Steps:
1. Size your design to fit your acrylic blank. Also make sure your acrylic is no more than 2mm thick or it will not fit in your Cricut machine.
2. Place your acrylic blank on your purple strong grip mat away from any edges. The Cricut machine does not start exactly on the mat edge. It will be slightly off. Then move the design to mat the location of your acrylic blank on your cutting mat (purple strong grip mat). I recommend leaving any protective covering on your acrylic blank for easier cleaning later.
3. Place blue painters tape around all edges of acrylic piece. Try to not place the tape over areas that will be engraved. A little over lap will be okay.
4. Move the star wheels on the Cricut machine off to the side so they do not go over the acrylic. The acrylic may not fit under them and they will scratch the acrylic.
5. I like to connect my device (laptop) directly to my Cricut machine via the cable that came with the machine instead of relying on the bluetooth connection since this will take a little bit of time for the Cricut machine to make.
6. Once your machine is finished use the blue painters tape to remove any loose engraved pieces on your acrylic.
7. Apply Rub n Buff or acrylic paint onto your piece and use a paint brush or a lint free cloth to rub the color into the engraved areas.
8. When you are happy with your piece remove any protective covering and clean off any extra unwanted color on your book marker. Water should be enough if you use acrylic paint, but if you use Rub n Buff you will need to use Isopropyl alcohol to remove it.
9. Add your ribbon or any other extra decorations to your book marker and enjoy. No sealer needed.
It was fun to test a few different methods of engraving in this project. I do prefer using my Glowforge when possible, because it is faster and a little easier, but the Cricut also did a great job, and really was not that difficult, just took a bit longer. For these designs I preferred the single line designs over the hatch fill technique, which I have shown in more detail in this project, but hatch fill is good for other projects.
It was also a lot easier to clean my piece with the protective covering left on as well as with the single line design. I hope this tutorial helped show how easy it can be to engrave acrylic as well as some tips and tricks for getting cleaner projects.
Supply list contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
