Engraving Acrylic with a Cricut Maker
Learn all there is to know about engraving acrylic with a Cricut Maker, including how to do it, best blanks, how to position, and coloring tips! When you’re done, learn how to make acrylic Keychains with your Cricut. This post contains affiliate links.
One of the unique features of the Cricut Maker lineup that is not an option on the Explore, Joy, or Venture machines is the ability to swap out tools instead of a blade.
One of my favorite tools is the engraving tool, and while I’ve shared all about it on leather earrings before, I wanted to share it on one of my favorite applications: acrylic.
Both the Maker and Maker 3 can be used for engraving Acrylic with a Cricut Maker.
Laser Engraving vs. Cricut Engraving
I recently shared reviews of the xTool F1 and xTool F1 Ultra laser engravers, and you may be wondering which way is better to engrave acrylic?
There is a huge difference between the two methods – laser engraving or Cricut engraving. For this project, I very much prefer using the Cricut.
Laser engraving uses light to etch a design. The Cricut physically goes over it and scratches the surface. You would need a pricey CO2 laser to work on clear acrylic, as a Diode laser, the kind used to engrave other surfaces, just goes through the clear acrylic and doesn’t hit the surface, a necessity for marking it. There are hacks that people use to make it work (such as painting it black first), but the Cricut just works better in this application.
In addition, you need to make sure to get the right kind of acrylic. If it’s not cast acrylic, it just won’t work right, and even among cast acrylic, results have been all over the place.
Laser engravers are generally pricey (although a very worthwhile business investment). For this type of craft, I highly recommend using your Cricut, even if you own a Diode laser. There are applications where a laser might work better.
You can see from this tutorial on engraving acrylic with a Cricut Maker that there is so much you can do even with simple outlines.
Tips for Engraving Acrylic with a Cricut Maker
It’s a pretty straightforward process, and there are multiple ways to do it. You’ll probably find that the way you complete your tenth one is not the same as the way you did your first – and your 200th will be completely different.
Positioning your blank
There are two ways to do this. The way I was always taught was basically to run a draw layer, place your blank centered on the design, and run an engrave.
I find this to be a bit extra and not so practical. I absolutely do not recommend doing this. It just doesn’t make sense to me. You need to leave the mat in the machine for this to be accurate, and at the point where it starts engraving you need to add your blade and blank.
But the machine holds the position, and you need to kind of wiggle your blade in and tape it firmly in place! Somehow. Through the whole mechanism thingy.
The reason people do it is because it’s the best way to see the real positioning of where the design will come out. And people are perfectionists. I found it just fine using the second straightforward method.
The second way is simply to center everything. Make a “template” for the keychain on Design Space. Position your design centered on the cross in middle of four squares on your mat preview. Center your blank on the same spot on the mat. Take into account any holes. That’s all.
You can even batch process efficiently using this second method. And you don’t even need to tape your acrylic blank on the mat if you’re using a fresh StrongGrip mat. (You may want to if you’re doing a few, just because the mat might curve as you work and the blank is stiff and won’t curve along…)
Coloring the engraved area
I tried a few ways to color the engraving – something that is totally optional but helps bring out the design and add some fun to your project.
My favorite was to use acrylic paint markers from Posca, allowing it to dry, and scraping the excess off the surface. It creates a very subtle tinted color (depending on how well you scrape) that just looks fabulous.
I did also try wiping it off while wet and allowing it to stay in the more absorbent engravings, but that didn’t quite work so well – it wiped off too much color.
To scrape, I simply used my existing Cricut scraper from the basic tool set.
Favorite Acrylic blanks to engrave
Anything that is flat enough to feed through your machine would be fabulous for this. Since acrylic is a hardy material that is considered to be solid quality (as opposed to some thinner plastics) engraved acrylics make fabulous customized gifts and sales items.
Some of my favorite ideas include:
Night Lights – Get night lights with a removable acrylic sheet. You can engrave these with kids’ names, or in the theme of various bedroom designs. They are so cool when the light shines on them! Skip the painting process on these.
Bookmarks – Also a fun gift, these make fabulous librarian or teacher handouts too, and the blanks are super affordable.
Keychains – These are the ones that I used for the tutorial, and are timeless, ageless, and versatile. Think: gifts for just about anyone, prizes, party favors, gift tags, ornaments, and more!
How to engrave acrylic with a Cricut Maker
All projects are Design Space/Cricut Access projects. You can grab the initial here and the Shalom dove here.
Supplies needed
- Cricut Maker or Maker 3
- Engraving tip and housing
- StrongGrip Mat (purple)
- (Masking tape)
- Acrylic keychain blanks
- Paint markers (I used Posca – I’m not sure how other markers would play out)
- Scraper
Step by step tutorial
Just a reminder: you can print your tutorial at the end of this post.
Design Placement
1. Start your design with a shape in the dimensions of your blank. This is simpler if it’s a basic one like a circle. If it’s a bit more complex, you can just create the gist of the area where you will be placing your design (for example, on a bookmark, create the long rectangle portion.
Set the operation type to “guide”.
Place your design centered on the guide, with a pretty margin, including enough space that if it’s 1mm off it’ll still look decent. Set operation type to “engrave”.
2. When you’re given the mat preview when you’re going through the process of cutting, place your design centered on four squares of the mat. It should be centered on the cross that would fall in the center of a square grouping of four squares. Remove the protective film on your acrylic blank. Place your blank centered on the corresponding cross.
Note: I don’t recommend using the ones near the edge of your mat. Skip two rows…
A larger blank will cover more mat squares but the premise is the same: it should be centered on whichever crossing point between horizontal and vertical grid lines makes most sense.
Make sure to mirror if you are engraving on the back of your blank.
Engraving
3. When you’re ready, move all the star wheels (those white grooved “grips” on the front rod) to the side. Install your engraving blade and go ahead and engrave!
Isn’t it lovely! You can see two things here: 1. This is the one that I used the non-recommended method (drawing first) and taped it. It’s still not perfectly centered. 2. It shifted a little – even taped! I did not have either of these issues using the grid to place my blank.
I also should have left better margins here.
Coloring your design
4. Color over the details of your design using paint markers. You want it to really “sink” into the engraving so don’t be stingy. Allow it to dry.
5. When it’s cry, scrape off the paint. I did not find that this ruined the acrylic – just use a plastic scraping tool.
You can wipe it clean if you’d like – just don’t rub too hard.
6. Finish off your keychain with the included hardware – or your own!
I hope you enjoyed learning all about engraving acrylic with a Cricut Maker. Got anything to add or any questions? Comment below!
DIY Engraved Acrylic Keychains with the Cricut Maker
Materials
- Cricut Maker or Maker 3
- Engraving blade
- StrongGrip Mat
- (Masking tape)
- Acrylic keychain blanks
- Paint markers (I used Posca - I'm not sure how other markers would play out)
- Scraper
Instructions
1. Start your design with a shape in the dimensions of your blank. This is simpler if it's a basic one like a circle. If it's a bit more complex, you can just create the gist of the area where you will be placing your design (for example, on a bookmark, create the long rectangle portion.
Set the operation type to "guide".
Place your design centered on the guide, with a pretty margin, including enough space that if it's 1mm off it'll still look decent. Set operation type to "engrave".
2. When you're given the mat preview when you're going through the process of cutting, place your design centered on four squares of the mat. It should be centered on the cross that would fall in the center of a square grouping of four squares. Remove the protective film on your acrylic blank. Place your blank centered on the corresponding cross.
Note: I don't recommend using the ones near the edge of your mat. Skip two rows...
A larger blank will cover more mat squares but the premise is the same: it should be centered on whichever crossing point between horizontal and vertical grid lines makes most sense.
Make sure to mirror if you are engraving on the back of your blank.
3. When you're ready, move all the star wheels (those white grooved "grips" on the front rod) to the side. Install your engraving blade and go ahead and engrave!
4. Color over the details of your design using paint markers. You want it to really "sink" into the engraving so don't be stingy. Allow it to dry.
5. When it's cry, scrape off the paint. I did not find that this ruined the acrylic - just use a plastic scraping tool.
6. Finish off your keychain with the included hardware - or your own!
