How to Make DIY Big Head Cutouts at Home

DIY big head cutouts are all the rage right now. Graduation parties, sporting events, birthdays, senior nights...you'll always see a big head on a stick!

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The good news is you can make them at home and add them to your small business (even just seasonally). What I love about this method is they come out super high quality - they're not blurry or pixelated, but are crisp, full-color, cut-to-shape big heads on corrugated plastic that look completely professional.

I made a set for my daughter's graduation party (can you believe Olivia is graduating?!) and I am SO excited about how they turned out. So let me show you exactly how to do this.

What you need to make DIY big head cutouts

Before we get into the steps, here are the supplies you'll need:

Corrugated plastic sheets (also called coroplast — this is what yard signs are made of)
A laser cutter - I used the xTool P2 because the sheets are large and I needed the bigger bed
A UV printer - I used the EufyMake E1
Silhouette Studio Business Edition (for SVG/PNG export)
Jumbo craft sticks or a wooden dowel for the handle
Double-sided tape (3M works great)

Making big heads is actually a three-step process - design prep, laser cutting, and UV printing. I have separate videos covering each step in detail, but I'm going to walk you through the full process here so you know exactly what to expect.

Step 1: Prepare your files in Silhouette Studio

This is the step most tutorials skip, and it's honestly the most important one. You need to remove the photo background so you just have a big head before you can do anything else.

You'll then need two files for each big head: an SVG for the laser cut line, and a PNG for the UV print. You're going to create both of them from the same photo in Silhouette Studio. (Yes, even if you don't have a Silhouette machine.)

There are two ways to remove the background depending on your photo:

Remove a Background in Silhouette Studio with Trace and Detach

If there's good contrast between the subject and the background, you can use trace and detach in the tracing tool to remove the background of the image.

Silhouette Studio will automatically create a cut line around the shaded area and you can pull away the unwanted background.

That's the method I used for this photo of Liv where she was standing in front of a white wall.

If you need to adjust the image at all you can double click to access the edit points. I would suggest

How to Remove a Background in Silhouette Studio with the Draw a Curved Shape Tool

If there's a lot going on behind the subject, you'll want to use the Draw a Curved Shape tool to manually draw around the outside of the head.

Click the tool then use your mouse to drop your edit points around the edge of the shape.

When you get back to your starting point, the line will connect. Select the line you just created and the original image.

Open the Modify panel and "Crop".

The background will disappear and you'll be left with just a big head!

You can do the edit point clean up the same way on these files as well.

How to Pair a Laser Cutter and UV Printer

Once you get all of your big head photos ready, we need to create two versions of each. Duplicate each file with a simple copy/paste.

Select one full set and change the Fill Color to "transparent".

Change the line color of the same set to "Red".

This transparent set is now your laser cut file and the full color image set is for your UV printer.

Export each file individually by selecting it and going to File > Save Selection.

The laser cut files should be saved as SVG files.
The UV printing files should be saved as PNG with transparent background (300 dpi) files.

Note: You do need Silhouette Studio Business Edition to export SVG and PNG files. It's a one-time $50 upgrade - not a subscription - and it's worth every penny.

Laser cut the corrugated plastic

Place a corrugated plastic sheet into your laser bed. I'm using my xTool P2 because it has a large bed and easily cuts through the coroplast.

If you need to trim down the sheets so it fits into the laser you can use a utility knife.

For the exact cut settings and a full walkthrough of the laser cutting process, check out my dedicated video on how to laser cut corrugated plastic sheets.

One tip: once it's cut, do not pop the shape out right away. Leave it sitting in the plastic sheet and place the whole thing on your UV printer bed. The surrounding plastic acts as a jig and protects your printer bed from overspray.

UV print on the corrugated plastic

This is the step that makes these look SO professional. You're going to take your PNG file and print it directly onto the corrugated plastic shape.

I'm using my Eufymake E1 UV printer.

Place your cut piece (still in the plastic sheet) on the UV printer bed. In your UV printer software, take a camera snapshot so the software can measure the material height and show you a preview. Import your PNG, rotate and scale it to match your cut shape, and set up a slight bleed so the print overlaps the cut line slightly on all sides. This hides any slight misalignment.

For print settings I use White > CMYK with one layer of white, standard quality, plastic material setting. Even on a white sheet, that single white layer makes the colors really pop.

Each big head at around 12x16 inches takes about 24-25 minutes to print. For the full UV printing on corrugated plastic walkthrough, check out this video.

Finish your big head cutouts

Once the print is done, pop the shape out of the plastic sheet. Then flip it over and use double-sided tape to attach a large craft stick or wooden paddle to the back. That's it!

These are so fun for graduation parties, sports banquets, birthdays, senior nights and even as photo booth props.

If you're thinking about making these to sell, you can absolutely charge a premium.

For the complete start-to-finish video including the Silhouette Studio file prep and the best laser cut settings for corrugated plastic check out my complete tutorial on making your own big head cutouts.

Want help getting started?

If you want same-day, one-on-one support for your laser cutter, UV printer, Silhouette Studio software or Silhouette machine, that's exactly what Silhouette U is for. It's not just for Silhouette - I have tutorials and live support and exclusive video tutorials for all the machines you see in my studio.

Visit Silhouetteu.com and use code YOUTUBE for 50% off.

Have you made big head cutouts before? Drop a comment below — I'd love to hear what you made them for!

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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