What is kiss-cutting?
Kiss-cutting gets its name from the way the blade "kisses" the material - it cuts through the sticker film and adhesive but stops just short of the backing sheet. The result: individual sticker shapes remain on the sheet, held in place by the uncut backing. Users peel each sticker away individually when they're ready to use it.
This is the standard format for sticker sheets. Sticker packs, logo stickers, laptop stickers, planner stickers - almost all are kiss-cut. The backing protects the adhesive and keeps the sheet flat.
On the PixCut S1 with StixCut, the default pressure for kiss-cut is 42. This works for most Liene sticker paper without adjustment.
What is perf-cutting?
Perf-cut (perforated cut) is a dashed line rather than a continuous one. Instead of a clean cut edge, the blade makes a series of short cuts separated by tiny uncut sections. These uncut sections form a perforation - the sticker stays in the sheet until it's torn out.
The mental model: think of a sheet of stamps, or the tear-out coupon on a flyer. The perforations hold everything in place but let you tear along the line cleanly.
Perf-cut needs more blade pressure than kiss-cut because it's often designed to cut through both the sticker material and the backing, or at least score the backing deeply enough to tear cleanly.
When to use each
Kiss-cut is best when:
- Stickers need to stay on a backing sheet for storage or sale
- Users will peel one sticker at a time over a long period
- You want the sticker to go directly from sheet to surface with the backing still intact
- The design is a standard peel-and-stick format (laptop stickers, packaging labels, craft stickers)
Perf-cut is best when:
- The sticker shape should be torn out rather than peeled
- You're making sticker books or sheet formats where shapes tear away from the page
- The sticker is large enough that a peel tab is needed to start the lift
- You're making perforated tickets, tags, or multi-part forms
Peel tabs and perf-cut
One practical limitation of perf-cut: because the sticker is fully surrounded by a perforated cut line, there's no easy place to get a fingernail under it to start the tear. Peel tabs solve this.
A peel tab is a small notch - a half-circle or rounded bite - cut alongside the perf line. When you print the sheet, an arrow symbol appears next to the tab showing which direction to peel. The notch gives you a starting grip point.
In StixCut, peel tabs are controlled per-sticker in the Inspector when perf-cut is enabled. The default radius is 4mm (up to 8mm) and the position can be moved along the cut edge. The arrow indicator prints automatically.
Blade pressure comparison
| Mode | Default | Typical range | Backing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kiss-cut | 42 | 35-58 | Untouched |
| Perf-cut | 53 | 45-68 | Scored or through |
Mixed sheets
StixCut lets you set the cut mode per-sticker, not just per-sheet. You can have kiss-cut stickers and perf-cut stickers on the same sheet. This is useful for designs that mix peel-off elements (kiss-cut) with tear-out elements (perf-cut) in the same print run.