Help!

[valerial99459511]

Hello, sorry if this question sounds a bit stupid but I'm very new to illustrator. I have this project and I want for the insides of the icons where it is orange, to be transparent so when i print, the inside of the icons have the same color as the paper. When i try, it cuts the black outline into the orange background and eveything turns into black, except for the initial black trace of the icons, which turn transparent. Basically im trying to cut through the orange background using the insides of the icons, not the black trace.I hope the pictures make it easier to understand. 

 

[SJRiegel]

What are you trying that yields this result? 

Have you tried selecting the whole orange background with the direct select tool, and deleting it? 

[valerial99459511]

Hey thank you for replying. I figured it out. Originally, the icons were an image, so I turned them into vector with image trace, but i erased the original white background they had. This time i didnt, so i chose the white background with the orange background and then used pathfinder.