Silhouette Beginnings • Learning How

My very special husband gave me a Silhouette Cameo Cutting Tool for my recent birthday. (Yeah, it was one of the "big" birthdays). If you look at the various Christmas Cards I have created over the past 30 years you probably thought I already had one. No, I've cut all those cards by hand for years. When I looked at the specifications of this machine I knew I had to have one and learn how to use it. I am a Silhouette beginner and I hope to share with you some tips and tricks but right now all I can offer is hints for getting started.

First let me note that no disclaimer is needed here. We bought the Cameo outright and have no connections with Silhouette so, yes all these opinions are my own.

I am a tad geeky. Ok, maybe a little more than a tad so the computer side of this all makes sense to me. I thought the directions packet, software installation and demo DVD were all excellent - except for one little missing clarification. In the directions it emphasizes that when you insert the cutting blade be sure it is "pressed completely into the holder." I put it in and pressed. What the directions didn't clearly explain is that there is a fin on the cutter and the cutter is only in place when that fin is rotated all the way to the right.

You can see the fin at the 4 o'clock position above. It looks like the following photo after inserting and rotating counter-clockwise. You must rotate the cutter, not press.

Family had arrived to celebrate Thanksgiving and I had successfully unpacked, set-up and started the machine (amidst minor pandemonium) with no issues until the first cutting. It didn't go all the way through the paper. I tried several times, adjusting the cutter depth and was still having inconsistent cutting. I put it all away to again take out after all the guests had gone home and peace and quiet had descended upon Ashbee Hill. I had to dig around the Silhouette site but finally found a mention about the placement of the black fin. Once I did that then the machine cut beautifully.

My next newbie problem is with the cutting mats. I chose a piece of card stock from my paper hoard to try the first successful cut. When I removed the paper from the sticky holding mat, the paper tore along the edges and stuck to the mat.

This happened down both sides of the paper. I have found that as the mat gets used, it gets less sticky. Hopefully this problem will disappear but I need to do more research and experimentation. It does create a problem though because I have been planning to use the cutter to cut holes into a paper I will use as a card, not cut shapes that I will use. Here are some photos of my first quick experiment using a stock pattern. 

I took a piece of 32 Lb white copier paper and programed the cutter to cut out a delicate snowflake in one quarter. My ideas was I would fold it like a card and slip a colored piece of paper behind the cutout snowflake shape. The cut was successful but carefully removing the paper from the sticky mat caused it to buckle, crease and curl. I tried folding it like a card but the paper was just too damaged to be useful.

However, the shape that remained - the white snowflake was in beautiful form so I glued that to deep blue wrapping paper and glued all of that onto a white paper card. This is my first quick Silhouette project.

I am wondering how to adjust the process so that I can use the background paper for some designs. I tend to think in negative space - not positive shapes.

Overall I am very impressed with this tool. I am glad I haven't designed a card before getting it because its strengths are different than I anticipated. I need to go find a good discussion forum and am planning to spend some more time exploring the Silhouette site.  More fun to come!

Thanks David!

Previous posts of interest:

• DIY Christmas Card 2011
• Three Decades of Handmade Christmas Cards
• DIY Christmas Cards • Truly Unique
• DIY Christmas Cards • Technology Influenced
• DIY Christmas Cards • Mixed Media
• DIY Christmas Cards • Trees as a Theme
• DIY Christmas Cards • Woven Paper Designs
• DIY Christmas Cards • Pierced Designs
• DIY Christmas Cards • Pop-up Cards

©2012 Ashbee Design, Marji Roy