I thought its high time I did a post on the Silhouette Cameo...I've probably answered 50 mails and endless whatsapp conversations about this nifty gadget.
Simply put its a digital die cut machine. But it goes beyond that...If I sat down to list what all you can do with it, it would take me days. But lets get down to basics...
What you can cut - you can cut thick paper upto 250 gsm...I don't advocate 300 gsm because the machine is not built to handle that much pressure. But I have cut 300 gsm...but with a nifty trick. More on that later.
This is vinyl I cut with my Silhouette and decorated my Cameo with!
What else can it do - Replace the blade with a pen tool and you can fake a very fabulous handwriting with your Silhouette.
Print and Cut - Using it in conjunction with your printer, you can print the design and then feed that paper into your Cameo and it will cut around the design. CAMEO does not print .. only cuts what you've printed... Saving you the trouble of cutting it by hand! Nifty eh!! It does require a bit of software handling though...but easy once you get the hang of it.
What kind of designs you can cut - If you are a graphic artist or can dabble in Corel or Illustrator, you can cut any image on this earth. But if you are like me...you still can cut any image on earth.
Silhouette comes with a free software and free 50 designs to start you off. (The new Silhouette comes with 100 free designs )Then there is the Silhouette Online Store that has tens of thousands of images that you can download and use.
Most of these designs are priced at 99cents. During sales, they drop to 75 cents, sometimes 50 cents.
And if you buy a 3, 6,12 month subscription to the store the price per image can drop to 10cents too. Depending on your subscription.
Now- there is a Designer Edition of the software, which is basically an upgrade to the free software. It allows you to trace images, use .svg files and host of other features which I've yet to play with. But I use the tracing and svg feature the maximum.
What you can do is trace any vector and get a cut any image you can Google....There is a fabulous 8 part Youtube on tracing . Worth checking out.
This is free image I found on google and traced it to get the ECG line...had to play around with the file for while before I could get it correct...but it works!!
Another set made with designs from Sihouette Store..the rays, the flowers and the banners...only the sentiments are stamped!
There are host of graphic artists who design free svg files and you can download and use them. The internet and the Pinterest world is full of free designs that you can search.
What you can't do in Silhouette -
You can't cut glitter paper - Well actually you can cut American Crafts Glitter paper, but that will dull your blade faster. If you are cutting glitter paper, its better to keep that blade exclusively for glitter paper.
You cannot emboss. Not like you can in your die cut Machines.
There is an engraving tool that is supposed to work, but I haven't tried it.
So what's the downside?
1. The first thing people crib is that they have to keep buying mats and blades. Its not like a darn trimmer where you have to buy a blade every 4 months...unless you are cranking 150 cuts a week...then you need a shitload of blades and mats.
I have had the same blade for almost 8 months...the same mat for 8 months...but I have a re-stick spray which I use every 3 months and the mat is as good as new.
Because I haven't used a whole lot of variety of cardstocks, my blade is good. If I used fibrous cardstock, my blade would have gone for a toss. I use just a standard few brands of cardstocks and that keeps my blade from wear and tear.
2. The learning curve for the Silhouette software is a little high, but not hard.
There are millions of tutorials and amazing amazing groups on Facebook that jump and guide you in a second. I love love those Groups. Absolutely free of negativity, and oh they love to share! Love those ladies!
I have always suggested to those who ever approach me about whether to buy the silhouette, download the software first. Its free to download even without the machine. Watch tutorials and play around with your software. Then buy the machine. Download the software here (scroll to the bottom and on the right is the Legacy Version. That is what I use. You can try the Basic Edition V3 if you are a little brave)
Coz I do know a lot of people who have just jumped and bought the machine and then don't use it because the software curve is high or they just don't know what to do with the machine once they get it.
Its not like your Big shot where you don't have to think. You need to know what you want to cut and how the design to look before you cut.
You need to figure out what kind of paper works for you, what kind of settings for the blade work for that paper.
If you think that's too much headache..its not for you.
Its kind of like getting to know someone ... what works, what doesn't work, how to trick it to get it to work for you...kind of like getting your boyfriend to do the work while making him think he is the boss!! hehe!!
So I'll wrap up this post here....and part 2 will have answers to whatever questions you have on this post!!
Toodles!! Till the next post!
P.s. I'm happy to answer questions and do some research. Because it widens my horizons, but please don't be so lazy that you just post the question and expect me to answer without you lifting a finger. If you want to buy a Cameo you at least need to know what the Cameo is. Read up, watch videos and use Google. After that if you have queries , feel free to ask me. I'll be happy to answer. But after all this big gyan you come and ask what is a Cameo....sigh....
P.P.S I am not going to compare this with other digital die cut machines...Simply because I own only the Silhouette Cameo. I'm not going to buy another one, so I'm not going to read up on The Brother Scan -n- Cut, The Cricut Expressions 2, The Cricut Explore etc. Unless you want to send me another one and have me compare!! I'm all game!! (Bwahhahaa!)
Simply put its a digital die cut machine. But it goes beyond that...If I sat down to list what all you can do with it, it would take me days. But lets get down to basics...
What you can cut - you can cut thick paper upto 250 gsm...I don't advocate 300 gsm because the machine is not built to handle that much pressure. But I have cut 300 gsm...but with a nifty trick. More on that later.
- Scrapbook paper
- Printer paper
- Cardstock
- Thin chipboard - like your cereal boxes
- Fabric
- Vinyl
- Adhesive paper
- Transparency etc
What else can it do - Replace the blade with a pen tool and you can fake a very fabulous handwriting with your Silhouette.
Print and Cut - Using it in conjunction with your printer, you can print the design and then feed that paper into your Cameo and it will cut around the design. CAMEO does not print .. only cuts what you've printed... Saving you the trouble of cutting it by hand! Nifty eh!! It does require a bit of software handling though...but easy once you get the hang of it.
What kind of designs you can cut - If you are a graphic artist or can dabble in Corel or Illustrator, you can cut any image on this earth. But if you are like me...you still can cut any image on earth.
Silhouette comes with a free software and free 50 designs to start you off. (The new Silhouette comes with 100 free designs )Then there is the Silhouette Online Store that has tens of thousands of images that you can download and use.
Most of these designs are priced at 99cents. During sales, they drop to 75 cents, sometimes 50 cents.
And if you buy a 3, 6,12 month subscription to the store the price per image can drop to 10cents too. Depending on your subscription.
Now- there is a Designer Edition of the software, which is basically an upgrade to the free software. It allows you to trace images, use .svg files and host of other features which I've yet to play with. But I use the tracing and svg feature the maximum.
What you can do is trace any vector and get a cut any image you can Google....There is a fabulous 8 part Youtube on tracing . Worth checking out.
There are host of graphic artists who design free svg files and you can download and use them. The internet and the Pinterest world is full of free designs that you can search.
What you can't do in Silhouette -
You can't cut glitter paper - Well actually you can cut American Crafts Glitter paper, but that will dull your blade faster. If you are cutting glitter paper, its better to keep that blade exclusively for glitter paper.
You cannot emboss. Not like you can in your die cut Machines.
There is an engraving tool that is supposed to work, but I haven't tried it.
So what's the downside?
1. The first thing people crib is that they have to keep buying mats and blades. Its not like a darn trimmer where you have to buy a blade every 4 months...unless you are cranking 150 cuts a week...then you need a shitload of blades and mats.
I have had the same blade for almost 8 months...the same mat for 8 months...but I have a re-stick spray which I use every 3 months and the mat is as good as new.
Because I haven't used a whole lot of variety of cardstocks, my blade is good. If I used fibrous cardstock, my blade would have gone for a toss. I use just a standard few brands of cardstocks and that keeps my blade from wear and tear.
2. The learning curve for the Silhouette software is a little high, but not hard.
There are millions of tutorials and amazing amazing groups on Facebook that jump and guide you in a second. I love love those Groups. Absolutely free of negativity, and oh they love to share! Love those ladies!
I have always suggested to those who ever approach me about whether to buy the silhouette, download the software first. Its free to download even without the machine. Watch tutorials and play around with your software. Then buy the machine. Download the software here (scroll to the bottom and on the right is the Legacy Version. That is what I use. You can try the Basic Edition V3 if you are a little brave)
Coz I do know a lot of people who have just jumped and bought the machine and then don't use it because the software curve is high or they just don't know what to do with the machine once they get it.
Its not like your Big shot where you don't have to think. You need to know what you want to cut and how the design to look before you cut.
You need to figure out what kind of paper works for you, what kind of settings for the blade work for that paper.
If you think that's too much headache..its not for you.
Its kind of like getting to know someone ... what works, what doesn't work, how to trick it to get it to work for you...kind of like getting your boyfriend to do the work while making him think he is the boss!! hehe!!
So I'll wrap up this post here....and part 2 will have answers to whatever questions you have on this post!!
Toodles!! Till the next post!
P.s. I'm happy to answer questions and do some research. Because it widens my horizons, but please don't be so lazy that you just post the question and expect me to answer without you lifting a finger. If you want to buy a Cameo you at least need to know what the Cameo is. Read up, watch videos and use Google. After that if you have queries , feel free to ask me. I'll be happy to answer. But after all this big gyan you come and ask what is a Cameo....sigh....
P.P.S I am not going to compare this with other digital die cut machines...Simply because I own only the Silhouette Cameo. I'm not going to buy another one, so I'm not going to read up on The Brother Scan -n- Cut, The Cricut Expressions 2, The Cricut Explore etc. Unless you want to send me another one and have me compare!! I'm all game!! (Bwahhahaa!)
Hello,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. But where can I buy the re-stick spray in India?
Lovely informative post...As always, you give best and very true reviews on products, Tejal :) Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the info Tee!! I'll come back here again when I decide to buy Silhouette Cameo. I so want to! :D
ReplyDeleteThanks Tejal for such a informative post..I still dont have it but its in my wish list!!
ReplyDeleteHugs
Archana
Awesome post Tejal! I haven't explored my cameo well enough than the basic things it does with paper.. But I would definitely look forward to more posts on this one because you make it interesting, informative and very helpful!:)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the elaborate post Tejal! Your inputs really helped me. I hope to get my machine soon.
ReplyDelete