Materials for your Silhouette: how to choose them & their cut settings

One of the most frustrating things with using a Silhouette machine is when you have a great design and materials, but can’t seem to get a good cut with them. Maybe it’s that the cut doesn’t go all the way through your material. Or perhaps it’s ripping the material up or pulling at the corners. Ever tried to cut without a mat and had the material come out from under the rollers? All this can drive you batty! Never fear — the Cut Doctor is here. The secret is knowing the ins and outs of cut settings.

Think about it like this. If you make healthy choices in your lifestyle, your body works better. It’s the same with your Silhouette. If you treat your machine right, it will produce beautiful projects.

I’ll help you make healthy choices like getting the blade settings right so you can get clean and intricate cuts. We’ll also learn to diagnose common cutting “diseases.” I’ll show you how to analyze a cut and know what to adjust when. I’ll draw from my extensive experience as a Silhouette user, former Customer Support Member for Silhouette America and Silhouette class teacher.

Choosing the right materials can definitely make or break a project. So we’ll start by talking about selecting materials and how to understand your Materials choices in the Send area of the software.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you click the link and purchase something, I may receive a small commission. This helps me to be able to keep my business going and provide more tutorials. All opinions expressed are my own and are not tied to any compensation.

Quality materials

Here’s the first big idea. The better the quality of the material, the easier it is to cut intricate designs. That makes sense. It’s just like you’re cooking a meal. If you start out with fresh, high quality ingredients, the dinner you cook will be much tastier and healthier. When you buy quality materials, you save time, money and frustration in the long run. Get the best quality you can. It doesn’t have to be expensive — you can usually get small quantities. Let’s talk about what to look for.

Paper

Higher quality paper has fibers that are more densely packed. That means that when you cut it, it doesn’t pull apart as easily as something like construction paper. It holds together as the blade cuts through the fibers and makes turns, and it releases cleanly from the mat.

So how do you find a good quality cardstock, for instance? Honestly, you just have to to try some different brands and see what works for you. I do have a few tips–

For solid colors, open stock paper (the pieces you buy by the sheet) is often better than a pack of paper.
Like with foods, store brands aren’t always reliable.
Go to your favorite craft store and pick out a few sheets of plain paper from various companies. Try the same design on the same mat with the same blade and see the results you get.
My go-to brand for plain cardstock is the Co-ordinations Smooth I find at JoAnn’s. It cuts like a dream!
It’s the blade, speed and force settings that are often more critical than the piece of cardstock. Keep following this series to learn all about those.

Vinyl

I can get a tiny, thin cut on any brand of vinyl as long as my settings are right. The big difference is in the weeding. The better the brand, the easier it is to weed because the vinyl stays on the backing better as you begin to pull parts off.

Vinyl that is old begins to become brittle and the adhesive starts to break down. That makes weeding hard as well. So a newer piece of vinyl works better than one that’s been sitting on the shelf for a while.

My favorite brand for vinyl is hands-down Oracal. I just don’t ever have a problem with it. They have lots of colors, finishes and levels of adhesive. Silhouette America is now selling Oracal’s permanent vinyl and some national chain stores are as well. I also like Siser’s Easy PSV.

I love the patterned vinyl from Sparkleberry. You can see it on some beach spikers in this post.

It’s also important to get the correct transfer media (transfer tape or paper) to go with the type of vinyl you are using. For instance, a matte vinyl usually needs a different one than a glossy vinyl. Check the manufacturer’s website for their recommendations.

HTV

As with vinyl, a better quality heat transfer vinyl is easier to cut and weed. I love Siser Easyweed because it is actually pretty easy to cut and weed cleanly. Thermoflex is also a good brand. They have a different feel and look to them when applied, so I suggest trying both to see which you like. Michael’s now sells rolls of Siser and you can use coupons on it. It’s not the best price, but great when you’re in a hurry or don’t want to pay shipping. Amazon also sells both.

For patterned HTV, I like Sparkleberry. You can see it on a tshirt I made here.

Rhinestones

The Rhinestone World has the best template material I’ve used. And their rhinestones are the best. I didn’t notice the difference until I tried some on a shirt a couple of years ago. They are much more sparkly than other brands and the adhesive is terrific.

Textile Foil

Textile Foil is used in conjunction with a clear adhesive HTV. You cut and weed the adhesive just like regular HTV, apply it to the project with a flash press, then apply the textile foil over it. It’s a beautiful shiny look with a very soft feel. I used it on this sweater:

I like the Magic Foil from The Rhinestone World and the textile foils from Heat Transfer Warehouse and H&H Sign Supply.

Other materials

For other materials, do some research. Facebook groups are a great place to ask questions about what materials other Silhouette users like. Or, feel free to ask me in the comments below. I’ve tried MANY materials and can probably point you in the right direction.

Just so you know: the maximum thickness that the Cameo 3, Curio and Portrait 2 can cut is 2mm. On the other machines, it’s 1mm. That’s because that’s how much clearance there is under the roller bar. It’s also because the standard blade extends to a max of 1mm, the deep cut blade to 2mm. The deep cut blade can be used only on the Cameo 3, Curio and Portrait 2.

That doesn’t mean those machines can cut all the way through any material that’s 2mm thick. The density of the material also matters because there is a limited amount of downward force (210gf). For example, you may have a piece of thin metal that’s thinner than chipboard. The machine could cut the chipboard and not the metal because the latter is much more dense.

The Cameo 4, due out in Fall 2019, will have significantly greater force and a 3mm clearance under the bar. That means you should be able to cut all the way through even thicker, more dense materials.

Materials choice in the Send area

Okay, so you’ve gotten your materials and are ready to go. What do you need to know about choosing a material in the Send area of the Silhouette Studio software?

Choosing a material

The very first thing you’ll do when you go to the Send area is select a material.

Click the arrow at the end of the line to expand the menu. If you do nothing, the software will use the default setting Cardstock, Plain.

I always suggest doing this in Action by: Simple first. Even if you are going to cut by line, fill or layer, if you start here it will populate all those line colors or fill colors or layers with your choice. So say you have a t-shirt you’re making with HTV and you’re using 3 different colors, so you have your design pieces in you file filled with a different color for each. You want to cut each separately without moving anything on your design. If you choose Heat Transfer, Smooth in the Action by: Simple, when you go to Action by: Fill all the color fill rows will have that as the material. If you go directly to Action by: Fill to choose a material, you’ll have to do it for each row.

UPDATE:

This has now changed. Even if you select the material and adjust the settings in the Simple mode, when you go to the line/fill/layer option the settings don’t carry over. The bad news is you have to remember to set it individually for each line or fill color or layer. The good news is that you can now have different settings for each.

What do you do if your material is not in the list? Choose one that’s closest to what you have, then tweak the settings as needed. Do some test cuts (ALWAYS!) to find the right ones. Yes, you’ll need to keep reading this series to learn more about how to tweak those, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Some settings aren’t showing when you first open the Send area, such as the starting and ending extensions for Line Segment Overcut, or Curio platforms, or adding an action choice. Click the 3 dots at the end of the line to open the Advanced Material Panel where you can.

Custom settings

Once you’ve found a setting that works, you can save it as a custom setting. That’s a HUGE time saver!

Sometimes you’ll find that even on a default material, you can’t use an action you’d like. For example, when you’re cutting light colored HTV materials, the cut lines can be very hard to see. One trick is to use a sketch pen to draw them out before you cut. However, you’ll notice that there’s no option on Heat Transfer, Smooth to choose a Sketch action.

Here’s what you do: change the speed by 1. That automatically gives you the option to save the material as a custom setting.

It does that because you’ve altered a default setting. Click the Save As and you’ll then be able to add the Sketch action.

Name the material something like Heat Transfer, Sketch so you can save it for future use.

Warnings

There are a couple of things you need to keep in mind in this area:

Check EVERYTHING when you switch between the Action by: modes. Settings don’t always carry over. If you have entered the Action by: Line section, then go back to your Design area and add a new line color on any of your shapes, it takes on the materials setting of what’s in Simple mode.
Settings for vinyl and HTV assume you are NOT using a mat. You may need to tweak them if you use one.
If you adjust any setting, it stays there until you move the settings back to the default numbers, or choose “Revert.”

You can also select “Revert” in the Advanced Material Panel.

When you change a material, don’t save it and then close the software, it will ask you if you want to save the changes.

- If you click on the button to review them individually, it takes you to the Advanced Material Panel to save them.
  - For default materials, you have to create a custom setting. The software will not permanently overwrite the settings for default materials.
  - For your own custom materials you’ve previously created and saved, you can save any changes, revert or make additional changes here before selecting Save.

- If you click on “Save All,” the software again saves default and custom materials differently.
  - On default materials, the software will save each material as a new custom setting under the “User Defined” area with the same name. In other words, it will be something like “Heat Transfer, Smooth (1)” meaning it’s a copy of the default HTV settings. Again, it won’t permanently overwrite default settings.
  - On your custom materials, it will just save the most recent changes to them.
Double check your materials settings anytime there’s a new update of the software. They change sometimes.
Custom settings are saved in your Preferences folder in the deep, dark depths of your computer. If you ever change computers, you will need to export or recreate the custom settings.
If you ever have to delete your Preferences folder, your User Created settings revert to the generic default.

Up Next

Now that we’ve got our initial exam underway, I’ll need you to schedule another appointment to talk more about Action choices. Don’t forget to come back in!

If you’d like to see these tips in video form, check out my class When Good Cuts Go Bad on Terri Johnson Academy. It’s done in an older version of the software, but the concepts are the same.