Some diseases you get as a baby, some as an adult, some as a senior. Basically, you can get sick throughout your entire life. In the same way, you can run into cutting woes at any point in the process. Today, we’re going to focus on problems that … [Read more...]
Cut Doctor: Lesson 2 — Actions
In our first appointment in the Cut Doctor series, we talked about purchasing materials and choosing the right one in the Send area. I also showed you how to create and save your own custom settings. You can find that lesson here. Now we’re ready for … [Read more...]
Cut Doctor: Lesson 1 — Materials
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 … [Read more...]
Cutting Checklist
This post is part of my Checklists series. Each post in the series is a set of brief reminders to help you remember the sequence of steps to use as you work on a project. With each checklist, I provide links to more information about the topics. … [Read more...]
Pattern fill pizzazz: 7 ways to put your own graphic into any shape (misc. info)
We’ve learned the 7 different ways to put a raster image into any shape, but we aren’t done yet. (To start with lesson #1 in this series, go here.) There are some critical tidbits of info you’ll need to know in order to use these methods successfully … [Read more...]
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Version 4 Send Area: #8 — How Text or Object on Path affect cut style
You may not know this, but in Silhouette Studio you can make words go around a shape. That’s called Text on Path. New in version 4, you can also take a shape and use Object on Path to create duplicates of that shape around the contours of another … [Read more...]
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Version 4 Send Area: #7 — Using Pauses
One great thing about using advanced cut mode (so any mode other than Action by: Simple) is that you can add pauses between each color row. This allows you to change the tool during the cut. You start the job and any time you have added a pause, the … [Read more...]
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Version 4 Send Area: #5 — Action by: Line, Fill or Layer
Now that you know the basics of the Send area, it’s time to get into advanced options with Action by: Line, Fill or Layer (Advanced Cut Mode in version 3). In these modes, you choose your cut settings for each shape based on its line color, its fill … [Read more...]
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Version 4 Send Area: #3 — Material, Action and tool choices in Action by: Simple
So far in this series, we’ve looked at where to start and what Cut Mode and Cut Style mean. Today, we’re going to talk more about choosing and changing your cut settings in Action by: Simple (simple cut mode). Specifically, I’ll show you how to … [Read more...]
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Version 4 Send Area: #2 — Simple mode and cut style
The very first thing you’ll look at in the settings of the version 4 Send area — so that right side — is the Cut Mode. It’s not actually called this, but that’s how the manual describes it and the name it used in version 3. This is in the row with … [Read more...]
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Version 4 Send Area: #1 — Where to start
Are you ever overwhelmed when you look at all the options in the version 4 Send area of the Silhouette Studio software? It can be intimidating, especially for a beginner. I’ve created this series of tutorials to give you ALL the information you need. … [Read more...]
Successful Beginner Projects: #6 Snowman flat ornament
I hope you’ve gotten comfortable with cutting cardstock in our first 5 beginner projects. If you haven’t yet done those, I HIGHLY recommend it. You can find project #1 here. This set of 10 projects is designed to teach you in incremental steps and I … [Read more...]
Successful Beginner Projects: #4 Christmas Tree Gift Tag
We’re going to create another gift tag today. I mean, I can never have too many Christmas gift tags in my house come holiday time ????. In this project, we’ll learn to draw another type of shape, use control points, resize disproportionately, space … [Read more...]
Test cut the smart way
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say, “I just wasted a whole package/roll of (insert material name here) because it wasn’t cutting all the way through” or “it was just ripping up my material.” I always think to myself, “Why did you … [Read more...]
Software Basics (version 4) — Lesson 14: Making your first cut
Today is the day! If you’ve gone through all the Before You Begin and Software Basics lessons up to this point, you will be well-prepared to make your first cut. If you haven’t, I highly recommend checking out all those lesson for my best beginner … [Read more...]