How to Make Stencils with Silhouette Cameo

[@megseamus1]

Your voice is so pleasant and you are a natural. The ebb and flow of voice and visual is perfect...I don't like to be critical but some are painful to sit thru. Not to mention chuck full of useful information. New to the silhouette world, I have been in search of a material that is reusable for signs I make for a client. I have heard good things about Grafix. I look forward to more of your videos Thank you for sharing your wisdom and gift.

[@kdotbecca]

Megan W - Welcome to the world of the Silhouette and thank you so much for the kind words. I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the video! The Grafix Dura-Lar is great - I love it for stencils. And if you're looking for stencil material with a temporary adhesive backing, I've also had good experiences with the ORACAL Oramask 813 Stencil Vinyl and the Silhouette brand Adhesive Stencil Material Sheets.

[@ldg0324]

Thank you so much for showing how to adjust the image with the latest update for Silhouette Cameo and for giving such thrifty but viable alternatives for stencil material. I never would have thought of the dividers from the dollar store. And, I like how you think to use the little hearts for shaker cards. Nice!

[@kdotbecca]

Thanks so much, Danielle Gibson! I'm glad that you found the video to be helpful. :)

[@robbynzimmerman593]

I would like a tutorial on how to use your own designs for stencils! Thanks for the useful information!

[@GrowingGreener]

Do you know if this would work using paint? Thanks for the information did know this product was available.

[@keithengwer5316]

You led with Dura-Lar, and lavished nearly all your attention on it. Brilliant! Can't you tell Dura-Lar is my personal favorite? The ink colors are wonderfully descriptive too, though, as a guy, all three of them would be, "Um, pink. Right?" For what it's worth (nothing), Picked Raspberry is my favorite. Oh, by the way, nice project, as always.

[@kdotbecca]

Thanks, Keith! Dura-Lar has definitely become one of my staple supplies. It's great stuff!

[@jenniferdelinger8344]

@@kdotbecca what thickness is the duralar you use? Great video btw

[@jenniferdelinger8344]

nevermind I just saw on the video lol

[@trudievick2359]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge of stenciling.

[@kghomes]

Can you tell me what the settings for the file dividers would be? Enjoyed the video

[@fatimareyes2004]

This is an amazing video…very creative and informative. Great job, just loving it. Definitely want to attempt this. If you don’t mind me asking, which paper would you recommend if the stencil will be used for embossing as well? Thank you!

[@dannicaroseaquino881]

Will the Basic Edition of Silhouette Studio be enough to create stencils?

[@bikergalf8448]

Where did you line up when you fed it into your cameo

[@kinghillfarm]

Thank you so much for the Cameo videos, very helpful. I am finding that the blade gets dull very quickly with the duralar and I'm only getting a couple of stencils before it stops cutting at all, even on the deepest setting. What is the best blade for this?

[@NoJusticeNoPeas94]

Sarah-did you find something else? TIA

[@ClayBoxSupplies]

@@NoJusticeNoPeas94 no, I kind of gave up. I’ve been using it a lot for cutting cardstock and have been using the same blade for months. I have found that it needs a couple of passes once the blade isn’t new anymore. So maybe that’s what it needed

[@krenkurts5054]

What mil thickness stencil blank can be cut?

[@dianavestal850]

How do you choose what lines to cut and eliminate those you don't want cut in a very detailed image? I cut out a horse (coloring book image) it cut every line beautifully However pealing it will remove all those places (like the patches of different fur color or detail in the face) that I want. I just don't understand how to select certain things and omit others to get a detailed stencil but not overly crowded detail? Thanks

[@kdotbecca]

PussyCat59 - It can be tricky to figure out what to leave and what to omit when you're making very detailed images. Typically, the areas inside closed cut lines (aka, the areas enclosed inside the red lines in Silhouette Studio) are what will remain when the design is cut.

[@forzaLT]

Can you do this without the mat?

[@theculinarycloud_swetha]

Hi Kristen..how about the force? Should i increase from 33? I used the same dura lar sheet but it’s not cutting. Also, how do I slide in the cross cut blade behind the cameo machine ?

[@kdotbecca]

the essential story - 33 is the max force that can be set, but you can increase the blade depth or do additional passes so the machine cuts the whole way through the Dura-Lar. If I'm working with a dull blade, I've sometimes had to increase the blade depth to 9 and do 2 passes to get it to cut the whole way through. Re: the cross cut blade. I think it only really works if you're cutting without a mat, so if you're using a vinyl roll feeder or something like that you can slide it across the track on the back of the machine to cut the vinyl. I haven't actually ever used it, so I don't have experience with it.

[@bethanyforsythe8]

What were your settings for the page dividers?

[@kdotbecca]

Hi, Bethany Forsythe! The page dividers are a little thinner than the Dura-Lar (or at least the brand that I have is), so my cut settings were Blade Depth : 3 // Speed : 3 // Force : 33 // Passes: 2

[@ancientangel08]

Hi Kristen, I know this is an older video, but I just discovered you. Thank you so much for this video. I am using the page dividers for the stencil and I have my Cameo 3 set at stencil material and it is not cutting through at all. Any suggestions?

[@kdotbecca]

Angela Little - I usually have to use a deeper blade setting to cut through the materials that I use for stencils. For the Duralar, it's sometimes as high as a blade depth of 8 with 2 passes if my blade is dull. So, I'd suggest increasing the blade depth and, if you're not already, doing 2 passes when you cut the dividers.

[@jccreatives9619]

Dear please tel me the blade and settings. I can't see

[@jccreatives9619]

I used autoblade 10 num speed 1 forse 33 but it cutting one side other side moving for 2passes. Help me please. It litle thick stencil than u do in this video dear

[@mystvoid9552]

Great show and tell, but it is a bit hard to see - everything is washed out white-

[@kdotbecca]

Myst Void - Sorry that everything looked washed out for you. Was it because of the white work surface against clear/translucent stencils, or was it just too bright? I'm still trying to get better with lighting and always watch the videos on my desktop and tablet before posting them to make sure they look okay, but everyone's computer is different, and it's helpful to know if the brightness is too high for others.

[@jaspermartin7444]

yay, Doni H. recommended this video for beginners and after watching, I can see why. :-) Am still considering whether to purchase one of these machines and I have a question if you are so inclined to respond. In order to create your own stencils in a program such as PaintShopPro or Photoshop and then have the machine cut your design, is it necessary to pay to have a monthly or annual subscription fee in order to access any Silhouette software?

[@kdotbecca]

Hi, Jasper! There's a free version of Silhouette Studio software available to download, no fees required. You can download it here: www.silhouetteamerica.com/software The free version of the Silhouette software doesn't allow you to open SVG files, but if you export a PNG or JPG file from PaintShopPro or Photoshop, you can open the file in Silhouette Studio and use the trace function to create your cut file. Hope this helps!

[@jaspermartin7444]

Okay you have convinced me, thank you! I'd read a bunch of reviews on amazon and some people were complaining about needing a subscription with some brands but they never specified which brands.

[@kdotbecca]

Ah, I see. For Silhouette machines, subscriptions really only come into play if you want to regularly purchase design files that they have for sale in the Silhouette Design Store. If you'll be using your own designs or designs that you purchase elsewhere, then you won't need to worry about this.

[@traceybartlam5940]

@@jaspermartin7444 they were probably talking about Cricut however a lot get it wrong - you do NOT Nnedd a subscription to use their machines. The software is free. The subscription is for the images. There are some free however if you want to have access to thousands of images then you would pay a subscription for that, not the software