Bottom Line: Buy or Not Buy? If you are in the market for a digital cutter, I highly recommend. If you aren't sure, or debating among other choices, read on and then go read reviews from people who really know about this stuff.
Are you affiliated in any way with the Silhouette? No. Bought it retail and have no connection to the company or any other company that has any connection. Would be happy to receive $$ for this review however!! Just make the check out to me!
What it does:
cuts paper in just about any design that can fit on an 8.5 x 11" paper;
prints designs;
cuts vinyl;
makes designs for rhinestones;
makes a lot of noise; and
probably a whole lot more but that's what I've seen.
What it does not do:
take up a lot of space;
make you a better papercrafter;
cook dinner;
improve coloring skills; or
help you lose weight.
In other words, you can cut a lot of stuff, but then you have to figure out what to do with all the stuff you've cut...***
Is it easy to use?
Yes. I'm a big dope when it comes to machines and computers, and I can use it.
Had a few false starts, but after I got through some initial problems, I figured out rather quickly how to buy and download designs from the Silhouette digital library, how to resize a design, how to get an entire page of designs on a piece of cardstock, how to use a smaller piece of cardstock and cut on it, how to get the machine to cut the designs, and how to remove the designs from the sticky "carrier" sheet.
The software that goes with the Silhouette is available online and is free (you can download it without buying the machine). I have a MAC and it downloaded easily. I figured out how to use the software before I bought the machine because I'm not good at that stuff and wanted to make sure that I would be able to use it. There are free vidoe tutorials on how to use the software and I watched all of them.
What were the "initial problems?"
1. The Silhouette comes with two mats (they call them carrier sheets, but that sounds like a disease bearing instrument...) -- one for thicker cardstock and one for thin paper. The mat for the thicker cardstock was so sticky that it ruined every piece of cardstock I tried. I ended up having to laboriously scrape off tiny bits of cardstock. So I walked away for 2 weeks and then asked someone, who told me to take a t-shirt and press on the mat a few times to get rid of the excess stickiness. Worked like a charm. The mat for thinner paper (like vellum and most patterned papers) appeared to have no adhesive at all. I finally noticed that it had a liner on it that I had to remove (for some reason, this was obvious on the thick mat, but not the thin one). I haven't tried the thin mat yet.
2. I didn't realize that the blade was not in properly. You might have to take out the blade and rescrew it so that it is good and tight. This took 10 seconds to do (very easy, right up front). However, when you don't know what you don't know . . . frustration .
Do you really need this?
No
Then why buy this?
1. Shaped cards and other templates. I bought this primarily to make shaped cards. Love them, but avoided them because it is a pain to cut out templates. I keep hearing that the Silhouette is going to come out with a bigger version that will accommodate 12" paper that will make even bigger and better stuff but I'm running out of room and figured this one was good enough.
2. I also love the idea of cutting out multiples of one thing -- an entire page of squares or stars or flowers or the letter "J". One keystroke and the machine fills the page with multiples of the same design.
3. Saves space and possibly money. Dies are pricey. I don't know if this saves money though. In fact, you can buy a lot of dies for the cost of the machine (I paid $170 with free shipping from overstock.com). And I no longer believe anyone associated with papercrafting who claims that anything saves money. So don't fall for that one!!
Cardstock Recommendations?
For large items, like a shaped card, use a thicker cardstock like Stampin Up or Papertrey Ink. I used PTI White for my birthday cake. It bowed a bit so I put it under my laptop and the heat from the laptop ironed it out good and flat.
Downside?
I prefer the look of a die cut piece -- the pressure of the machine leaves a nice rounded edge. (However, the dies often leave a mark on my paper despite efforts to prevent, so maybe it is a toss up.) Also, there is the space/money thing.
And here's my project made with the Silhouette --
***AACK. Um, long story....no project to share today! No excuses other than a combination of a plenty of time and lots of projects with nothing nice produced!
Thanks for listening!
