Hi Everyone – - time again for my monthly contribution here at the Expressions Vinyl Blog – wahoo!! I’m Mandy from over at SugarBeeCrafts.com
I was planned and ready to talk all about the replicate feature on your Silhouette/Cameos – cause it’s awesome and I just discovered it. But Ashley beat me to it and posted that just the other day. So I won’t go too much into it – - just know that it’s awesome. I just to copy and paste over and over to get a bunch of the same image. If only I had known then what I know now!
So, I thought of something else that I just discovered that is awesome – you might already know about it, but I didn’t so I thought I’d share. Ever heard of the “test cut”?? I had seen that button, but I’d never dared push it! I didn’t know how much it would test cut of my design, and vinyl is like gold to me! I didn’t ever want to waste a piece on a test cut, so I always just jumped in. Well, that test cut button is amazing! You see it in the same spot where you adjust your cutting settings, down at the bottom:
Well, it doesn’t cut any part of your design, like I thought. It cuts a little square with a triangle – pretty tiny – in the corner – - see – - it doesn’t waste vinyl at all! Who knew!!
I tried out some the new vinyl offered (like Chrome and Glow in the Dark) and I wasn’t sure what settings would work best for cutting, so I picked some and then did a test cut. And it didn’t cut all the way through. So I adjusted and tried again. So glad I used Test Cut instead of my whole image. This is genius!! Hope you try it out!
Oh! Sorry I beat you to “replicate”
I always worry about overlapping with someone. But replicate rocks!
And I love that you posted about the test cut! I was nervous the first time I tried it too! haha! But now I use it almost every time!
Have a great day!
Ashley
Ha! Thank you for taking the “test cut” leap for us! I was too afraid to click for the exact same reasons that you mentioned. Now I’m going to be all over it with the new “etched glass” vinyl that arrived today from Expressions
LOL!!! Thank you so very much for this post Mandy!! Hilarious because I avoided that button as well and just dived in too…hahahaha So very glad that I now know what it will do and I will be sure to definitely use it!
Thanks again!!!
Maxine
Ha, I too was afraid to click that! Thank you! Wish I had did that yesterday :/
Can you share what your settings are for the different vinyls are? Do you just use the auto setting of Silhouette Vinyl each time? I haven’t used the thicker ones yet but was wondering what settings I should use.
Thanks!
I normally just use the auto settings – - when there’s no choice (for example, there’s no choice for “chrome vinyl”) then I play around with the thickness and speed til I get something that works. Good luck!
Thank you so much. I had no idea what it would do! That is fantastic. I will be trying it out now.