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Here are some paper cutting projects I made using my Silhouette Cameo 5 machine.
Supplies used
- Canson 160g black drawing paper (Amazon link) €5.6 for 12 sheets
- A selection of Canson 160g mid-tint papers (Amazon link) €4.7 for 10 sheets. I tested 180g but I find that 160g is a good compromise between thickness and rigidity
- Aleene’s glue: it’s quite concentrated and the advantage is that when it dries, it becomes transparent (Amazon link), €8.5
- I use the Standard cutting mat of my Silhouette Cameo 5
The templates come from the book “Cute Bird, three-dimensional cutting paper: with of the World Wild Bird Bird Close Up To 45 Piece” (ISBN : 978-4416315460). Unfortunately, this book is only available in Japanese and French.
There are no files provided with the book, but you can scan the templates and vectorize them in the Silhouette software to create cutting files. This is quite practical as it allows me to cut 25 feathers at once with the Cameo 5 instead of cutting them one by one by hand.
Here’s the first bird made with this method:
The second bird was made with exactly the same method, but this time, the bird has only one color which makes cutting easier:
The blue paper doesn’t make the details stand out, so I made the same bird in yellow this time. And framed, it looks like this:
Butterfly Bookmarks
I don’t remember where I found this template, but I’ve been using it for a long time to make bookmarks for myself.
Night Light
I still have a huge stock of washi papers (handmade Japanese paper) bought in Japan 2 years ago, never used. I’ve always been fascinated by Japanese “stained glass” style paper cuttings. Finally, I motivated myself to learn the technique. The black paper used is a Canson 160g, but the colored papers are washi, very thin, very light but robust, thanks to its manufacturing process that almost “weaves” the paper. This gives a “stained glass” transparency effect. Additionally, the papers I bought have a “tie & dye” effect with a very appealing color variation. These pieces were cut by hand. And it makes a night light that I find absolutely beautiful and romantic.
As usual, the template comes from a Japanese book (大人かわいい 物語のカラー切り絵 はじめてでも繊細に コツがわかる本) that I found on Amazon Japan (you can buy it as an ebook by registering on Amazon Japan). The template was scanned and then vectorized to create a cutting file. I removed the small stars that were too small for the Cameo 5 and completed them by hand.
I hope you enjoyed this. If you need help using your Silhouette Cameo 5, leave your questions in the comments.
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