Maker’s Sign with the Cameo Pro

When I first learned I would be getting the Cameo Pro 24” cutting machine, I started out by making a list of projects that I would want to create, started gathering large wood blanks, and started looking through my Silhouette designs in order to decide what I wanted to create.

I don’t know about you, but settling on a design to make on a project can sometimes be the most time-consuming part for me. Or if I am creating the design, the actual design creation, is the most time consuming because I am overly critical of my design work.

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When I saw this design, I thought it would be perfect to add to my Studio/Office. I wanted to take the Cameo part and stretch it to be more like a 24″ cutting machine like the Pro.

I had purchased a large sign blank from Hobby Lobby and started off by measuring the space I had to create the design. Then I drew a rectangle using the Drawing tools on the left and scaled it to the size I had measured of my design area on the sign using the Transform Panel – Scale tab.

I then opened the Makers Gonna Make file by Planeta Silhouette – Design #324370.

The design opens about 9.6” in size, so I grabbed the corner bounding box and scaled it larger.

Since I have a large size, I want the design to be even larger to fit the space, but just stretching it may not look ok. I right clicked on the design & chose Release Compound Path. For this particular design ungroup was not an option. Each design may vary in what you need to do to adjust and alter it if desired. The easiest way to work with this right now is if I change the color of the rectangle and the design to be transparent under the Fill Color Panel.

When the compound path is released, it breaks the design up into individual pieces.

Notice that each piece now has a selection box around it. This includes the insides of the k, a, e, o. It takes the design apart. Now, we have to put each piece back together so when we move the design it all moves as one piece and when filled with color it will look normal again.

Compound paths can be one of the hardest things for a Silhouette user to understand. Check out this post for more details & examples of compound paths and working with them – Compound Paths.

Select the entire word of Make, including the insides of the a, k, e, and r. Then right click and choose Make Compound Path.

There are multiple ways that you can select multiple objects together in the Silhouette software.

Here are 2 ways:

1 – Click on the red line of the object, hold the Shift key down on the keyboard and then click on each of the red lines of the other objects you want selected, keeping the Shift key held down the entire time.

2 – Left click the mouse button and hold it down and drag it across the entire design making sure to touch each object you want selected. Whatever the selection box touches when you do this will be selected.

You can double check that the Compound Path worked properly by filling the design with color after you have completed this step. For example, here is how it would look before and after the compound path is made.

For all the objects that have multiple pieces, select the full design, right click, and choose Make Compound Path. For this design, that is everything except the hearts.

Now, I can start adjusting the individual pieces of the design.

Since my sign is 26.75” wide, I can stretch the design to fit this size, starting with the Cameo machine image. Since I now have a 24” Cameo Pro, I wanted it to resemble that as close as it can without distorting the image. Keep in mind that you can stretch a design lengthwise, but it may not always look the best when you do. Each design is going to be different in how it reacts.

Adjust the design until you are satisfied and then click on the Send tab in the top right corner. Choose the Material and adjust the cut settings if needed.

Do a test cut! I’ll say that one again. Do a test cut!
The test cut will be your best friend and save you from wasting a whole lot of materials before you send your full design to cut and find it did not work.
You can either use the test cut feature on the Send tab in the bottom right corner or create your own by typing out a capital B and then using that and moving it around the design mat as needed.

And then after you have double checked the material settings and done the test cuts, click on the Send tab in the bottom right corner to send your design to cut.

Note: the video speed has been increased on this video.
The total cut time was approximately 8 minutes.

After it’s been cut comes the time to weed and apply the transfer tape. Keep in mind that this video is a time lapse video and took much longer than the 7-minute video total.

The 2 biggest tips I can suggest are to be patient with yourself and it takes practice to work with the large decals. I don’t even want to tell you how many times I cut and weeded this design. Here is one “oops” to show you.

It all goes great until the very end! And that is just how it happens. Kick myself a little bit and then the best part is, I can go back to my machine and cut it again. It is all a learning experience.

It will take time to practice working with large designs.

And I love it in my Studio/Office!
That space needed something and I think this fit just perfect!

I can’t wait to share the other projects I’ve been creating with the Cameo Pro.

For more information on the Cameo Pro, check out these 2 posts:
Just Released – Cameo Pro 24″ cutting machine
Cameo Pro – The details – New features of the Pro
Find the Pro at Michaels HERE with FREE shipping too!
Pre-order from Swing Design HERE
they are estimating shipping beginning at the end of November to beginning of December

Now, do you HAVE to have a Cameo Pro to complete this project. The answer is NO! You could ungroup this design and cut it in sections with any Silhouette machine, even the Portrait. You would just apply the vinyl in the sections that you cut it in individually on the wood board.

I would love to see and hear about what you are creating on my Facebook group at
Silhouette Secrets with EllyMae.

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