Wednesday, January 19, 2011

making your own carrier sheets for the silhouette

I was very fortunate to get a silhouette SD for Christmas, for those who dont know what the silhouette is, here is the website: http://www.silhouetteamerica.com/ it is a cutting machine that basically works like a printer but it cuts instead of printing. Sadly the parts for this machine are very expensive and the carrier sheets that are needed to stick your paper on so it wont move loose their stickiness very fast. So I tried making my own and it works!!

Here's how I did it, I ended up using two A4 laminating sheets (perfect size for the silhouette).



I started by laminating one sheet
Then I stuck the laminated sheet into a new A4 sheet and put that through my laminator.
You now have a base carrier sheet that is just as thick as the ones that come with the silhouette (maybe slightly thicker but that's not a problem, it also depends on the quality of your laminating sheets some are thicker than others, mine were pretty thin). So then I added tape to the edges.
I bought a re-positionable spray adhesive at a store near by (migros Colle x fois 11.70 sfr.) and just sprayed a few coats of glue onto my sheet, It's probably best to put too much glue rather than too little because if it is too sticky all you need to do is go over it with an old cotton shirt or something that will make it less sticky.
Then after I let it dry an hour or so I just removed the tape. That evening I tried the sheet with thick card stock and it worked just fine. You could just spray some glue onto your original carrier sheet but after a while I think the blade will ruin the sheet so you'll eventually have to get (or make) a new one. You could also print a grid off your computer and laminate that if you like to use the grid.

11 comments:

  1. là j'avoue j'ai rien capté, c'est quoi des silhouette sheets??

    Steph MUNN

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  2. T'inquiète,la silhouette c la machine que j'ai recu pour Noel et pour passer les feuille a couper dans la machine il faut les coller sur une carrier sheet qui est collante pour que le papier ne bouge pas pendant qu'il ce fait couper. C juste interessant pour ceux qui on une machine et qui ne veulent pas payer une fortune pour des nouvelle carrier sheets (feuille portante).

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  3. Wow, I just got my Silhouette and am still trying to figure out how to use it, but I will definitely keep this bookmarked for later. What a great idea!

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  4. Genial! You resolved me all my problems. My CB Lite haven't thick carrier sheets and it cost more than $25 to sending me to Spain.

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  5. thanks I am definitely giving this a try!!very cool!

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  6. What a brilliant idea, can't wait to give it a try.

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  7. Oh what a great idea! I have a laminating machine, so I'll definitely give this a try. I just wish I had laminating sheets as large as the 12x12 carrier sheets for the Cameo. But this idea will definitely work for regular letter sized sheets. Thanks so much for sharing!

    Debbie

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  8. Great idea! I am thinking of printing the grids on the paper then put it in the lamination :)

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