Mothers Make Art

Renewing Our Promise To The Earth

A Review of the Silhouette Cameo 4 Cutting Machine

opaline · ·

As a lot of you guys know, we’ve been running our Cricut & Me course for a few years now and we’ve had more and more requests to add a course about using a Silhouette cutting machine. We aren’t quite ready to release that course just yet, but we have started ordering in a number of the Silhouette Cameo 4 machines for when we’re ready to launch.

This post is going to be a quick review of the Silhouette Cameo 4. For those of you who have only worked with Cricut machines in the past, you’re in for a treat. We’ve done loads of research for this article, and we’d like to give a quick shout-out to Cut, Cut, Craft!’s Silhouette Cameo 4 review, which really helped fill in a lot of the missing details for us.

So what can you use this machine for?

  • making holiday and greeting cards
  • cutting through thicker materials like acrylic, wood, and leather
  • making outdoor vinyl signs
  • 3-d papercrafts
  • making your own custom stickers or t-shirts
  • and a lot more!

Basically, you can think of it like a Cricut Maker but even more powerful and that can cut much longer spools of vinyl. The biggest improvement we’ve seen from Silhouette is really the cutting power and tools that work with the Cameo 4. Silhouette Studio software is still as good as ever, and they keep improving it everytime I update it.

There’s also two larger versions of the Silhouette Cameo 4, one that comes in 15 inches, and another that’s 20 inches for working with really wide materials. We’re just getting in the regular Cameo 4’s, but if you buy one of the other ones yourself the course will work for you too.

They’ve released a bunch of new tools for working with materials like felt or fabric (a Rotary Blade) and they have adapters so you can still use the Silhouette Cameo 3 tools with the new machine.

The design have a built-in holder for vinyl rolls, but there is a bit less storage than there used to be. For me, I’m happy to trade less storage for all of the improvements they’ve added, but I know a lot of crafters are pretty upset, especially those who are working in a smaller space.

The biggest change if you’re moving over into the Silhouette world is going to be the tutorials and community support available. Silhouette does have a great community, but if you’re used to sites that only have Cricut tutorials it might take a bit to get a hang of it. Once you get used to their software though, I think you’ll probably make the switch, which is something we’re considering ourselves here, to just have one Silhouette course (if you come up with a catchy name, please let me know!).

Silhouette has really great starter kits for the Cameo 4, which I highly recommend getting if they’re in stock. It’s always a lot easier to pick up a new craft if you have a first project to work on.

All in all, we give the Silhouette Cameo 4 5 out of 5 stars! It does have some downsides, but we really like the changes Silhouette has made and think the Cameo 4 will be a machine that will last for a really long time. You know that we typically like to reuse and recycle before purchasing new things here, but we’re making an exception for the Cameo 4 because it allows you to use so many scrap materials and repurpose them into really neat crafts.

If there are any Silhouette tutorials or example projects you want us to feature, please leave a comment, thanks guys!

DIY Crafts 101: A Macrame Wall Hanging

opaline · ·

If you’ve been following our projects lately you’ll know that we’ve been obsessed with macrame wall hanging projects. We’ve gone through almost all of our three-strand twisted cotton rope supply, and the only thing more popular than macrame at our workshop has been the Cricut and Me course that we’ve been running (which is currently full for the fall).

This post will just be a collection of tips, so if you don’t know the basics of how to make your own macrame wall hanging, check the link above which has a great DIY tutorial available.

Macrame is growing more and more popular lately as boho chic decor is trending. If you’re trying for this style and having trouble bringing everything together, macrame might be the missing element in your design. These wall hangings often look really complicated and if you check their prices at the store, can be pretty expensive for the larger designs. But you know our method: DIY! Take on a big project, be willing to fail, and see what comes out the other side (both you & the craft).

Macrame is easy, pretty cheap, and actually quite a bit of fun. We’ve compiled a whole collection of tips which will help you.

Our tips:

  • Practice as much as you can, especially if you’re waiting for your cord to be delivered.
  • Take your time, a large macrame project can take 3-4 hours at least. This shouldn’t be something you rush through to just get it over with, crafting is meditative, enjoyable, and the process/journey is often the very best part. Though having that cute craft at the end doesn’t hurt.
  • You can experiment with materials. Don’t limit yourself to what you see other people using. Try out jute, nylon, rayon, cotton, or nylon. Different materials will give you a different look.
  • Start off cheap. I would start with smaller projects, cheaper material, and less ambitious knots. Look for cord thicknesses of 4mm or so for large projects, or 2mm for smaller bracelets and necklaces.
  • Keep your tension in check. When you’re trying to get your knots looking great, what’s going to keep them looking uniform is uniform applied tension.

Macrame is a super fun craft to take on, and what we love about it is you can do it at home super easily. We host tutorials and workshops at the Space usually once a month, and we’re happy to have you bring in your unfinished projects for us to take a look.