My Current Favorites [August 2023]: Paper Cutting, Leather Crafting, and Bookbinding with the Silhouette Portrait 3
Thanks to the sales, I was able to treat myself to a machine I’d been dreaming of for a long time: a cutting machine. There are so many options on the market that it took me weeks to compare and finally settle on the Silhouette Portrait 3. I’ve already explained why I prefer the Silhouette Portrait 3 to the Cricut here.
The reason it took me so long to decide is that I had very few projects in mind, mainly paper cutting. I hate customizing fabric bags or t-shirts; I’ve always preferred solid colors. So a purchase wasn’t justified if it was just to cut paper occasionally, but since I’ve also gotten into bookbinding, leatherworking and linocut, I see many more applications. Here are a few of my projects with this machine:
Paper Cutting
This machine is used to cut anything you can think of. One of my dreams is to have a lightbox : made of several layers of cut paper. The last layer has low-energy LEDs, and it all forms a magical night light. This kind of design is tedious to cut by hand. Even with my machine, it took me a whole day to run the cuts and do the assembly. If you like this design, know that I bought it for €5 on Etsy (link).
I loved it so much that I continued with a small project to make a bedside lamp. The design comes from Lia Griffith and the light base was bought on Amazon.
That said, you don’t need such complex projects to use the machine. One day, JB asked me if I had any extra bookmarks, and I made him this bookmark (design included) in 10 minutes. He loved it so much that I made them for his whole family.
Bookbinding: Adding Titles to Covers and Spines
I’m really into beautiful books right now, and to have them, I either buy beautiful books at a premiumor I bind them myself. The issue is that a hand-bound book often has ugly titles (unless you do gold tooling on leather $$$$). That’s where my machine comes in because it can cut titles and pictograms on vinyl, and you just stick them on the books.
Look at this before/after. My cheap books instantly look classier. The vinyls come from Cricut because they’re easier to find and buy.
On a leather-bound book, an iron-on vinyl was applied.
My favorite project is this bookmark with the inscriptions from the Lord of the Rings. Such a cut would have been impossible by hand. In reality, it shines brilliantly, and with the textured paper (found at Rougier & Plé), there’s an incredible 3D effect. Too bad the photo doesn’t do it justice. The rose gold vinyl comes from Cricut
Leather Cutting
I’ve always had trouble cutting curves in leather. I was relieved to find that my machine can handle that too.
At first, I wanted to buy a special blade for leather and cardboard, capable of cutting up to 2mm, but all my leathers are cut down to 0.4mm or 0.6mm, so I just settled for buying an extra auto-blade and using it only for leather. The trick is to use a mat that’s not too sticky, but you secure the leather using lots of tape on the sides. Cutting with the Silhouette saved me a ton of time; I finished my wallet in 4.5 days instead of 5, and I wasted less leather (because there were no cutting errors).
My Tips & Tricks
- Use the Pixscan mat instead of the original mat. This mat is more precise and allows you to use scraps more easily.
- To avoid having to change mats regularly, I stick a cheap transfer vinyl on top, so my mat is always like new, and when it gets dirty, I just replace the transfer vinyl.
- I have two auto blades: one for paper and vinyls, and one for leather
- You don’t always need to use brand-name supplies.
- For transfer vinyl, not only do I reuse it multiple times, but I also use a no-name brand that’s much cheaper and comes in bulk.
- For embossing or creasing, I use the Bevel Quill from We r Memory Keepers (you swap out the auto blade for the tip included in this kit)
- For foiling, I use the Foil Quill from We r Memory Keepers (you swap out the auto blade for the tip included in this kit)
