Hello Sunshine Curio Debossed Art

Hello Sunshine Curio Debossed Art

Hello Sunshine! I want to share with you this piece I made with my Silhouette Curio. Embossing/debossing is one of those tasks well suited to the Curio with its special platforms and foam mat. I chose to give mine a little more pizzazz with gold vinyl inside the debossed lettering.

FYI, if you’re unfamiliar with the terms, embossing leaves a raised surface and debossing presses into the surface for an indentation. The Curio goes through the same motions for each, but the end result depends on whether you will be looking at the front or the back of the page after the Curio does its magic.

If you want to make this project exactly like mine, you’ll need 5 x 7” score & emboss paper, and follow these instructions:

  • Open the Hello Sunshine design and resize to about 3.70” wide (use a corner handle to resize, or keep the aspect ratio locked if using the Scale Window). It should also be about 2.75” tall.
  • With the design selected, open the Offset Window and create an offset of 0.03”.
  • Drag the two pieces apart. Change the original design (the inner portion) to yellow in the Fill Color Window. You’ll cut this with gold vinyl using the Curio cut mat.  Note: the fill color just helps identify it and is only for convenience.
  • With the remaining offset, you’ll need to arrange it and apply score & emboss lines.
  • In the Design Page Window, set your Page Size to width = 7”, height = 5”, Landscape view. Also set your Cutting Mat to Curio (emboss) 8.5 x 6 in. When you place your 5 x 7” emboss paper on the emboss mat you will place it exactly on the mat as you see represented on the screen. See the settings and tips in the image below.

Curio Deboss Tutorial

  • Rotate your offset design 90 degrees counter clockwise. In your Align Window, choose Center to Page, which is the bottom option. (This places it perfectly centered within your chosen 5 x 7” page size.)
  • If you want a rectangular debossed edge around the outside of the page like mine, draw a rectangle that is 6.440” wide and 4.440” in height. Also choose Center to Page in the Align Window for that rectangle. I made a double rectangle in my sample, but my frame covers the outer rectangle in the photos. The design should look something like this:

Curio Deboss Tutorial

  • Now you’re ready to apply score & emboss lines. Open the Emboss Window (looks like a square with a spiral swirl inside). See the image below.
  • Select Deboss at the top, then click on Score & Emboss. Choose the fine embossing tip.
  • Select your shapes on the page, then choose Apply Score & Emboss Lines. (If you look at Score & Emboss Options you’ll see I left mine at 1 pass and no fill. These are adjustable.)

Curio Deboss Tutorial

  • The line colors will change (red for scoring, blue for embossing). Follow the instructions to put your blade in tool holder 1 (left side—red circle) and your fine embossing tip (in the white housing) in tool holder 2 (right side—blue circle).

You are ready to deboss!

  • Remember to load the emboss paper correctly onto the emboss mat, leaving the small border as directed by the guide arrows. You can place these Curio material fasteners that came with your machine (see below) along the edge of your paper to keep the edges down while the machine presses into the paper.

Curio Deboss Tutorial

  • If you check your Cut Settings, you’ll see the appropriate settings have already been chosen for your tools. The left tool is set to lightly cut the score & emboss paper with the blade, and the right tool is set to emboss the score & emboss paper with the fine emboss tool.
  • Note: If you click on one of those materials you will see the embossing mat requires only platforms 2, 2, and the embossing mat, so be sure to include only the necessary platforms.
  • Send to Silhouette, and it will go through the necessary passes.

This is how my design looked immediately after unloading. Pretty nifty, huh?

Curio Deboss Tutorial

  • If you haven’t already, cut your vinyl portion of the design. Remember to change in the Design Page Settings to the Curio CUT mat. Also, remember when switching your material types in the Cut Settings Window to adjust your blade and material setting for vinyl (I personally prefer Blade 2, Speed 8, Thickness 9). Change your platforms to 2, 2, 1, and the cut mat as well.
  • Once the vinyl is cut, you can weed it and use transfer tape to place it inside the debossed lines. Now place it in a 5 x 7” frame and you’re all done!

I must say that these pictures really don’t do it justice. The debossed look is much easier to see in person, but here are a few detail shots.

Curio Deboss Tutorial

The Curio is such a fun addition to my Silhouette family of machines. If you have any questions about it, please ask!

 

Note: This post originally appeared on the Silhouette Blog and was created in v3. I will update the screenshots and instructions to v4 as time permits. Thank you for your patience. I highly recommend watching this video on the Emboss Panel and this video on Score & Emboss in Silhouette Studio v4.

 



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