How To Sketch & Cut with the Silhouette Dual Tool Holder

Hi, friends!

Today I’m going to share two ways to use the dual tool holder on the Silhouette CAMEO 3 (or the Silhouette Curio) for sketching and cutting. Sketch & cut is when you sketch a design with a pen, then cut it out with a blade.

On all Silhouette models prior to the CAMEO 3 and Curio, you had to sketch, then swap out the pen for the blade, then change your settings, then cut. The dual carriage allows you to save steps and time. I’m sharing two methods for sketch & cut below.

(To see the CAMEO 3 in action, watch my video at the end of this post.)

Sketch & Cut with the Silhouette Dual Tool Holder

 

Method #1 for Sketch & Cut

1- Choose your sketch design. These instructions assume you have a sketched design with an offset to be cut. I’m using Haunted House Sketch, which is design ID #66046 from the Silhouette Design Store. We are only going to use one sketch-pen color.

2- Go to the Cut Settings Window. Make sure the Standard Cut Mode is selected.

Sketch & cut with Silhouette Dual Tool Holder - Standard Cut Mode

3- It’s a good idea to always sketch before cutting so there’s no chance of the paper sliding around during sketching, so we’re going to:

a.  Place the sketch pen in the left/red tool-holder 1
b.  Place a regular ratchet blade (set for the paper type) in right/blue tool-holder 2
Note: If you only own a CAMEO 3 it only comes with the Auto Blade, so you’ll need to purchase a ratchet blade or follow Method #2, below.

4- Select all of the sketch portion of the design and click on Tool 1 (because in Standard Cut Mode, tool 1 will always cut first).

5- Choose Silhouette Sketch Pen as the Material Type (Tool 1).

6- The bold preview lines should be showing red for the sketch lines.

Sketch & cut with Silhouette Dual Tool Holder - Sketch Settings Method 1

7- Now select just the offset line you wish to cut and click on Tool 2.

8- Choose Cardstock (or whatever paper you are sketching and cutting on) as the Material Type (Tool 2).

9- Make sure the Ratchet Blade is showing as the Blade Type.

10- The bold preview lines should be showing blue for the cut lines.

Sketch & cut with Silhouette Dual Tool Holder - Cut Settings Method 1

Ready to load the paper and sketch & cut!

 

Method #2 for Sketch & Cut (Preferred)

1- Choose your sketch design. These instructions assume you have a sketched design with an offset to be cut. I’m using Haunted House Sketch, which is design ID #66046 from the Silhouette Design Store. We are only going to use one sketch-pen color.

2- In the Line Color Window, select and color your lines based on whether you want them to be sketched or cut. I usually choose a sketch line color based on the pen color I want to use.

3- Group (right click – Group) the sketch lines together, if they are not already grouped.

4- Leave the red line as-is for the offset to be cut with a blade.

5- Group the offset lines together, if there are multiple offsets.

Sketch & cut with Silhouette Dual Tool Holder - Line Color Method 2

6- Make sure your sketch design is arranged appropriately within the offset on the work page. (Often this is as simple as selecting the entire design, then in the Align Window choosing “Center.”)

7- Go to the Cut Settings Window and choose Advanced Cut Mode.

8- Choose Line Color for the Cut Order.

Sketch & cut with Silhouette Dual Tool Holder - Advanced Cut Mode

9- For the black color (showing the black square):

a.  Click on the blue tool circle to tell the CAMEO you want to sketch the black lines with tool 2.
b.  Choose Silhouette Sketch Pen for the Material Type. (Now is a good time to put your sketch pen in the right/blue tool-holder 2.)

Sketch & cut with Silhouette Dual Tool Holder - Sketch Settings Method 2

c.  If it is not the top line for Cut Order, click and drag that line so it is above the red color. That sets your order of cutting (top-down). Sketch before cutting.

Sketch & cut with Silhouette Dual Tool Holder - Cut Order

10- For the red line color (red square):

a.  Make sure the red circle for Tool 1 is selected.
b.  Choose Cardstock for the Material Type.
c.  Select the Automatic Blade as the Blade Type. (You could also use a ratchet blade—just make sure the blade type in Studio matches the actual blade you are using.)

Sketch & cut with Silhouette Dual Tool Holder - Cut Settings Method 2

Now you’re ready to load the paper and sketch & cut.

This second method may seem more complex, but I really find it gives me the most control, and it makes a lot of sense to my brain. 🙂

Here’s a short recap for Method #2:

  • Set line colors for different functions you want performed on your design
  • Choose which tool you want to use for each line color
  • Put them in the order you want cut/sketched

I hope this helps you try a couple of different methods to sketch & cut, either with the CAMEO 3 or the Curio. You can decide which works best for you. Here are my final results. One is fresh from the CAMEO 3, and the other is colored with some Tombow Dual Brush pens (affiliate link).

Sketch & Cut with the Silhouette Dual Tool Holder

Sketch & Cut with the Silhouette Dual Tool Holder

Watch Sketch & Cut in Action!


Sketch & Cut with the CAMEO 3 Dual Tool Holder from Kelly Wayment on Vimeo.

Thanks for visiting, and I’ll have more CAMEO 3 information for you soon!

 

This post contains affiliate links. It won’t change your price, but it helps you by getting exactly the product I used, and it helps me by giving me a little kickback to help support this blog. Win-win. 🙂

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13 thoughts on “How To Sketch & Cut with the Silhouette Dual Tool Holder”

  • Can you use the old sketch pens with the Cameo 3 or are they new? I am considering the cameo 3 but have all the older sketch pens

  • What about the pen holder that used to be on the old cameo? I never use the sketch pens, I use regular pens but haven’t seen a pen holder for the cameo 3

    • Rosemary, sketch pens do not work on most vinyl because of its smooth plastic surface. In my experience, even if it writes, it will smear. However, if you use printable vinyl it has a surface that holds the ink and you can use the same process to sketch and cut on printable vinyl as you do on cardstock. (Just remember to lower your cut settings because vinyl is much thinner than cardstock.)

    • I’m sorry, but this is still in version 3. The SEND panel in version 4 is actually quite a bit cleaner than in v3. If you’re using Method #2, step 7 would be to go to the Send Panel (upper right blue tab). For Step 8, choose Action by Line (not Simple or Fill). Steps 9 and 10 are basically the same, just watch for drop down arrows if you don’t see what you’re looking for.

      It’s going to take me a while to revise several years’ worth of detailed tutorials to fit v4, I’m afraid, but I’ll do my best. I will actually be posting a video this weekend for the differences in v3 vs. v4 so you can navigate in version 4 even if following a tutorial in version 3.

  • Would you please send the updated video you mentioned you’d be doing for the differences in v3 vs. v4 so you can navigate in version 4? Thank you!

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