Why to use or not to use a cutting machine to make stencils

A question regularly asked in my courses is why I do not use a cutting machine to make stencils. Sometimes it is asked because people find cutting difficult, sometime because of physical (hand and wrist) problems, sometimes out of curiosity and of course people who already use cutting machines ask this. Personally, I had always enjoyed cutting as part of my process and I have found that with the right technique and practice a lot of people do appreciate hand cutting. Then, however I had a thumb injury which made it impossible to cut for a while. While it is now better, I still need to be careful with repetitive movements that put pressure on my hand and I decided to use the time to find an alternative, as well as give a better answer to the questions about using a cutting machine, one that would be based in personal experience.

After getting some advice I have chosen to work with a Silhouette Cameo (5 alpha)* machine so I cannot speak about other machines. The pros and cons that I will mention are based on using this machine with my own process (that I also teach in all of my courses) making layered stencils for repeat patterns and working with Mylar stencil material with a thickness of 125 micron.

Silhouette Cameo 5 alpha cutting machine with first stencils cut with it.

I will share my initial thoughts after making the stencils for my first design with the silhouette machine. The design I used is a 7-layer repeat pattern. I found that getting to know the machine and what it can do in the process that I need it for was quite time consuming. I did need help to get to understand it, but I am not naturally good at understanding these kinds of machines and their manuals. Also, my process (that is self developed) is not something that is included in the Silhouette instructions, we needed to piece the different parts of the process together. The good news is that it is possible to make layered stencils with this machine and also to make a repeat pattern with these stencils. To make this possible my stencils need to have the drawing of the design on them in permanent marker to be able to align the different parts of the print. This is possible with the Silhouette Cameo machine. It has two different tools, one for cutting and one for drawing. You can insert your own marker into the drawing tool and in this way, I was able to have my stencils work in the same way as my hand made stencils. My conclusion so far is that there are some pros and cons to working with a cutting machine compared to cutting by hand:

Stencil on a dark surface shows the design of the motif drawn by the Silhouette machine as well as the cut out parts.

 Pros:

·      The cuts you make will be very precise which will make aligning a repeat easier and better

·      It is easier to make more detailed cuts, without risking to damage the stencils while cutting

·      When you have made the stencils once and one gets damaged, it will be very easy to make it again

·      Cutting with the machine can be done without putting pressure on your hands and without repetitive movements.

Cons:

·      For someone not used to working with design software figuring out how to work with this machine to make layered stencils might be a steep learning curve and even with some experience it took us quite a bit of time.

·      The process is less immediate than working by hand.

·      For me I feel I lose something when I am not cutting. I love the simplicity of the handmade process and also the slight wonkiness of the cuts. I think they get some of their charm from being not completely uniform and perfect.

My conclusion at this point is that I am happy to have bought the machine and to have the option of making my stencils in this way. It will be especially helpful with stencils that get a lot of wear in my production and that I need to remake once in a while. I still have a fondness of hand cutting though and when my hand is fine I will rather use this to try out a new design than go straight to the machine.

* I am not affiliated with Silhouette Cameo and do not earn money with this blog.