Cutting Laminated Shapes and Print and Cuts with Silhouette (Plus Perfect Cut Settings)

If there's one thing I know it's that there is always another way to use your Silhouette machine....like, say, with a laminator.  I recently got myself a (very basic) laminator and let me tell you, nothing is safe!  I know what you're thinking: laminators are only for teachers. WRONG!

I've combined the powers of my Silhouette CAMEO and my laminator to make custom bookmarks, planner inserts, photo booth props, dry erase games for my kids, luggage tags, the list goes on.

Hear me out...

I got a very basic laminator - it's literally called the AmazonBasics Laminator and the 100 pack laminator sleeve refills cost more than half the price of the laminator...but I digress.

Thinking about it, I knew to successfully pair my Silhouette CAMEO (or Portrait or Curio) with my laminator, I would need need to cut (or print and cut) the design first, laminate and then cut again.   Yes, it's a multi-step process...but laminating the paper first and then cutting only once does not allow for the edges of the designs to be heat sealed by the laminator. You'll see what I mean as we walk through this tutorial

I'm going to demo this using a few different designs. I created some basic print and cut designs in Silhouette Studio. They were print on my home printer on cardstock and then cut with my Silhouette.

I also grabbed a paper bookmark I made for my daughter a few weeks ago that desperately needed a layer of protection and I quickly designed and print and cut a meal planner insert for my planner (after it's laminated it can be re-used by using dry erase markers).  I figured I had a whole laminating sheet I didn't want to waste it with just a few small designs.

After all my designs were cut I warmed up my laminator.  All of the paper cuts were placed into a laminating sleeve.   I made sure to leave enough room between each of the pieces so that when they were cut again they would still have a slight heat sealed border.

The sleeve was fed through the laminator and I was left with a nice laminated sheet when it was spit out the back just a few seconds later. All of my designs were nicely sealed inside.

Now here comes the fun part.  You need to get out your PixScan mat. (I have a Portrait sized Pixscan mat - that I can use on both my Portrait and my Cameo - and the full laminated sheet didn't fit on it so I simply cut it down with scissors.)

Place your laminated sheet onto the Pixscan mat and take a picture with your phone. Make sure the entire PixScan mat is captured.   This is the actual picture I used.

Whatever you do from here on out: DO NOT MOVE THE ELEMENTS ON THE PIXSCAN MAT!

If you're unfamiliar with how to use Silhouette Pixscan technology read this 101 tutorial before you go any further because I'm going to speed through this part. 

Open up Silhouette Studio and in a new work area import the picture of your Pixscan mat, using the Pixscan tool.

Once your PixScan mat with laminated items appears in Silhouette Studio, you're ready to go.   Our ultimate goal is to make a slight offset cut line around each of the designs so that we can cut them out, but keep their edges sealed.

Use the Trace tool to trace all of the elements. Uncheck the high pass filter and move the Threshold slider bar over  to the right. I like to get them all filled in yellow and then select 'Trace Edge'. This will put a cut line right around the edge of your designs.

Tip: If you get a bunch of static muck trace elsewhere on your mat (seen here in the green box), select everything > hold down 'shift' > de-select the cut lines you actually want to keep > hit 'Delete' on your keyboard to remove all the muck. 

Now you should only have cut lines around your designs.

If you loaded the Pixscan mat and cut just like this, you'd cut right along the edge of your design and you'd basically end up with a peeling-laminated piece. We don't want that. We want to keep the edges around the design heat sealed to protect the paper inside. So....we want to create a small offset.


Keep the original cut lines (I outlined one in green below) selected and pick the Offset tool from along the top tool bar.  Set the offset distance to whatever you want. I used .100. Click Apply.

You now have two cut lines around each design...go back and delete the original cut lines so you ONLY have the offsets (blue arrow) to cut. 

And now you're ready to cut. From the Cut Settings tool adjust your cut settings. Pick "Clear Sticker Material" from the material list.  The blade depth, thickness, speed and double cut all work perfectly with the laminated sleeves.  Don't forget to adjust the depth on the blade.

Load your Silhouette PixScan mat into your machine...and watch the magic happen.

When the machine is finished cutting, your laminated designs will pop right off the mat.

TIP: Don't throw out the excess laminated sheet...they're PERFECT for re-usable stencils!

The little 'hello' was adhered to a mini clothes pin.  I use it to mark the current week in my planner. The meal insert was attached to a clip in and was easily inserted into my planner, too.  And if you're wondering, yes I made the planner stickers...I mean I couldn't write a whole ebook about how to create beautiful stickers and not bling out my own planner with them!



And here's another example of a Silhouette project I print and cut and then laminated...these are photobooth props. Obviously laminating them gives the the paper a much needed layer of protection! 

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I receive a small commission. That's what helps fund Silhouette School so I can keep buying new Silhouette-related products to show you how to get the most out of your machine!

Thanks for coming to class today at Silhouette School.  If you like what you see, I'd love for you to pin it!

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