How to Foil Quill and Cut with a Single Carriage Silhouette Machine (Silhouette CAMEO 1 and 2)

If you are using a single carriage Silhouette machine - such as a Silhouette CAMEO 1, 2 or Portrait - you are still able to Foil Quill and cut!

Using the Cut by Line Color is the trick when you need to swap tools between passes. It's an extra step or two - but nearly as easy as foiling and cutting on a Silhouette CAMEO 3 where you have two carriages, but it's definitely possible!

Open your design in Silhouette Studio.

I am working with this shaped card. The beautiful single line sketch dreamcatcher design is from the Printable Cuttable Creatables shop on So Fontsy.  I want to cut the edge of the card and the fold line and foil the dream catcher design.

Decide which areas of your design will be foiled and which will be cut.

Change the line color of all foiled areas to match the color foil you are using. This is not only a visual reminder to yourself, it will also allow us to create cut conditions based on the color of the line. I'm going to use bronze foil.
 
Change the line color of all areas you want to cut to a different color. Again, I match the line color to the color of the actual paper I'm going to cut on.

Move to the Send panel. At the top click  "Line" rather than Simple. This will let us cut based on the color of the cut line.

You want to foil before you cut.  Before you adjust any Silhouette cut settings, if your foil line color is not first in the list, grab it with your mouse and pull it to the top then drop.

Working ONLY with the foil line color - gold in this case - change the Action to "Sketch" and change your material to Paper, Foil Quill if you have the custom cut setting already saved.

If not, the best Silhouette cut settings for Foil Quill on paper are as follows:

Now let's adjust the cut settings for the line we want to cut with the ratchet blade.

The Action should be set to "Cut" and the material should be selected based on the actual paper you are using.  I'm cutting American Crafts Textured Cardstock (but I'm foiling on the smooth side!!).

Put the Foil Quill tip with the A adapter on it, into the Silhouette CAMEO tool carriage. Plug it into a power source and let it warm up for at least 5 minutes while you prepare your cutting mat. 

Set up your Silhouette Cutting Mat using the tape method to hold everything in place.  If you're a Foil Quill beginner check out how to prepare the material and foil on the mat here. Unfortunately the Foil Quill Magnetic Mat does not work in the Silhouette CAMEO 1 or CAMEO 2 due to the lower clearance. 

Load your cutting mat into the Silhouette CAMEO or Portrait.

Return to the Send panel in Silhouette Studio and UNCHECK the box that's associated with the line color for the card shape - teal in this case. You only want the box for the foil line to be checked.

Click "Send" and the foiling will begin.

When the foil line is done, the Silhouette machine will reset.

Do not unload the cutting mat - we need to swap tools. If you can safely remove the sheet of foil without moving the paper below, you can do so. Otherwise it's okay to cut through the foil. 

Take the Foil Quill tip out of the carriage and replace it with the ratchet blade.

Return to the Send panel in Silhouette Studio and this time UNCHECK the box that's associated with foil line and CHECK the box for the cut line - teal here.

Click Send again. This time the blade will cut the edge of the card and the fold line.

When it's finished cutting, check to make sure it's cut all the way through the paper and then unload the cutting mat you're all done! You've just foiled and cut on a single tool carriage Silhouette machine!

Looking for more Foil Quill and Silhouette tutorials and project ideas - check out out these!

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