Silhouette Tutorial for Working With Files Larger Than 12" x 12"

Sometimes I create projects much larger than my Silhouette cutting machine will actually cut. For example,  today on the Pebbles Inc Blog I have this projects (and all the details so you can make it yourself!).

The frame measures 16" x 20", when the Silhouette will cut only up to a width of 12" if you have the Cameo and 8 1/2" if you have one of the older models.  Today I thought I d show the process I go through when working with files larger than 12" x 12". 


When you open up your Silhouette cutting program on your computer, it will look something like this:

I like to open the file I want to work with, and then use the paper size buttons on the far right hand side to adjust the paper size to the full size of my project.  As you can see below, my numbers read 20.000 and 16.000

As you can see, my paper is much larger than then cutting mat area, and I even get a little yellow warning triangle (in the upper right hand corner) telling me my paper is way too big! That's okay, right now I just want to size my entire image to see how it will look on my finished project.  I'm only using 1 cutting file for this project, but you can mix and match as many files as you want, lay them out, and size them at this time.

When I have everything sized the way I want it, I copy the image and paste in a new one. It'll look something like this:

Hopefully, you won't need the copy, but I make it and slide it way off to the side, just in case I cut, rotate, or size something in a way that can't be undone.

Now it's time to size your paper back to a cutting size.  For me for this project, I worked with a 12" x 8 1/2" mat.

For this project, I broke my cuts up into 7 different papers, one for each continent.  For each cut, I only need to place the section that I need cut onto the cutable 8 1/2" x 11" area.  In the screen shot above, I'm going to cut out South America. I could cut right now the way my paper is laid out and just discard the pieces I don't need.  Or...

...you can use the cut tool (the button that looks like a butter knife on the left hand side of the screen) to sever the lines and cut only the part you need.

You will repeat this process until you have all your pieces cut out.  They you can lay them out on your finished project, knowing they're sized perfectly for your large canvas.

Don't forget to head on over to the Pebbles Blog to see how you can take your newly cut pieces and turn them into a World Travel Map.