How to Print and Cut on Dark Card with the Silhouette Cameo

In my shop we have recently been creating a lot of Wedding Stationary for customers, the majority of these designs need to make use of the Silhouette Cameo print and cut feature.

I have a love hate relationship with the laser in my cameo, it probably fails to read (or worse cut correctly!) 75% of the time. If you are using anything other than bright white card stock, prepare for more tears, tantrums and wasted card than you can shake a stick at!

Sometimes a customer will ask for a design on quite a dark colour, although my heart used to sink; how on earth could I tell a bride that she couldn't have the colour that matches her design scheme, because my crappy machine can't cope with it??? After my latest order was completed on dark blue card with success, I've finally found a workaround! White address labels.

I know it sounds crazy, but think about it. The laser cannot read the registration marks because there is not enough definition between the black lines and the colour of the card. Before you start this method, I would strongly advise that you try these two tricks first;

Ensure that you have set the registration marks to the thickest and longest length
Shine a light on the laser housing whilst it's reading - I use the torch feature on my phone :)

If still no joy, then in all likelihood your card is too dark and you will need to use this method.

I use the standard avery address labels and cut each label into 6 width ways

Position two labels in each of the corners (in a L shape) where the marks will print. You need to make sure they are stuck down well.

Time for a bit of lateral thinking! When loading in the card, you need to make sure that when it prints the bottom registration mark, it will print onto the label and not the blank card corner (it leaves one corner without any marks).

Once printed you can load and cut as usual :)

Easy Peasy!

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