Swan Song Silhouette Cameo Double-sided Adhesive Tutorial

This project is one that I wasn't sure if I could pull this off, but it was relatively simple once I figured it out. I had originally drawn this Swan for another project unrelated to the Silhouette, but thought it would cut nicely with the Silhouette. I scanned it into the computer, pulled it into the Cameo, and traced it. I got this when I was done. HUH!

Yes it had double lines all over it, and I'm thinking DANG! Then I realized that it looked a lot like those things that I used for doing glitter from Ellen Hutson. HUM! I wonder how this could work. So my family had to put up with the smell of rubber burning while I though, figured and decided what to try first. I was thinking of the concept of cutting vinyl, but I had a whole lot of thickness there. The white paper was too think for it to work easily.  I thought it would work better on the much thinner yellow side, so then I cut this.

Using these settings on the Silhouette, and might I philosophize a bit? Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes. I got this right the very first try.

Silhouette Settings
I did use the Double-Sided Adhesive, speed 1, Thickness 30, blade setting 1, on a mat and double cut. What I ended up with looked like the picture above this one. TADA I was holding my breath to see if this would actually work. Double sided adhesive went "WHITE: side down.

Gasp! It did cut perfectly. When I pulled off the WHITE paper it looked like this. Mind you I wanted the adhesive to stay on the yellow paper, so be vewy, vewy careful to make sure that it does. However, it isn't a great big chore to do this.

Next you take the yellow paper with the adhesive on it, and stick it on a piece of card stock. For this one I used a white one, as I wanted the swan body to be white. However, my daughter has asked for a black swan, so I will use black for that one I think, and the outlines will be black for the borders of the colored feathers.

 At this point you can cut the card stock to the size you want to use. Remember, every micron of this thing will be covered in glitter. I trimmed the demonstration one to close on the right side for this demonstration though. Turning on the light above the cutter would have helped here. My bad.

There is one simple rule here, start with the darker colors first, but since my borders are so large, I started there. Other things you will need to make this easier are:

• Embossing buddy to keep the static down. I got mine from Stampin' Up. Use it in the catch tray even between colors once you dump the other color back in the jar. Use it on the yellow paper at the beginning, but NOT on the project after the first glitter is down.
• I absolutely loved the Martha Stewart glitter because the applicators are perfect for this project, much less waste. 
• The brush in the kit works as a glitter magnet, just throw it out.
• I used the pointy end of the spatula, that came with the kit, to lift the tips of the feathers to weed them, but I expect the hook would also work.

The project below is after the first weeding of the border. Decide what you want that to look like and dump it on. Use your finger to lightly rub it into the adhesive.

This next picture is how the thing looks with the border done and the second weeding complete. I think it looks best if two of the same colors don't touch, so I planned this one carefully.

This is what we have after the glitter is applied to the feathers and it is rubbed down.  Use you use your fingers to thump the excess glitter the tray and put it back in the jars.  You can also use a piece of paper to do the same thing.

So you continue weeding one color at a time, going from darkest to lightest colors. The white one for me was last.  I didn't get a good picture of the last weeding, but that yellow backing is quite sturdy, and comes off almost in one piece if you are patient and gentle with it. The black beak piece is the most difficult to get off, and might come in two pieces; check it out while it is still in tact so you know what needs to come off. I did them next after this purple. Here is the finished project, if you listen to me about doing dark to light, you won't have the funny blue aura on your project like mine has. Don't do as I do, do as I tell you. HEHE

Here is this cut file for the swan.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

The papers are Stampin' Up. Glitter Martha Stewart in Fire Opal on beak, Chariote in eathers, Peridot in feathers and Brownstone in feathers; Barbara Trombley Art Glitter in Pearl on body and outlines, and Night Vision for eye and nostrils; Silhouette in turquoise for outer border. The border is a Martha Stewart punch.