Here is the official info from Silhouette
As always, the most important information is between the lines. To sum up, the Curio lets you load and cut/draw, etc. (but not necessarily cut through) thicker materials, while the Cameo lets you load and cut/draw, etc. much larger materials. The Curio is configured for ease of embossing, etching and stippling (but with the same downforce as Cameo is still underpowered for these tasks), while the Cameo is configured for ease of paper and vinyl cutting. The thing you really want to look at if you are considering a Curio is samples by everyday crafters and compare those to what your Cameo can already do, or what other Cameo owners are doing.
There are some great Curio samples at this German blog and some great Cameo samples at Amy Chomas’s blog to get you started. My initial opinion is that the Curio does a tad better embossing on vellum and card stock, but about the same on metal foil. This makes sense because with the same pressure you will still get a slightly better result with the thicker cushioning the Curio’s extra clearance allows its embossing mat to have. Hopefully we will get some side by side comparison samples soon.
Here’s my comparison of the features, taking into account 3rd party accessories people have already been using to emboss, etc with the Cameo.
I will also add that if your main interest is embossing or engraving, you will likely be better served by a higher pressure machine like the Pazzles, Zing etc. if you can afford it and are not already heavily equipped with Silhouette library images. So be sure to check out samples from those machines, too, if this is your main interest.
Thanks, Kay, for the valuable info. Appreciate your always honest comparisons. I’m sticking with my Cameo for now. The Curio just doesn’t do much for me.
~Kris~
Does the curio allow for cutting more that 2 times?
It uses the same software as the Cameo, so no, not directly. You can stack duplicate shapes to force the machine to double cut more than once or in DE, stack duplicate layers.
Thank you so much. Very useful information. Very much appreciated.
Lyn Waring Cottesloe. Western Australia
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2015 16:40:09 +0000 To: lynwaring@hotmail.com
Thank you for the helpful comparative. Your efforts as always go a long way in helping the less experienced of us.
So you are saying stencil cutting of thicker stencil materials will still not be possible. *sigh*
Thank you so much for the update!!!
Thanks, Kay for the great information. Why didn’t they increase the cutting pressure??? To have a machine that would cut/draw, emboss, stipple, etc. with more force would have knocked it out of the park for them. What a wasted opportunity!
That was asked and they are relying on the thick cutting mats to give the machine the ability to emboss better than the cameo can. Still haven’t gotten an answer if you can use non Silhouette brand embossing paper.
Yes. As I mentioned, 3rd party embossing mats are available for the Cameo, but they can not be as thick because of the roller clearance. The samples at the link I posted are not on Silhouette paper so yes, you can use other paper. The results are going to be better with the Silhouette paper, we hope.
Thanks for the information. Do you know if you can have a Cameo and a Curio installed at the same time?
Yes you can.
Thanks, Kay for the great information
Thanks for the information. I’m a bit disappointed with the downforce. The extra clearance is nice, but not if you don’t have the force to cut the thicker materials. Probably not on my Christmas list.
As always, Kay, tanks for your research and information.
Hello, I am a small honey producer and found these labels on Etsy this season:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/127291279/wedding-favor-honey-tags-personalized?ref=shop_home_active_21
They are nice, but were too expensive for me to use going forward, particularly if I go to double sided printing, which we need.
I am not sure how she produces these labels, but assume she prints on a printer and then cuts with a Cameo or Cricut?
I want to get set up to do my own custom labels, which change from year to year and product to product. Some label runs will be small, some in the 500+ range (so hand stamping cut blanks is NOT an option!). And I want them to look somewhat polished and professional.
Can you advise on what technology can help me produce hang tags like these?
Kindest Regards,
Janet L. Wilson
The Silhouette Portrait (if you will be using letter sized paper) or Cameo (if you want to use larger paper) is well suited for producing labels like this in these quantities using single or double sided print and cut. Print then cut on the Cricut is very limited in terms of size and quality and it is very difficult to do double sided.
I am saddened that they did not come out with a heavier force machine. It was the main reason for my parting with my Cameo and going for a Silver Bullet – which I am extremely happy with. Neither does it make sense to decrease the size of the work area. It would appear that the Curio is neither one thing or another, a master of none so to speak.