Learn how to cut foam with your Silhouette Cameo to create cute pencil toppers, craft projects, and more!
Fabric, vinyl, card stock, sticker paper, chipboard – your Silhouette Cameo can cut a lot of different materials! The one question I see quite often is, “Can my Silhouette Cameo cut foam?” Why yes, yes it can. And I’ll even let you in on a few little secrets to help you make your first foam cut.
Through some trial and error, I was able to figure out the best settings and techniques for cutting foam. For the best results, you will want to use a piece of foam that is about an inch larger than the shape you are going to be cutting and place the foam in the middle of your mat.
Use the following settings to cut the foam:
Blade – 10
Speed – 1
Thickness – 33
Double Cut
I was a bit nervous making the first cut, as foam is not one of the medias recommended by Silhouette to cut with the Cameo. But being a crafting rebel, I put the foam on my mat, changed some settings, closed my eyes, and pushed the cut button.
One thing I expected after pulling the foam off my cutting mat was that the shape would be easy to remove, similar to when you cut paper shapes. This was not the case. If you look at the back of the foam, you cannot see the cut marks – at all.
And after cutting it again and again, it still looked like that. I was ready to throw in the towel when I realized if you use scissors to cut a little into the edge of the foam, you can separate your shape from the rest of the foam.
I thought these foam butterflies would make for some cute pencil toppers! After cutting out two butterflies for each pencil, I used some glitter glue to decorate them.
After the glitter glue is dry, I put one butterfly face down on the table and covered it in hot glue. You’ll have to work quickly to then put the pencil and other butterfly on top before the hot glue hardens.
There you have it – some super cute foam butterfly pencil toppers to help you flutter into spring! And how fun would these be to make at a classroom party or to give as a birthday party favor!
Be sure to check out these other Silhouette Cameo projects!
Layered Vinyl Tutorial
Burlap and Fabric Bunting
Tamara says
Thanks for sharing. These are cute & I know kids would love them and would probably be great added to party treat bags.
Pinning. Thanks for linking up at the Bloggers Brags Weekly Pinterest Party
Laurie says
You ROCK for linking up this week to Tip Me Tuesday {high fives} Just a heads up, Tip Junkie can help you index your blog more effectively if you upload at least 2 images, 2 steps, and blog post URL into your Tip Junkie craft room! Simply login and click “add a project” on your profile page to get started. {yep I’ve got your back!} ~ Laurie {a.k.a. the Tip Junkie}
Sonia says
Hi. Did you use the blade or the fabric blade?
Thank you
Kelly says
Hi Sonia! The fabric blade and regular blade are actually the same blade, just a different color casing so you can tell them apart. Since cutting paper dulls the blade, a lot of people like to have a separate one for cutting fabric. So either one can be used to cut foam!
Sonia says
Thank you Kelly, you are very kind 🙂
Dee says
Thanks so much for this! I’m making fabric stamps right now (to use with speedball screen printing ink) and was excited to try this out! I don’t know if it’s because I got some dollar store fun foam (a big pack of 4 x 6 sheets) and maybe that’s thinner than the “good stuff”, but my fun foam cut right through perfectly using your settings. No post-production work needed! I’m actually considering putting the blade on 9 (or not double cutting) since I’m scoring my mat quite a bit…
MARLENE says
WHAT MATERIAL TYPE SETTINGS DID YOU USE. THANKS
Kelly says
I’m so glad to hear how well it worked for you, Dee! And making fabric stamps sounds like so much fun!
Danielle says
I used the dollar tree foam sheets (10count, 8inx12in very thin…) and used all the same settings except did the blade on 8. Worked perfect! Cut out some fish and glued them together with a paperclip inside so we can make a magnetic fishing game for my 3 yr old! (each fish will have a number) Thanks for the tips! I may have to make stamps next!
Mary-Lynne Eason says
This is exactly what I needed for today’s project! Thanks, so much for sharing your information, and doing all the hard up-front work for me!
Kelly says
I’m so glad to help, Mary-Lynne! I hope your project went well! 🙂
Jennette Brown says
I came across your tutorial and I need help! It’s not cutting! I’m using pretty thin foam too. I did all the right settings. Maybe my blade is dull? I’ve barely used it though. Help! I’m just trying to make a simple circle too.
Kelly says
Hi Jennette…other than trying a new blade and making sure everything is locked into place, and the blade cartridge is pushed down completely in the round holder on the machine, I’m not sure what else I can suggest! Hopefully it works out for you in the end!
Patricia Swain says
I too am having problems trying to cut sheets of Wal-Mart craft foam (about 2 mm thick?) . I’m trying to make a sheet FULL of crosses that are about 1.25 tall x .75 wide. We need these for an ongoing church project. With help, I have a full sheet template downloaded into machine but when I try to cut, the blade does not track correctly and it becomes a mess. I bought the Cameo just for this project and really can’t afford to buy another machine and have another failure! Any ideas?
Kelly says
Hi Patricia! Other than making sure your blade casing is pushed down all the way in the holder and moving the rollers so it’s holding the foam in place, I’m not sure what else to suggest! As I shared in my post, foam is not a media that is recommended by Silhouette, so it takes a bit of trial and error to figure out how to best cut it with your machine.
Carl benson says
Hi! I was having the same problem with 2mm craft foam! The two end of the cut would not meet up and it was driving me crazy! I finally figured it out! The foam sheet is too wide! The outer edges of the plastic rollers smush in the sides of the sheet distorting the image. All you have to do it cut about an inch off the width of the sheet and make sure the foam doesn’t touch the the out her edges of the rollers!
Leah says
Attempted this with your settings and my machine made a horrific noise. I immediately paused and cancelled the cut job, removed the foam. Now I’m trying to cut a piece of photo paper and the right side of the roller bar is stuck in an elevated position. Did you have to reset your machine after using the foam? Also my machine is no longer cutting. I send the project to the machine after loading my mat and it goes straight to job complete without the machine moving at all. Hoping I can get it working again tonight. Trying to finish a costume for tomorrow.
Kelly says
Hi Leah — I did not have any problems with my machine after cutting the foam, so unfortunately I’m not much help for troubleshooting. Hope it works out for you!