My co-worker Bonnie and I went to CHA's (Craft and Hobby Association) winter convention in Anaheim, CA yesterday. We were completely overwhelmed with all of the new craft products we discovered! We were able to help order some Silhouette products for the store (see below). We also got to help find new product lines from Authentique, Bo-Bunny, Echo Park, Graphic 45, along with so many other brands. We can't wait for them to arrive at the store!
My main focus was Silhouette products, and finding other products we can cut with it! I was a bit disappointed by the minimal winter release of products by Silhouette America, as there weren't many in number.
I was excited by the new Corrugated cardstock (it comes in both white and kraft in one package of 3 sheets each). The corrugation is flatter than what you'd see in a box, and of course, pristine! I can't wait to get some! I'm also really excited by the new Washi pack they are releasing! Many cute patterns in a single package, all having the translucent washi tape characteristic we all love!
Also, there will be new LIGHT sticky cutting mats (in both 12x12 and 8.5x12 sizes) for adhering lighter weight materials, as well as minimizing curling when removing product from the mats. Available soon is cuttable vellum (a thicker variety of plain vellum), but the staff didn't know if it was printable. I'll let you know when I get my hands on them, but I don't know if will work any better than any of the vellums I already have in my stash. Other new products include a new Cameo tote (same design as the old tote, except with a sturdier tweed and leather construction), new stencil material for fabric printing, and a black and white sketch pen pack.
Also being pushed was their new Silhouette Connect software. It allows users of Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw to send projects created on these platforms directly to their Silhouette for cutting, without any need of converting them to the Silhouette Studio format. I do not use either product, but I know how useful this conversion program would be for these users. It is available now.
I also spoke with the owners of SRM, sellers of very nice stickers, clear party boxes, treat bags, and Twinery twine. Their company is releasing 12x24 sheets of vinyl in many, many colors and styles! I can't wait for the store to get some in... glitter vinyl (!!!) (very, very cool looking!), metallic vinyls (the brushed pewter and brushed red metallic are REALLY neat!), as well as a rainbow of colors! It will be fun to start creating with the different vinyl products.
Serendipitously (like so much of what happens on the exhibitor floor of a convention!), I also encountered a Canadian fabric company called Camelot. Amongst other fabrics, they produce felts for crafting! Normally, I tell people that they cannot easily cut felt on their Silhouette... Felt is a product that is not woven, so the felting material would stick to their mats and ruin it, as well as the fact that soft felt (most felts sold in craft stores) are so loose that they would shift while cutting, thus making for a not-so crisp cut (if at all).
However, Camelot makes a HARD felt (stiffened) that is still fuzzy, but has body enough to cut! I tried some of their felt products today, and found that currently, their adhesive-backed felts worked okay, both hard and soft felt, but the hard felt with NO adhesive backing worked like a charm! I used my old mats that still had some stick to them, but old enough that it wouldn't grip any of the loose fibers. I cut a simple scalloped heart frame to see if it would cut something with a little intricacy, but not too detailed or simple.
The soft adhesive-backed felt surprisingly cut well, but still left a soft edge (like I guess you'd want with felt, anyways). The hard adhesive-backed felt did not cut very well. I think it was the very thin plastic backing they used on it... it adhered to the mat, but the felt itself did not cut all the way through, either. The hard felt, no adhesive, gave the crispest cut of all, did NOT leave any felt residue on my old mat (surprise! but still was held to the mat well), and cut all the way through on a lower blade setting. It is still a little fuzzy (not soft, but still looks like felt), unlike the adhesive backed hard felt (which looked more like canvas). It left me wanting more!!! Gena, my boss at the store, was able to get them to give me more samples to play with. I gave Camelot some feedback about how their product cut, and what I would change to make it worthwhile for Silhouette users. Hoping they succeed in selling the felt for manufacturing. But right now, I want more of their hard felt.... and I want it now! *sigh*... oh well. Hopefully I will be able to get some, but for now, the samples will have to do.
I will get more CHA info to you once my brain settles... it was a very long and overwhelming day, but soooo much fun! We really needed two days, at least...
Happy Crafting, and drooling :-)
-Dayle
