I've recently had the opportunity to test out the KNK Zing Air, (I bought it and returned it). To my surprise, bare in mind that I was upgrading from a silhouette cameo, I found the knk zing air quite perplex. Don't get me wrong, It's a very powerful machine, but everything was so knew to me. It took me a full day to figure out which way was up and down on the software.  Finally, I was able to figure everything out. I'm a pretty fast learner and pretty sharp when it comes to computer and graphics software , so something like Make the cut was pretty simple to me. Except, when compared to the silhouette software, I found it to be too, time consuming. I'm used to going in, cut and getting out, but not with this software.   I had more control of the digital die cutter but less control when it came to my graphics. The whole trace feature on the Make the Cut software was so burdensome. You didn't get a threshold slider like the one on silhouette studio, no with this one, you had to increase or decrease numbers, check mark background, play around with the colors... It took me anywhere from 2-3 minutes just to import a trace of my graphic into the software. And FYI, this software is not JPEG friendly. The print and Cut part of the software was so...so...annoying, especially the calibration process. Worst of all, I had to calibrate the software to my blade with every blade I used. Granted, I was able to use an array of blades with this machin, from the silhouette blade to the cricut cutting blade, along with their prospective mats. Now, the machine itself was powerful enough to engrave, emboss, and cut thicker material. I only had a few issues regarding the machine. 1.) it had no pause button, so you can kiss goodbye to any material used if it lifts off the mat. 2.) the to clamps on either side kept jamming on me. 3.) it kept getting disconnected from the Bluetooth connection set up. 4.) the red blade included arrived broken 5.) the mat had close to zero tack on it.( two test cuts and it was a goner) Still this wouldn't have bothered me so much if the KNK company weren't so restrictive with their warranty. I bought my machine on Amazon, I paid for the Janome Artistic pack, because it was the only knk zing with prime shipping. I knew I was paying $50 over the price, but I figured, knk was charging $30 bucks to ship, and God knows how long that would take, so I decied to take my ten dollar lose, since the Janome artistic blade came with the yellow fabric blade ($10 +shipping) When I noticed the mat had close to now stickiness to it and my red blade was broken, I contacted knk company. They were really nice in telling me that my warranty was void because I bought the Janome artistic pack. I was shocked, I just paid 499.99 for a machine with not even a 30 warranty. I originally bought the machin from Richmond Hill on Amazon. So I contacted them. They were nice enough to reply with "we are authorized sellers of knk, the warranty shouldn't be void." It made sense, I mean, I didn't buy my hp printer directly from hp, I bought it from Best Buy  an authorized seller, same thing. I went back to knk and told them what Richmond hill had said. They replied back with a suggestion that I return the knk zing air and buy it directly from them. At first they claimed that Janome switched out the blade so that's why the warranty was void. Then when I corrected myself and said I bought it from Richmond Hill, they said the Richmond was a Janome authorized seller, and since I didnt get it from Janome, then my warranty was still void. I know it sounds complicated but that how it felt, complicated. This had me worried. If knk was making it this complicated to get a replacement blade for the one that arrived broken, then I wonder how much more complicated they will be if the machine actually broke. As luck would have it, Richmond Hill offered me a refund, exchange, or a trade for the Artistic Edge 15. I was hesitant at first, but I figured, I gave the Zing a try, that didn't work out, why not give Artistic Edge a try, what else could go wrong.

So far, I've only had it for a few days, but I've been putting it through the ringer. I have to say, it's been keeping up with all the punches. I expected a good machine for the price I paid, I just didn't expect it to be this good.  Maybe in a few weeks I'll feel different about it, but for now, it's pretty awesome. I did on unboxing video of the Artistic edge, which I'll be putting up on YouTube soon, I also did a couple of videos on the KnK Zing. Also, I love the way Richmond conducts their customer service, would totally recommend buying from them.  They have a store on Amazon and etsy.    Here's a link to their store on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_hi_1?me=A1XRZI8J9YM8TB&rh=i%3Amerchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1440313532&lo=merchant-items

I found this awesome stencil online, Chucky.
It's actually pretty cute in a freaky sort of way. Here, in case you want it, it's down below.

Now, for stenciling, Use a product I bought from Amazon, I'll add the link on the bottom. There reason I use this specific stencil roll, is because, it's cheap, it's strong enough and did I mention it's cheap.

Now, I like doing large stencils, over the 12 inches, so I order wide stencil rolls, cut it and cut it in section, (I also, attach it in a unique for of way, I'll do a video on that later on)
Back to the subject at hand, the stencil. Below are some images on the stencil I made.

Let begin okay, this right here is chucky. Now to make a stencil you'll need an image that isn't closed off. See how non of the black is connected fully around, the reason for that is if you have anyting that is connected where there is still some details that make your up your stencil, it will cut off completely. ruining the stencil itself.

Got it? Hope so.


Now moving on.
You drag and drop you image onto  Silhouette Studio software and map out the lines. Twiddle with the settings to get it how you want it.
Next you will need stencil sheet or roll. I know what you're thinking, why buy stencil rolls, when i ca use cardstock? This is so true, and cardstock will work, so go with it if you want to. I personally, like using acrylic paint and spray paint. if you are planning on using spray paint, don't go with the cardstock. You might ruin the material, if the paint seeps on the edges.

If you are going to using the stencil multiple times, buy the roll.

Here is my Chucky stencil cut, weeded, and ready. (WOO)

Here are the settings I used.


Cardstock settings, but with my knew blade, I set the blade at 2 with double cut.

You can use a 4, no double cutting or a 3 no double cutting, but you will get that faint impression on the mat. I have a semi-new mat and I didn 't want that cut it with my new blade.

Here is what is used to prepare.

First, get the surface you want to stencil on, (duh right)



Then, MAKE SURE YOU USE SOMETHING UNDERNEATH IN CASE THE PAINT SEEPS THROUGH.

Get your paint, I am suing acrylic paint on 80% cotton. I love this paint, and it last for so long, once you iron it on, it's permante.

I like to add my paint in on of those little containers, mainly because...
it's cleaner
faster
and i can save the left over paint for detailing.

 The bursh I use, since I am using acrylic paint, is a nice spongy brush, i have the medium size here. It has a flat surface and it's big enough to obsorbe a good amount of paint I can use on my stencil.

Make sure to dab on the paint softly but fast enought so that the paint won't seep through the edges.










Here is the stencil once it's done. Like I mentioned before, Iron this. place a thin cloth over the stencil, once it's dry, and iron it. After that, just toss it in the washer, and dry, and you are set.

In this post I will be showing you how I utilize the silhouette cameo's potential by engraving a metal dog tag.
I am not telling you to go out and do it. I'm just showing you that it can be done.
Materials you will need.

1. Cutting mat
2. engraver pen (any pen like engraver with a strong tip)
3. Silhouette pen holder
4. metal ( am using a dog tag, make sure to use thin metal sheets. Nothing too thick, mostly stick to the Cameo's wide specs.

Now that you have all the materials ready follow the instructions or watch the video below.

\

• Step one. Grab your engraving pen and pen holder and place pen inside pen holder.

• Make sure to only allow a small tip of the engraver to be exposed such as this ( image below)

• Place the pen holder into the Silhouette Cameo blade slot
• Make sure there is enough space between the tip of the engraver pen and your cameo
• Grab metal sheet. ( note, not to thick base the thickness of the metal with the thickness Cameo allows. 
• Do not place metal underneath white rolling clips. 
• I am using a dog tag (image below)
  
  

• tape dog tag to your mat using painters tape

• Prepare you text on your Silhouette studio software and use the Heavy Card Stock setting to engraver. Make sure you take proper measurements of your metal and align it with your canvas.
• I unfortunately hadn't done that so the text was too long but you can see in the image below that it did engrave the dog tag. I'm sure if I would take more time testing and tweeking the setting i can engrave a perfect master piece. Or maybe not. I'll let you know