Warning! This is not a Silhouette Curio review by an expert but rather like the rest of us who had our hands on the Curio first, a very honest write up about this baby we have all been waiting for so patiently.

Welcome to frustration levels hitting the pitch of our very high thatch roof! Literally. This is me trying to install the Silhouette Curio as I excitedly opened the box to find everything I wasn’t expecting. Yes you heard me (insert gasp) I guess both of excitement and surprise.

First off the Curio is much smaller than what you think. It’s sleek and modern square shape had me fooled too – so no worries there feeling a bit like a dummy. Looks can be deceiving! I love the look though. As you unpack the box there is everything you need to get you started with this new toy serious machine. You will notice that the machine has loads of different matts, a funky platform, the normal ratchet blade as we know it, 2 x different embossing blades fine/wide, power cables and the normal i-guess-i-won’t-need-that-manual-and-CD.

So where do you start. Well fast forward to that real life moment when you decide to just update your current Silhouette software instead of installing it via the CD included in the box. BIG mistake. Not only did it crash my system, but Silhouette Studio has not worked since then. Plan B – fast forward and install the CD on another system where I am only a user and it crashes the system so that I can’t even open the Silhouette Studio. By now I am freaking out as I can envision that all my bought and free designs in my Library are lost. Had I only backed up the library as intended a million times before. Fast-fast forward and my DH computer wiz extraordinaire did back up the library as promised and I still have all my designs! Wheh!

Ok – so now we have a Studio that works and I can finally concentrate on the task at hand. So everything there pretty much looks the same apart from a few extra buttons and functions to go with the newly included features and the main reason you got the machine right – embossing, stippling, debossing and etching.

 The main feature of the Curio is the extra height clearance the machine has. Hence the base plate with all the different matts i.e. the platforms that will allow you to draw, emboss and etch onto thicker material like balsa wood, metal etc. 

The Curio 8.5×6 inch base is included in your box. On either side there are plastic clips that hold the platforms in place. The hard base allows you to keep thicker material and other media from moving and slipping while being in the machine. Having said this, the Curio has a whopping 5mm height adjustment that needs to be filled to reach the bar. So it means that you have several cutting matts that can fill the area – much like a sandwich that has to be built up to reach the top. So the plastic clips are there to group the matts and keep them together while building up the height to reach the top.

The Curio comes with 2 types of platforms – 2 x 2mm platforms and 2 x 1mm platforms that you can clearly tell apart. An embossing matt mounted on a 1mm platform and a cutting matt mounted on a 1mm platform. The platforms are separate so you can remove them and chop and change as you need to.

 From left to right: pause button, reload button, on/off button, USB, power
What I really like about this base is that it has a precision loading system – this means that it will load the base exactly the same way each time. So it means that you can pause a process, remove the base, check the progress, reload the base, un-pause the machine and it will continue where it stopped. Awesome!

The Curio is the first machine with a dual carriage system. This means that instead of just one tool you can load two tools at the same time. So by using the dual carriage you can now smoothly jump from one command to another without pausing the actual job. You simply send the image to the Curio, tell it to draw in two colours OR score and emboss etc. you get the idea.

What I like most about this feature is that it is so easy to tell it what to do inside the Studio Software. You simply chose the tool 1 or tool 2 option and do whatever you want done.

So all in all the Curio is amazing, and although it will take a lot of getting used to this will soon become one of my favourite machines. This is a basic intro to all the differences with the actual machine. The obvious ones at least, next up I will share the Studio workspace for the Curio.

Well what can I say – why would you need the Curio as well as the CAMEO. I personally think and know that the Curio is a game changer. It is made to work hard, made for a specific purpose and it is amazing!

The machine is firm, sturdy and functional. The Curio is the machine that will take your hobby a step further and help you dabble in home décor and decorating. It will change your life and you won’t have enough hours in the day to try everything that comes to mind – it really is a must. You can do everything you have come to expect of Silhouette as a brand and then so much more.

Here’s to many more hours of experimenting and getting creative as soon as I have my hands on all the other extras soon to be launched!

So all in all – yes this machine will be your husband’s machine as much as it will be yours – be warned!