Building on the success of the industry first Silhouette Curio, Silhouette America has launched its all-new Silhouette Curio 2.

The Curio 2 is a massive leap up from the original Curio. Silhouette has identified that so many crafters have morphed into makers and are demanding much more from their cutting machines. The heart of this unique flatbed cutter is its Power Terminal - sitting alongside the regular tool holder that Cameo users will be familiar with, this second head carries its own internal power supply, which means that for the first time Silhouette can now use powered tools that have previously only been available in stand-alone machines.

Silhouette has a lot of plans for the Power Terminal, but first out of the blocks will be a Heat Pen, Embossing Tool, Leather Punch Tool and a Powered Engraving Head.

The heat pen was probably the most requested accessory, with so many Cameo users asking for the option. Third party options have been available for some time now, but many users were reluctant to bolt a third part object onto their favourite cutter.

Now that Silhouette has built this option into the Curio 2, operation is seamless and all function can be set up in the Silhouette Studio software. The addition of the Heat Pen available in two sizes, 1mm and 2.5mm, which will be great for foil stamping onto cardstock, faux leather, polypropylene, plastic sheets and many other substrates etc.

Also new to the Power Terminal is the Punch Tool - interchangeable tips allow you to punch 1mm, 3mm and 5mm holes into a variety of materials such as thick cardstock and faux leather, allowing for stitching, decorating etc.

The most exciting accessory is the Power Engraver - this powered engraving head allows the user to engrave the surface of hard substrates such as acrylic sheets, silver clay and even copper and brass sheets. Silhouette does recommend using the optional debris tray to protect the innards of your cutter from potentially damaging swarf.

There is no need for power to use the new 1mm and 3mm embossing tools, but with a 5kg head force the embossing tools can be used to emboss and deboss foils and cardstock.

Of course, the standard non-powered head is no slouch either - with a cutting force of 300gf this is equal to the cutting force of many commercial cutting plotters and will easily hand paper, cardstock and HT vinyl.

The Curio 2 officially launched on 13 September 2023, with UK stocks available very shortly after that.

Available from www.craftstoredirect.com