Engrave a personalized dog tag with Silhouette Curio

When I heard about the features of the Silhouette Curio early last year, I began dropping hints to my husband that this tool would make a perfect Christmas gift. I already own the Cameo 3, and I use it so much that the whir of the blade cutting vinyl is a regular sound in our household.

Then, I learned that the Curio could engrave metal, wood and leather. And it could emboss and deboss? I didn’t know exactly WHY I needed those extra features, but I was confident I would make good use of them.

My husband came through with the Curio on Christmas morning, and I spent the next few days researching ways I could use it. I guess I was spending so much time scrolling through Pinterest, that it took me a minute to notice that my first Curio project was right in front of me… or at least sitting right next to my feet!

We were dog sitting for a friend the week after Christmas. I was attaching the leash to our house guest’s collar when I noticed his little circular tag. Engraved on the round metal, I read important details about our dog friend. But only one thing was missing: His name!

A-ha! This would be a perfect project to try out my Curio. I also found out that engraving metal was an incredibly easy process, with just a few simple steps.

Here’s what you need to make a personalized dog tag:

Silhouette Curio

Chomas Creations Embossing Blade

Aluminum Blanks

1. Open the Silhouette Studio Design Software.
2. Place your aluminum blank on the sticky mat that came with your Silhouette Studio.
3. Using the grid on the mat as a guide, draw a circle the same diameter as your aluminum circle on the same square in your design software.
4. Use the text tool to type the name of your pet. (I used the font, “Be Bright.)
5. Resize the text to fit the circle.
6. Click the text to select it. Go to the Object menu and select Modify > Weld.
7. Go to the Silhouette menu and select Emboss > Emboss/Deboss.
8. Change the Emboss/Deboss effect to Cross Hatch. Change the spacing to .020 and the Angle to 45 degrees.
9. Add a heart or other embellishment and repeat steps 7 and 8.
10. Put the Chomas Engraving Tip in the blade holder. Select Etching Tool as the Blade Type.
11. I selected cardstock as my cutting material. The platform depth should be 4.
12. Change the speed to 3 and the thickness to 14.
13. Delete the circle shape before cutting.

Sit back and watch as the Curio perfectly embosses the name on the center of the aluminum blank!

Doesn’t Bradey look so cute with his new charm?