Everyone is including foiling in their card, scrapbook and craft designs . HSN Craft Day is full of things to apply it or die cuts with it already applied. I wanted to avoid the whole trend, but I got sucked in.
There are quite a few systems to apply foil and I now have most of them. I will tell you the difference between them and tell you their advantages and disadvantages.
Foiled Papers
This is definitely the easiest way to get foil in your project. And it is the least flexible.
You can buy paper with it already incorporated. Buy it either in sheets of solid foil or in the design and cut it with your Cricut.
Michaels sells their gold foil in inexpensive packs with 25 sheets usually on sale for around $2.50. Or you can buy it from Amazon.
Above are examples from previous projects. You can buy foiled paper in a multitude of colors (pink , blue ,green gold silver, etc), but you are limited by the pattern or colors that the paper designer uses.
We R Memory Keepers Pens
Advantages and Disadvantages
Adhesive Applied Foil
I was first introduced to this method at CKC St. Louis. The Queen & Co. class applied foil to the sticky pieces left over from their shaker cards. You can get the kit here. I’m sure other people have it too but for $6.95 it is a great place to start.
These attach to anything sticky. Used with the Xyron, you can attach glue and then foil. It attaches to glue runner or glue dots too. Anything sticky. The ghost and the witch hat are leftovers from the Halloween shakers.
The disadvantage is that you must be able to apply sticky to the surface of what you want to foil.
The Minc
I just got my Minc. A laminator works too, but not as good as the Minc . (The above projects were done with a laminator.)
The whole idea is to print what you want to foil with a laser printer. It must be a laser printer. And the it sticks to the laser toner. Alternately, you can print a large block of toner with the laser printer then cut it and foil.
With the Cricut just print/cut the image and print it on a laser printer. Then after the Cricut cuts it out, put the image and the foil in the Minc folder and run it through the laminator or Minc and it attach to the laser toner.
The disadvantage is that you must use a laser printer to apply the foils. Some things just don’t go through the laser printer (like acetate) and not everyone has a laser printer.
The “New” Cricut Foiling Tips
This one is great! No heat, no glue, no printer, and it works in the Air machines! At $35 dollars, it isn’t even too badly priced.
First of all the tips are held in the holder magnetically so they are easy to install and change in the holder. The holder fits where the regular blade holder goes. In Design Space, the drop down menu where you choose draw or score has a Foil category with three choices for the tips. When you select one it changes whatever you have selected to a gold line drawing. You can change the color like you would change the pen color. If you are putting it on something you need to attach it like it was a drawing.
Conclusion
Other companies have foil applicators. Crafters Companion has one that works with the Gemini. It is very expensive and you have to have the Gemini. But they have dies that are specifically made for foiling.
I think I have showed you the economical ways to get foils incorporated into your design. If you have any questions email me
Some of the links above are to sites where I am an affiliate. I earn a small commission from your purchase but this does not add to your price.