| Die Cuts |
Die Cuts
A Die Cut is simply any shape cut uniformly by a die. The “die” is the shaped
cutter. Even a cookie cutter is a die. Die Cuts have become popular over the
past decade because of their usefulness in embellishing scrapbook layouts
and cards. Even a simple heart can be made and remade into something
unique and beautiful. We’ll discuss decorating and embellishing the die cuts in
Our Gallery, but now let’s look at the cool tools for making them.
Coluzzle
Perhaps the Coluzzle cutting system should be in the template category, or
with the paper cutters. Technically, there are no dies here that cut. But we
have a system that, nonetheless, creates “die cut” shapes. Coluzzle, by Provo
Craft, makes use of these hard plastic templates, and a special swivel blade.
You place your paper on the system’s self-healing mat, put your template on
top, and cut through the slots in the plastic to make your shapes. It is simple,
but it takes a little bit of practice to work the knife, and learn how to take
corners. As far as making cut outs – this is one of the least expensive
systems, it has lots of templates to choose from, including alphabets, and is
very portable and light weight.
I suppose there may be critics who say that it doesn’t cut the shape out for you
– you have to work the knife. And, although it does give you a few options in
sizing for each shape, it is limited to those sizes on the templates.
Sizzix
A popular brand of a complete die cut system is Sizzix. These dies have a
hard plastic shell, and the cutters are made of steel blades
encased in a heavy rubber mat. When pressure is applied to the top, the steel
die pushes out of the rubber enough to cut a single piece of paper, cardstock,
fabric, or chip board. (The Ellison Company lists these materials that can be
cut on their machines – including Sizzix and Ellison Designs:
Ellison, ellison design and Sizzix brand machines can die-cut, emboss and
texturize many materials including: Paper, Cardstock, Construction Paper,
Faux fur, Felt, Foil, Heat and shrink plastic, Leather,Paper wood, Poly foam,
Self-adhesive rubber (for making rubber stamps), Sheet magnet, Sponge,
Static cling vinyl, and Thin metal.
The machine is needed to produce the right amount of pressure. I think I must
have been disappointed when I opened the box and found that it doesn’t plug
in. It uses ancient “leverage” technology (you pull down on a handle, and the
die is pressed under a heavy weight). But once I got over my “oh, it’s not a
cool techie toy”, I quickly started thinking of the many advantages. I can’t see
how this thing could ever break. Now, it’ll break your foot if you drop it, but I
don’t think the machine would break. (I’m sure you can break it if you try - I
referring to “under normal use conditions”). This gadget is so sound, and so
simple in design, that I soon started dreaming of the day when I’ll sit down with
my grand daughter or great grand daughter and make cards or layouts. (Now
my daughter was only 8 then – so I was dreaming way, way into the future!)
Ellison (the company that makes Sizzix) is an Educational supply company.
They invented these tools for school use. Each die can be used up to: get this
– I’m quoting Ellison’s Web Site “hundreds of thousands of cuts” (probably
more, but it would depend on the kind of use, and the types of materials that
were being cut). So I began buying more dies (on sale, and wherever I could
find them!) There are font dies, and seasonal dies, and dies for sports, a
whole line for paper dolls, and quilting piece dies, the list goes on and on.
Then they came out with a line of embossing dies that use the same machine!
With a converter (to press thinner dies or these metal embossing templates) –
you can make embossed embellishments. There’s a whole line of thin “Sizzlits”
– to make smaller die cuts, and they will work with both the larger lever
machine or the smaller “Sidekick” machine (used for the embossing
“Impressions” line and the sizzlets).
One of the disadvantages to the Sizzix line (and, again, I’m not sure it can be
called a “disadvantage” – when it was never designed to be something else…)
is that they can not be resized. The die is cast – literally! The 2” pumpkin will
be 2” forever. What if you want a 3” pumpkin? So another disadvantage is
cost – to have more shapes at your disposable – you have to buy more dies.
But other than that, I can’t think of single thing against them. I do know people
who have sold off their Sizzix to buy the more expensive cutter machines
(Wishblade, Pazzles, etc. – we’ll discuss these later). Only it occurred to me
that since the Sizzix are portable, fun and easy to use, and will surely last my
lifetime, if not my future great grandchild’s – it’s a good investment to just keep
using them!
Quick Kuts
Quick Kuts is another die cut system. It is not electric or motorized; it is
beautifully simple in its concept, and it has many advantages. It uses small,
thin dies that fit into a device that resembles large pliers. You set the paper
and the die inside, and squeeze – voila – the paper is cut. It is lightweight,
user friendly (not a steep learning curve on this), safe- with supervision, for
children, and it has a large library of dies to choose from. It is very portable –
easily taken to a crop party.
One disadvantage is (as with the Sizzix), the dies are not resizable, and they
can be very costly to collect.
Ellison Designs
Another line (maybe a follow-up to Sizzix?) from Ellison is Ellison Designs.
They have this new, larger-sized die cut machine that takes larger dies than
Sizzix. It is completely compatible with the Sizzix line, as well as having its own
line of dies, embossing folders, window cuts, and (something that caught my
eye) emboss and cut dies (both actions in one pass through). Instead of the
lever system, this model works with a crank, and you make a “sandwich” with
the cutting plate-die-paper-top cutting plate. The instructions have you run it
through with the steel blade facing up, and you turn the crank to roll your die
cut ‘sandwich’ through, where the pressure in the middle creates the
necessary force to cut the paper.
I imagine (though I didn’t ask – actually I did, but didn’t get an answer) that this
new line was created to fix the complaints about the leverage necessary to cut
on the Sizzix, and possibly to address the need for larger dies. And it does,
indeed, fix those issues.
I don’t think all of the information is in, yet. It’s a new line, so maybe some of
the “disadvantages” have more to do with that, than with design. The plastic
cutting boards have been known to break. Ellison is said to have fixed the
problem, and did send out new ones to its customers (through Shop at Home
TV –for those who bought it there). I had hopes that it would fix my problem
that I have with the Sizzix “Cut and Fold” dies. These are dies that cut the
outside shape, but crease the fold lines. The only problem is that it is
impossible to know how much pressure to use to make a complete cut, but not
allow the crease lines to become cut as well. I had hoped that the Big Shot
was perfectly calibrated to exert only the exact amount of force needed to
make perfect cuts – but I realized that would be impossible. How would the
machine know what kind of paper I was cutting? Or how many times I had
used the cutting plates and had worn them down to what extent? These would
be incalculable factors for a manually operated machine.
Jen Lowe wrote in to tell us about the - Spellbinder's Wizard. Only 4 pounds
(lightweight). 6.1" wide. All metal (won't break). Accepts all other consumer
dies. Spellbinders style dies cut, emboss and work as a brass stencil, so you
get 3-in-1. In addition, the Wizard works as a personal art tool. Just a few of
the many other things you can do with it: flatten bottle caps, emboss brass
stencils (no more light box or stylus), emboss found objects; set eyelets,
snaps, rivets; set rub-on transfers; flatten clay; do photo transfers to paper,
leather, muslin and more; basically anything you would pound, rub, or press...
you can do with the Wizard. For a video: www.spellbinders.us. For a manual
showing what all it can do: www.jenlowedesigns.com/lucymcgoo.htm.
These Little Gems...
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