Wednesday 7 October 2015

New Trimcraft First Edition Foil Applicator

Trimcraft have recently launched a super new Foil Applicator which opens up a whole new shiny world! At the touch of a button you can have beautiful foiled greetings or images on your creations. It couldn't be simpler. It really is a just a matter of turning the machine on, feeding your printed item into the front and collecting it from the back of the machine a few seconds later.


There are some gorgeous colours of Trimcraft foil to use with the machine 
- these come in 310mm x 2m rolls.

This A4 Ultra Smooth card is the best to use with the foil. I can personally recommend it as I've tried several others and got the best results with this one.

Getting started..
1. Simply plug the appliance in and switch on. Set the little button at the back to "Hot". When the green light comes on the machine is ready to use.

2. Print out the images or greetings you want to foil onto the white card with a LASER printer. The Foil Applicator will not work if you use an inkjet printer as the process uses heat to fuse the toner from the laser printer to the foil.
NB. I do not have a laser printer (....yet!) so I printed the images which I wanted to use from my inkjet printer to get the correct sizing and spacing etc and took the pages to the local printers who photocopied them onto my Ultra Smooth card very inexpensively.
The black sheet in the background was one which I asked to be printed in solid black to experiment with.

 3. Fold a piece of copy paper in half and place your chosen image inside. I'm using one of my own outline drawings of a Magnolia and I have added some extra areas of solid black to catch more foil.

 4. Cut a piece of foil to fit over the image and place on top - with the coloured side facing upwards.

5. Fold the piece of paper over to cover the image and foil then place into the mouth of the Foil Applicator.

6. A few seconds later the paper and foil etc will be ready at the back of the machine.

7. Peel away the foil to reveal the magic!!
I'm sure the thrifty/ creative among you will also find a use for the beautiful piece of foil "waste".

You can see from the images above (the Robin and the Magnolia) that the outlines are quite heavy. I found that this gives a better result. However, I do also like the subtle effect which you can achieve by using lighter weight lines - make sure you experiment and have fun!!

Other ideas..
In this photo I've used my drawing of a Cairn Terrier and printed it onto the back of linen textured card. The outlines are quite light and the overall effect is beautiful but more subtle.


This time I've used my drawing of a Robin with red foil for a festive look. The Greeting at the bottom of the card is also foiled.


I used the Holly leaves from the Dovecraft Christmas Basics Poinsettia die set to cut out two leaves from the plain black printed card and then foiled them in the same way to create beautifully shiny gold leaves.


 I had some sheets of linen type textured card printed in solid black ink so that I could experiment a little. This time I used some gorgeous leaves from the "soon to be released" Foliage die set by Trimcraft to cut out the shapes....

...then I put the shapes through the Foil Applicator with bronze foil on top. Because of the texture, the card only picks up some of the foil so you get this amazing aged metal effect! I used an embossing tool and mat to shape the leaves and give a little dimension.
The only limit is your imagination :)











11 comments:

  1. What a fabulous post Ruth-this certainly looks easy to use,and gives fabulous results.
    I really love the way you have made the leaves-and those dies have gone right to the top of my Santa list!
    Nessa xxx

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  2. So beautiful! I especially love the leaves! Hugs Julie xox

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  3. Think I'll be saving up for one of these machines! Looks like brilliant fun!

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  4. What a great idea Ruth, using the black photo copied card to make the gorgeous leaves

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  5. Brilliant Ruth - looks great and lots of ideas. I wonder if you used the 'waste' piece over a piece that had been copied plain black would you get a reverse image of the design? Also I love the card shape the robin is printed and layered onto - what die did you use here? Many thanks again. Cecilia.

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    1. Thanks Cecilia. Glad you enjoyed it. Now I'm going to have to try the reverse waste thingy to see what happens!!
      You are very observant!! That die is one of a number of brand new Trimcraft dies which will be available next month :)..Ruth

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  6. Interesting experiments Ruth. I hope you get that laser printer for Christmas!

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  7. I've been so hesitant about the whole foil thing - thought the look was too 'factory made' but -Oh.Those. Leaves!!!! Stunning. Ger x

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  8. great post thank you, the leaves look great - possibly the only one I have found that lets you see the machine in use, would love to see a video, the only ones I find are for the Minc machines.

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  9. I have now purchased the First Edition Foil Applicator machine and 5 different coloured First Edition foils, however my attempts so far haven't been what I expected, very little foil adhered to the black laser printed design.

    The instruction manual wasn't explicit whether it should be foil or backing side down, however I watched a you tube video which showed the back of the foil being placed on the design and the a4 paper on top of the foil. Which is what I did, but the result was very poor. The machine had been allowed to properly heat up and the green lights for power and ready were both on.

    I think I have it set to the darkest, is this because it puts more layers of toner on the card design so there is more the melt in the applicator?

    Does the time between printing on the laser then putting through the foiler make any difference?

    It there a minimum gsm of paper/ card that can be used?

    Does the colour, type and texture of the card / paper make any7 difference to the outcome, after several weeks and attempts so far I have not had a single good result. Do I have a faulty machine even?

    Any advice gratefully received, regards BubbleandSqueak

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    1. Hi. The foil side should be facing up - see 4. above. Once the green light is on the machine is ready to use and the image will be clear as long as the ink is dark enough. If you have any further problems you could contact Trimcraft directly and I'm sure they will help you, Ruth

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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment, it's lovely to hear from you. Ruth