Foil With Me!

Come Craft With Me!

I'm not sure why, but I LOVE foil and foiling.  I don't actually foil all that often but I love how it looks.  My husband bought me the Minc Foil machine for Valentines Day and I'm excited to play with it.

I will go through each Foil tool below:

(This is going to be a long blog post)

  1. Fun Foils by Queen and Co.
  2. Nail Foil by Amazon
  3. Heatwave Pen by We R Memory Keepers
  4. Foil Quill for a cutting machine such as (Silhouette Cameo, Cricut) by We R Memory Keepers
  5. Foil Quill Freestyle which is a handheld foil writer by We R Memory Keepers
  6. Minc Foil Machine by Heidi Swapp

Queen and Co. Fun Foils

This foil sticks to sticky surfaces.  If you are not familiar with Queen & Co. they make super cute shaker card stuff.  The foil they came out with will stick to their shakers or really any sticky surface like tape or glue.

you simply press the foil to the sticky surface and it is foiled.  Super simple, super easy.  Sometimes you do not get a good foiled surface so I add glue or tape and press more foil on top till you get the coverage you want.  It also comes in this cute nice storage box.  Each foil measures 1" wide x 1.5 yards I paid $6.95 for one box of fun foils.

If you are interested in foils or other Q&C items check them out:  Queen & Co

Below is a scrapbook page kit I bought from Q&C.  The letters were sticky so that you could use the foil on top.





Nail Foil




Very similar to Queen and Co Fun Foils.  Actually, scary similar and I did not see any difference in size, packaging, or performance.  Nail Foils on Amazon are inexpensive and work the exact same way as Q&C fun foils.  The boxes above that I purchased were only $11.99 for all 4 sets of foil.  Each piece of foil measures 1" wide x 1.5 yards

Check it out on Amazon by clicking:  Amazon

Anywhere you place glue, you can lay the foil over it and it will adhere.  I used my Heidi Swapp glue pen to put glue in random spots.  I then smoothed the foil strip over the glue spots, pulled it up and the foil stuck where I had glue.  They all turned out so pretty.  Paper was found at the Paper Collage in Peoria AZ.  Pam owns the store and is so nice.  www.thepapercollage.com






Heatwave Pen by We R Memory Keepers


This pen is their entry level foiling pen.  The first time I used this I threw it back in a drawer and said I would never use this again.  After getting the pen back out for my blog, I decided that it isn't so bad after all.  Foil quill or heatwave foil is used, I am not sure if any other heat reactive foil will work on this.

This takes 3 AA batteries and I let it heat up for about 5 minutes.  Its very important to write with the pen straight up and slowly.  As you can see below, some are better than others.  The top portion of the page was done with stencils and the bottom was done freehand.  I personally do not like my handwriting but the results were not terrible.  I would recommend the foil quill freestyle pen before this one, but if you want an entry level foiling pen, this one is pretty inexpensive.




If you would like to see more info click here:  HeatWave

Foil Quill




The foil quill is awesome.  It reacts with heat and needs to be plugged in or used with a battery pack like the ones you charge a cell phone with.  If you own an electronic cutting machine this is a tool you need in your craft stash!  You can foil any image your machine can draw.  This means a traced, download, created, or purchased image can be foiled.  There are 3 sizes you can use.  I won't go through all the instructions but below is an example of the foiling I did with mine using the middle sized foil quill.

To see this tool click here:  Foil Quill





Foil Quill Freestyle




This foil pen is a handheld foiling pen that reacts with heat.  It comes in 3 sizes and you will need to plug it in or use a battery pack like the regular foil quill.    It  can be used like a pen or with a heat resistant stencil for help.  I need to use stencils as my handwriting is not good.  If you have hand lettering skills, you could do so much with this.  It writes on leather, paper, fabric really anything.







To see this tool click here:  Foil Quill Freestyle Pens

Minc Foil Machine



As mentioned the Minc foil machine is my newest toy.  It comes in a 6 inch and 12 inch version.  I had been eyeballing this for sometime when my husband asked me if there was something I wanted for Valentines Day!  I got the 12" version because I did not want to be limited with my foiling capabilities.  

This machine reacts to toner ink.  

A few things you can do with the machine are below, I do not own all of them so I will not be able to show you all of them yet.  I will write more blogs as I get the accessories and show you how they work.

A few things you can use with this foil machine:
  • Toner ink stamp pad to stamp with your stamps and foil your stamped images
  • Print with a toner ink printer and foil over that
  • Foil over embossing powder
  • Heidi Swapp has paper and assortments of embellishments that have toner already applied to them and are ready to foil
    • Tags, Bags, papers, acetate words, chipboard to name a few
  • Special texture paste is applied and foiled over
  • Toner sheets for purchase you can cut and foil

To see this tool click here:Minc Foil Machine

This is the first time I have used the Minc Machine so all the results are based off first time use.

I will go over the following application methods.

  • Preprinted Tags by Heidi Swapp made for the Minc
  • Minc toner pen on rough paper, smooth paper, and with a stencil
  • Zig 2 way glue pen
  • Heidi Swapp glue pen
  • Embossed stamped images
  • Glue stamp pad by Recollections
  • The Essential Glue stamp pad 
  • Vinyl
  • Heidi Swapp toner sheets
  • Heidi Swapp toner ink pad
  • Heidi Swapp foil flakes


Heidi Swapp pre printed tags


This was the first thing I did and they turned out beautiful.  It was so easy.  You put the tag in the folder, foil on top, and run it through.  



Minc Toner Pen  


At first I thought the toner dried up because it was not coming out.  It took a really long time pressing to get the ink to come out.  

First, I tried on a rougher paper with some texture and the image did not come out nicely.  I have also been told since that you shouldn't use rough paper and that you want to use a smooth good quality paper.


 I tried again and it came out a little better but you can tell the texture of the paper doesn't work well with this pen.





At first I wanted to blame the toner pen but this paper is more textured so I grabbed a sheet of 65 lb. cardstock and it came out great!  My handwriting is not good though so I will not be hand lettering anytime soon.  Haha  I am not sure this pen is juicy enough to hand letter and it has a regular nib not a brush tip.  I would mostly use this with a stencil or to touch up a project if there is part that did not foil, you could use this and then refoil.




Next I used a stencil with the pen and the foiling came out awesome.





Zig 2 way glue pen


I  wrote on the paper and let it dry.  If I had good handwriting at all, I would use a glue pen and it would look really good!  And if you happen to mess up anything you are foiling just dab some glue on and run it through your Minc again to over any areas missed.





Heidi Swapp glue pen


I bought this just for fun and to find out how it would perform and I was not impressed.  It looks good but more of a distressed look and it just didn't provide the coverage I expected.





Embossing


I have not embossed in a few years but heard you could use embossing to foil in this machine.  I did not like the results of foiling embossed images though.  The Minc heats up the embossing powder and it turns into just a blob.  The letters and arrow turned out better but it was not great.  This is not a method I would use in the future.  I have heard if you use a special embossing powder that is ultra fine it will work but with other options turning out so well, ill pass.




Glue Stamp Pad by Recollections


I have not used this stamp pad in quite some time.  I did have to reink or should I say re glue it but I liked how it performed.




The Essential Glue Pad


Okay I love this one.  I used the stamp that says You are the queen (I've had it so long I have no idea where I got it)  If you know please leave a comment.

This has great coverage and I will be using this method again.





Vinyl 651


I was unsure about what vinyl would do, but how cool does it look to foil your vinyl before adhering it.

I had an old sticker I made with vinyl on my cameo so I grabbed it and ran it through the foiling machine.  It turned out so cute!  I can also use the foil waste for another beetle.




Toner Paper


I then put the discarded foil from above on to a Heidi Swapp toner sheet.  Its basically cardstock with a full coverage of toner that you can die cut or foil how you would like and it turned out like this.



Then decided I should foil the rest of the toner where the black shows through!  Notice how the black is now multicolored?  I will be fussy cutting to clean up the edges but it turned out so cute!





This left me with another beetle, I had to stop the madness and just put it on a pc of toner paper, I can use my cameo to cut something out of the fully foiled parts and around the beetle itself.




Heidi Swapp Toner ink pad


I have heard mixed reviews on this toner stamp pad.  Once it dries out, you do have to change the stamp pad out so there are refills to purchase.  I luckily found them on clearance at Joann.

You need special cleaner to get this off your stamps so I am going to use some stamps I got at a really good price just in case my staz on cleaner doesn't take the toner off.  I didn't buy the special cleaner for this.  I also found that running under hot water and scrubbing them immediately after using worked and took it off.

First I filled the ink pad and waited to let it seep in.  Then I stamped.  I noticed quickly that you need to lightly stamp your stamp to get a good non goopy impression.

Below you can see the stamped images and the stamps I used.  Its messy and not as crisp and clean as I would expect from a 20.00 ink/toner pad.  It is a must to get a clear clean impression or you are not going to get your image foiled well.  I tried this 2 times with different stamps and did not get one really really good foiled stamped image.



Stamped images with the toner ink pad

 
Before foiling

After Foiling


There were a lot of areas that seemed to have some ink but the foil did not adhere.  You would need to have a very clear image which is really hard to get.




This was the mess I had, the stamps and the paper were covered in a very sticky toner ink.


I tried to use a brayer to apply the ink to the stamp and it did apply it a little better.  The foil did stick to the entire stamped image.


It gives the stamped images more of a distressed look which looks cute. I expected more coverage.  Some of my images seemed to have enough coverage of ink but the foil did not stick.




I tried a few more times to get a good foiled image and just couldn't.  





Quick tip, if you are foiling a scratch piece of paper, make sure it was not printed with toner or it will adhere to your carrier sheet.


To get this off use acetone nail polish remover.  See below that the carrier sheet says 50. 


I really wanted this to work better so I kept trying.  For a distressed look and uneven coverage it is fine but I think the glue pad worked so much better and was so much more inexpensive to buy.

Heidi Swapp Foil Flakes

These do not get ran through the minc machine.

I used the Heidi Swapp glue pen and foil flakes on the thicker "Jennifer" and "Love" and then the Essential Glue pad and a stamp on the "thank you".  I felt like the foil did not stick to the stamped image as much as the glue pen.  I even tried to add more glue to the pad and didn't get a better image.  This stuff got EVERYWHERE.  I have never really played with foil flakes and WOW, its worse than glitter. hahaha.  If you have any tips on this let me know!  I should have used a large pc of cardstock underneath but it still scattered everywhere.  





I am not giving up on foil flakes and will try again with a better glue.  Maybe a Zig glue pen fine tip.


I know this was a super long post and if you really read the entire thing, thank you.  I spent a few weeks writing this because I tried so many different products.

My faves:

  • Foil Quill for my Cameo Cutting Machine.  
    • This can be used with any electronic cutting machine on the market.
  • The Essential Glue Pad
    • It seemed to work really well with the Minc
  • The Minc Foiling Machine
    • There are so many items that work really well with this type of foil
      • Mod podge
      • The Essential Glue Pad
      • Toner sheets
      • If you have a toner printer that works too
      • Zig Glue Pen
      • Vinyl
      • Preprinted papers that are printed with toner
  • Fun Foils and Nail Foils
    • All you need is glue and you can add a touch of foil to anything
Do you have a favorite foiling method?  Do you have any tips for me on the products I have written about?

Leave me a comment, even if you just want to say hello.

Come Craft with Me!

💓 Jennifer

Comments

  1. This is such a thorough analysis and makes me want to try ALL THE FOIL 😂. Love it. Great job!

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