Hello! In this installment of In Detail, I’m sharing information about die cuts to augment the article “Die Comparison,” which was published in July 2012. Be sure to bookmark that article to read as it is chock-full of useful information.
There’s a lot going on in the die cut arena, especially in the realm of “low-profile, wafer-thin” dies. It is these products on which I’ll concentrate in this article. The products carried by Ellen Hutson for die cutting can be found in the “Die Domain” category.
(Please note: the die cuts shown in this article were cut with the Sizzix Big Shot Machine.)
Okay, let's get started.
Low-Profile/Wafer-Thin Dies
Most of the low-profile dies carried at Ellen Hutson are created through a chemical etching process and are wafer-thin. Designed to cut a single sheet of cardstock, paper, metallic foil or vellum, some of the less intricate designs can also cut through two layers of cardstock, felt, Craft-a-Board, cork, corrugated papers and our Magnetic Masking Material.
In the past year, a die cutting explosion has occurred with more and more manufacturers offering low-profile, wafer-thin dies. Many stamp manufacturers are now creating companion die cuts for their stamps, as well as frame dies, word dies, alphabet die sets, and standalone dies.
There are two styles of wafer-thin dies - closed and open. There are advantages to each style of die, depending on the type of project you would like to create.
Closed Dies
Some closed dies contain both cut lines and embossing lines. If embossing lines are part of the die, detail will be added when the die is sent through the die cut machine.
For example, the Poppystamps “Grand Madison Arched Window” and WPlus9 Design “Under the Mistletoe” dies include both cut and embossing lines as shown above.
Closed dies are often necessary for smaller images. For example, alphabet die sets are closed.
Lawn Fawn’s “Cole's ABCs” dies are shown above. The small holes are provided to help remove the cut paper.
As previously mentioned, size also plays a factor in the design of the die and for some stamp companion sets, the die cuts are closed. This makes it more difficult to stamp first, die cut second. In general, you’ll want to die cut first and then stamp. However, for some images, I use this trick–I use the companion die cut to cut a template out of cardstock. I place the template around the stamped image and then place the die over the template to send it through the die cutting machine.
WPlus9 Design “Silver Bells” stamp set and companion die cut shown.
Open Dies
In the Open Die category, let’s take a look at some of the stackable die cut sets on the market. By stackable, I mean that a basic shape–circle, square, tag, label–is included in a variety of sizes in the set.
Both the My Favorite Things “STAX Traditional Tags” set, which has an acetate backer, and the one-of-a-kind nesting die set, included with the Lifestyle Crafts “Genius Platform System,” have a small amount of metal that extends into the opening of the die. When cutting with these die sets you may get an embossed line on the interior edge of your die cut, depending on the tightness of your sandwich. On the other hand, the Sizzix “Framelits Circles" set is designed so that the cut piece will not have an embossed detail. As you can see, the Sizzix die does not have any metal extending into the interior edge. Let’s say that rather than a circle piece, you want a card front with a circle cut out of it–in that case, depending on the tightness of your cutting sandwich, you might see an indent on the card front from that metal edge.
Stamp Set Companion Die Cuts
Let’s take a look at a couple of companion die cut sets. The amount of white space around the cut stamped image varies amongst manufacturers.
On the right, the Mama Elephant “Party Kit” balloon die placed over the stamped image from the companion stamp set. On the left, the balloon after die cutting.
On the right, the Paper Smooches “Love Struck” die placed over the stamped image from the companion set. On the left, the cupid after die cutting.
The Paper Smooches set has a more white space around the stamped image than the Mama Elephant one. This is neither bad nor good–just simply something to note.
To finish off, I’m showing some dies that caught my eye for a variety of reasons.
The Paper Smooches “Quote Tag” includes four pieces (the fourth, not shown, is another word die). I cut the three dies with one pass through the die cutting machine.
The My Favorite Things “LLD Accent It–Celebrate” set includes words that can be used as titles on scrapbook pages or sentiments on cards. Although I’ve shown the die cut on a short piece of paper, the amount of paper below the letters is at the crafter’s discretion. The title can be cut on the left and right along the short cut lines.
The Mama Elephant “Landscape Trio” dies have a cut line and a pierced line. These dies could be used to cut both the cut and pierced lines, or flipped around for shapes that only have a cut line.
The Sizzix “Karen Burniston Labels and Stitched Frames” set includes three different sizes of die pairs. The dies can be used together to cut a label with a pierced (stitched) edge, or separately for a label without the stitching.
Finally, the dies in the Sizzix “Rachael Bright Decorative #2 Frames” set have exterior and interior cut lines. Use the dies to cut a frame piece, shown in green in the photo, or a label, shown in orange in the photo.
--Jean
