PAPERCRAFTS, INC GLIMMER FOIL PACK SPELLBOUND

This is a fantastic product made by Spellbinders. Anyone who is vaguely familiar with paper crafting will know that Spellbinders is a company that has been around for a long time and is known for their quality products and innovative designs. This foil, which is meant to be used with their Glimmer Foil machine (and a die cutting machine like their Platinum or Platinum 6), but can be used with the Crafter’s Companion Gemini Foil Press machine or the Couture Creations Go Press and Foil machine and an appropriate die cutting machine such as a Sizzix Big Shot (and a few other die cutting machines that are easy to check compatibility on the foil machine’s website). NOW, after having said that, please disregard ALL reviews that mention that this foil performed poorly in their Minc machine or laminator. The reason is simple: there are TWO KINDS of foiling methods in paper crafting: toner reactive foiling and heat activated foiling. They DO NOT use the same kinds of foil and the foils for each are NOT compatible with the other method. Toner reactive foil is the kind like Heidi Swapp and Thermoweb which you can use a laser jet printer and print whatever you like, add foil over top, and run it through a Minc machine or laminator. Toner reactive foils also work with the proprietary gels made by Thermoweb. This method has a foil that must be placed shiny side (facing you) up on the project so that the shiny side is visible as you run it through the Minc or laminator. Heat reactive foil is different. It is the kind made for use with the above mentioned foil machines made by Spellbinders, Gemini, and Couture Creations. Those are the ones that utilize a heated surface and hot foil plates/metal stamps (and you can use some metal dies depending on their configuration). You then create a “sandwich” of the hot foil plate, foil, cardstock (or other item to be foiled), and occasionally a shim. The whole thing is heated and then run through a die cut machine. This type of foil must be placed shiny side down on the metal foiling plate so that the dull side is facing you as you place it over the hot foil metal stamp. The people that are leaving negative reviews and talking about their Minc or laminator machines have not read the description properly and purchase the wrong types of foil and that’s why it didn’t work. They then come to Amazon and write a negative review based on their lack of understanding that they purchased the completely wrong type of product for their project. That is not fair and it skews the rating system. We all need to know how products perform, whether they are reliable, etc, but this needs to be based on accurate reviews. I really wish that Amazon had not removed the ability to comment on the reviews left by others so long as we are respectful to one another. It would make it so much easier to refute reviews that are left out of misunderstanding of the products, reviews left for a bad shipping experience (there is a separate place for that), etc. Please take the time to carefully read a negative review. Some are legitimate about issues with foiling, but make sure you know which kind of foiling method the product is before giving credence to the negative reviews. The VAST majority of negative reviews on foiling are left by people using the wrong type of foil for their project. I wish that Amazon would remove these as they don’t belong and it is akin to down-rating a basketball because it didn’t make a good spare tire for a car. Happy crafting!

I bought these for use with card crafting. These are beautiful!

El papel aluminio de Spellbinders, lo use para hacer un letrero con la pluma de aluminio (punta mediana de We R) en un plotter Brother. Este Foil da unos visos hermosos. Quedo muy linda la tarjeta.

These are stunning foils. I love them. I'll definitely reorder when I run low

The colors of these foils are beautiful...they are making amazing Christmas hot foiled cards

Part of the back of the box was ripped off

Great variety of colors in this package which arrived quickly and in good condition. Works great with the Glimmer hot foiling system.

There’s definitely a learning curve, so as with almost any kind of craft you will want to do a few tests first for best results. Once you figure it out, it looks very pretty. I used my laminator and it seems to work best using it on the 3mil setting and running through twice for me. When I use the 5mil setting with one pass the foil sticks to the toner area and also other areas.