Letraset Hot Foil machine FAQ's

Firstly, a massive thank you to everyone who tuned in to the shows on Ideal World and Create & Craft with the Hot Foil Machine as Pick of the Day, we had another great response to it and I've had lots and lots of emails during and since the shows, a lot of them are the same so I thought it would be easier to answer everything here in one post...

What Printer do you use?

I have a HP Laserjet 1020 - it's quite old now (though still works a treat!) and takes card up to 250gsm, I'm not sure if you can still find this model but there will probably be an updated version of it, I was lucky enough to find mine on sale for about £65 when I bought it a few years ago

What can I foil onto?

Anything smooth basically that will go through your printer! I've used a mixture of the Super Smooth paper and card that was on the show, some Craftwork Cards card and some printer paper. I also tried heat resistant acetate (Available from Crafters Companion and Cardcraft Plus) and Vellum (and then tracing paper when that ran out!)

What Type of Printer do I need?

You need a laser printer - one that takes toner rather than ink, you usually find these in offices (as the toner lasts much longer than ink, I only replace mine 2-3 times per year) or you can photocopy on a toner based photocopier (like those found in offices, repro places, libraries and some sweet shops etc...) the 3 in 1 type desktop printer / scanner / copiers will not work with this as your output would still be in ink and not toner

Can I find the machine elsewhere?

No, the machine is exclusive to Create & Craft / Ideal World and made specially for them at this time, once it sells out it takes a few months to bring it back for them

Can you use other foils in the machine?

I haven't tried to be honest with you, this was the first foiling machine I had, before that I only used the glue and foil type kits but I'm fairly sure (as was Leonie) that there is no reason why not as the make up should be fairly similar, either way - it can't hurt to try! and if you do, I'd love to know! :o)

How do I use Safmat?

The Safmat in your starter kit is a clear adhesive backed material for you to create your own stickers, particularly handy for adding things to patterned paper / 3D objects etc... just print with a laser printer as before and run through the filing machine exactly as you would with paper / acetate etc...

I hope that these answers help and if you have any other questions, please do leave them for me and I will do my very best to answer them for you. I hope if you got one on the day that you love it as much as I do!

I will also be posting up some of the projects I've made with the foiling machine later next week so keep an eye out for those.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x