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A Guide to Foil Laminating

I don’t know why I was so intimidated to try foil laminating, it’s so easy. It’s one of those crafts I’d been meaning to try but kept putting off because I thought I needed a heavy-duty skill set. 

Thankfully the folks at Xyron sent me one of their new Glaminator machines to try for foil laminating. Can you say “game-changer?” It’s a 3-in- machine that includes toner-reactive foil laminating.

Here is my video that shows my experience!

YouTube video

Supplies for foil laminating:

Xyron Glaminator machine

Glaminator foil

Assorted colors of foil

Plastic carrier sheet

Designs printed out on a black laser printer

If you plan to do a lot of foil laminating for your crafting business, I suggest buying a laser printer, this is the one I have!

TIPS for choosing designs for foiling 

The bolder the image, the more dazzling effect your foil will have. I tried using images with fine lines and it didn’t show up as well as the images with thicker lines and solid areas. Plus, it just looks nicer to have bold visual statements!

Words, phrases, and sentiments will look beautiful! Have fun playing with fonts or even your own hand writing. You can use a marker, take a pic, and then send it to the printer. For me, my Ipad Pro is my go-to for lettering. 

Save up all your images and then use a program like PicMonkey or Canva to arrange them on a piece of 8.5×11” cardstock. My first idea was to make small embellishments for card making, but then I fell in love with the look of foil laminating so much I printed out some bigger images and used them as wall art.

Your guide for easy foil laminating! #craftychica #foillaminating

Directions for foil laminating

Print out your images in black using a laser printer.

Cut out the image you want to foil.

Working on a clean, flat area, turn on your Glaminator. Slide the switch on top to the star. This machine also works for thermal and cold lamination – I’m excited to venture there too!

The light will turn orange as the machine heats up.

While that’s happening, open the carrier sheet, folded side up, and place your image(s) design side up. Choose your color of foil and cut out enough to cover the image. 

Place the foil, color side up, on top of the image.

When the machine beeps and the light turns to green – you are good to go! Insert the carrier sheet, sealed side first, into the slot of the machine. It will automatically grip the carrier sheet and will auto-feed through the machine.

Remove the carrier sheet when it comes out of the other side, don’t pull it, wait until the cycle completes. Carefully set it down to cool. Watch your fingers!

Turn off the machine.

Once the carrier sheet is cooled, lift the top and remove the image. Carefully peel off the foil. 

Use as desired!

Alrighty – here are some other ideas for foil laminating!

Your guide for easy foil laminating! #craftychica #foillaminating

  • Cut printed scrapbook paper to 8.5×11” and use it for your printed designs.
  • Use colored cardstock or other papers that will run easily through the printer.
  • If you use line drawings to foil, color them first with markers or colored pencils before adding the foil.
  • Fill up a sheet of repeating patterns, like bold lines, polka dots, hearts. You can use them as a whole sheet for artwork or cut them up for paper crafting and collage.
  • Use for party invites, banners, mixed media.
  • Have fun mixing up different colors of foil for one image, it makes for a cool effect!

Your guide for easy foil laminating! #craftychica #foillaminating

 

Best practices

  • Make sure your foil does not exceed beyond the carrier sheet. 
  • I tried using metallic confetti pieces and it didn’t work (just in case you were wondering!)
  • Turn off your Glaminator when not in use.
  • Keep any small pieces in a little cello bag so you can use them later. I like to use up my scraps to make a multi-colored look on a piece.
  • Smooth out the carrier sheet before you put it through the machine.
  • Make sure the foil covers all of the images, and make sure it is free of wrinkles.

Thank you so much for checking out this post! Hopefully, you are as excited about foil laminating as I am – I can’t wait to play with this machine more and use the other features!

 

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