Saturday, July 30, 2011

A Handy Adhesive for Intricate DieCuts


Today I have a quick tip for you about a product that I tried recently.  One of the things I noticed at CHA was the number of types of adhesives that are available for crafters.  In most of the workshops, manufacturers had donated adhesive to use for the project so I had a chance to try some that were new to me.  Sometimes you need a wet adhesive and sometimes a dry adhesive will work better for your project.  I like to cut very intricate designs and I usually use a glue pen to adhere these to my card or page.


Letraset recently sent me this sample pack of their product called "LetraTac" - you can read all of the details about this product on their website HERE and on their blog HERE.  This is a sheet of very thin adhesive dots that are great for the intricate cuts.


I was helping a friend with the finishing touches on a scrapbook and she wanted to add some Kanji characters to a page that highlighted "Japan Day" at her son's school.  We looked up some of the words that seemed appropriate on the Pagoda Cricut cartridge.  The words we chose were "love, health, prosperity and happiness" (from left to right above).  After the letters were cut out (at 1 1/2 inches) we placed them on the adhesive.


Then we put back the protective covering sheet and used this tool to burnish the letters and pick up the adhesive.


Next, we lifted the letters from the adhesive sheet.  As you can see, many small white dots of adhesive were transferred to the characters.


 The adhesive is repositionable so we had time to decide on just the right position for the words and make some slight adjustments.  Once they were settled in place, we burnished them to the page.  The adhesive becomes permanent over time.


Since the Kanji characters are very irregular in shape there is more adhesive in this area that I can use for my next intricate cut.  It is easy to see if the adhesive is added to your cut because it is white and shows up well on most paper and cardstock.

LetraTac is available in the US online at Dick Blick  HERE, at Art Supply Warehouse HERE, DaVinci Artist Supply HERE, and may be available in your local craft or art supply store.

You can see a different (and very creative) way to use the LetraTac HERE - just add some Pearl Ex for a really interesting effect!

Lettering Delights Clearance Sale


Free Product


I want to remind you that there are just a couple of days left to shop for the Lettering Delights graphics, alphabets, paper packs and fonts that will be retiring.  At 50 cents each these are a great deal.  There are also some super bundles and an additional special offer of $25 off if your order totals $60 or more.  The code for the $25 savings is "SparkleSavings" (this offer does not apply to the Simple Shapes Super Bundle which is already heavily discounted).

Just click the affiliate link above or in the left side column to go to the site and shop the sale.  I use some of the Lettering Delights sets in my digital scrapbooking and they also offer SVGs that can be used with many die cutting machines and programs.  The Clearance Sale and the special $25 off offer both expire at midnight Mountain Time on Sunday, July 31st.

One more note,  if you want an easy way to see the meaning of each of the Kanji characters on the Pagoda cartridge, please visit the post HERE where I reviewed the cartridge.  This post includes a chart I prepared with the translations on a keypad overlay and you can download this for personal use.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend - there will be a lot of painting going on around here.  Our construction is nearly finished (the wood floors get sanded and refinished next week) and we'd love to get all of the furniture back to where it belongs as soon as we can!

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10 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for the info on Letraset. I joined their blog and also ordered some of the adhesive and 2 sets of ProMarkers and the fine nib also. I needed flesh tone yesterday and did not have it and, also, do so many small paper piecings that I thought it would be a good time to try the adhesive. Great sale going on on the markers. Thanks again.

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  2. LetraTac looks like a good adhesive. I have tried many and always go back to the glue pen. This looks interesting I love hearing about new product that you have tried and love.
    Thank you
    Linda in Stanwood

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  3. What a neat adhesive. Thanks for reviewing these new products for us!

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  4. Thanks for the info on the adhesive. I will check out the website for it. Love that Kimono! Is there a pattern for that?

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  5. Thank you for the info. on the adhesive. Your project is adorable, I have not explore the Pagoda cartridge, I had no idea it had such intricate words, once again thank you for sharing. Have a wonderful wknd.
    Liz

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  6. Just went back to the older post and printed the chart! Thanks so much for the reference and link! I have tried a similar adhesive in the past, but delicate cuts were very difficult to remove--looks like I need to give this a try. Thanks for the info.
    Shellee

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  7. Thanks for the info, Diane. Does the adhesive hold well? Especially for cards? I tried a similar product years ago, too, and while it was simple to use, a lot of the cuts would come off the cards with handling. It seemed fine for scrapbooking, if you use page protectors, but not so great for cards. I'd be interested to hear how this adhesive fairs.

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  8. Thank you Diane. You always have such wonderful information on new products. I'm anxious to see your finished remodel job on your home. I don't see how it could be any more beautiful than it was already.

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  9. Thank you for the info on this new product..only problem I found is their website does not give the cost of the item..I don't like surprises! so I won't click on 'order'. If no price, than as far as I am concerned the item is FREE! lol. I'll check the other two websites you mentioned but I may just use the spray adhesive or my 'create a stickers' tool for intricate work!

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  10. While looking at the LetraTac on Dick Blick, I noticed that 10 sheets of Safmat film are included in a Letraset digital image kit for $9.99: http://www.dickblick.com/products/letraset-digital-tone-project-kit/
    Thought some of your readers may be interested.

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