Letraset, the company that makes the Promarkers, makes many other products as well. I think I used some of their letter transfers many years ago for an album title page. At CHA I saw a product called "Safmat" and I just received a sample pack to try. Safmat is a printable adhesive film that you can use for sentiments, titles and decoration for your cards and projects. You can read more about it on the Letraset blog HERE.
I knew that the sample was coming so this weekend I did some work on my computer to create a few sheets of designs to print out and experiment with on some projects.
I went through the digital embellishments in my Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 program (I have been buying digital kits for years now) and picked out lots of ribbons and borders to try printing on the film.
I also created a page of black and white borders and sentiments. I set up a custom size projects since the Safmat is in the A4 size (8.3 x 11.7 inches).
I printed a few of my test pages - this is another set of borders and ribbons. You have to be careful to put the sheet in the right direction so the printing will be on the film and not the backing!
You can see how transparent the film is. I printed in best quality and checked "other photo paper" (even though this isn't photo paper). I had to adjust the settings once again to print a borderless A4 page.
Here is the printed black and white page. The ink is very shiny on the film and I think it looks nice.
I used a regular paper trimmer to cut apart the strips and sentiments. These sentiments were all in my digital content library but you could easily create your own personalized sayings in any word processing program. You could also print photos on the film and apply them to your project.
The Happy Birthday sentiment is trimmed to fit neatly inside a standard card. I use a tool to help position the strip and keep it straight. I did find that you could lift and replace the film if it wasn't straight the first time. Once it is straight and exactly where you want it you can burnish it to the paper and the film virtually disappears.
I did have a bit of trouble with smearing of the ink - I think I had a little water on my finger which damaged the "h" and smudged the ink. I found a little flower to hide the problem (always think recovery!). edited to add - I have heard from my contact at Letraset and the problem may be that I used the highest quality print setting which puts too much ink on the film and can lead to smudging. I will try a lower quality setting for my next trial run and let you know how that works out.
I tried a bit more experimenting with the color print. First I used the paper trimmer to cut the strip with the pink ribbon.. Then I trimmed a piece to a bit more than 5 1/2 inches.
Here is another view showing how thin and transparent the film is - the color is printed but you can also see through to the background color.
I applied the film to the card and then added a sentiment strip from the first sheet I printed. I left a little extra to be sure that the strip covered the entire card front - then I trimmed off the excess bits.
I like the look of the printed ribbon and sentiment. I'll add some more items to this card - I was just excited to show you this new (to me) material for card making and paper crafting.
You can find Safmat at some art supply stores or from the Letraset website. I will keep experimenting with the pieces I have here and let you know what I discover - so far I think it is great. The material is easy to use and it should not be difficult to create your own custom printed sayings and sentiments for your cards and other projects. I had no trouble printing on it - the printing worked perfectly the first time. Once you print some sentiments you can place them where you want on your project without having to worry about lining up your card in the printer to get the words in the right position. After you have applied the film and burnished it, the appearance is very professional and neat.
