Fiskars Fuse Creativity System

I love the look of stationery made with a letterpress. Something about soft, thick cotton paper with a crisp image stamped into it just calls my name. I've occasionally wondered if it was something I could learn to do some day, maybe for my girls' wedding invitations. Well, over the summer I was flipping through the pages of a scrapbook magazine and saw an ad for something called the Fiskars Fuse Creativity System. It's a one-step die-cutting, embossing, letterpress machine. I was intrigued. It looked pretty straightforward, and the samples were really cute. Fast forward a few months, and the Fuse is in stock at Jo Ann's and Michael's, and I've got a 30% off coupon. There are lots of dies to choose from, and they are ADORABLE. What to do, what to do . . . gave the hubby a shout, he said it was mine if I wanted it (thanks, Gil) and now the Fuse has a new home in my happy little studio.

The first thing I observed about the Fuse is that it's huge. I think it weighs 16 pounds. It's big enough to accept 12x12" dies, although as of now, there aren't any available in that size. It folds up for storage, which is nice. There's also built-in storage for the manual and a die or two. It was really easy to set up. No problems there.

My first attempts at creating something amazing with the Fuse were not so good. I had trouble inking the dies properly. The plastic that the dies are made of seems to resist the ink. Contrary to what the manual suggests, if you rub the ink pad across the raised image of the die, you get a much better result than if you dab the ink on. Also, to get a deeper impression and a crisper image, add a shim made of thin paper (thinner than cardstock) between your cardstock and the cutting plate. Once I figured this out, I was on a roll!

Check out the little ornaments that I made.

Aren't they sweet? I love them! I do, of course, realize that true letterpress artists would probably not consider this method on the same level as traditional letterpress. That's ok, they're probably right. But this is pretty cool, too, and I am having fun with it. I can't wait until my collection of dies has grown a bit. I'm envisioning all sorts of cute projects!

Hope you enjoyed my little share. So glad you stopped by to take a look. Come back soon! :)