Foil Quill Magnetic Mat Board Review & Tutorial

Goodbye tape, hello magnets! If you have a Foil Quill you may love it - but not the process and time it takes to get your mat and material all set up.

I could not wait to try out the new We R Memory Keepers magnetic mat for Foil Quill that's now on order exclusively at Swing Design to see if it made using the Foil Quill with Silhouette any easier. 

How to Use the Foil Quill Magnet Mat

Here's how it works.  The $19.99 Foil Quill magnet board is a rigid metal mat with four stripe-style magnets. The mat has 1" grids just like the 12" cutting mats for Silhouette.  You'll want to use a sticky or strong-hold Silhouette (or off brand) cutting mat so it holds the heavier WRMK Foil Quill mat in place.

Line up the edge of the magnet mat with the edge of the gridded area. You want to keep the margin area of the cutting mat clear.

Now take the material that you want to foil onto - like paper or vinyl - and place it on top of the magnetic mat.  I found thicker materials like faux leather are too thick for the magnets to hold them in place.

WRMK does not recommend it, but I found you can cut on the mat. I cut a foiled vinyl decal, a set of foiled stickers, and a foiled paper on the magnetic mat. I will warn you though, cut on it is at your own risk and expect to etch the metal mat.

If possible, position the material so it's down and over a grid line or two so you can still see the grid numbers.  The material is going to slide around at this point, but don't worry - we'll fix that in a minute.

Next place a piece of foil over the material. Again...the foil will slide around.

I have started using the pre-cut 4x6 foil sheets especially when foiling small designs. There is less waste and you save time from cutting off the foil roll.   WRMK also has 12x12 sheets of foil now for larger designs that would otherwise not be covered by the smaller sheets.

Take the four magnets and place one on each edge of the foil sheet.

I found that if you place the magnet in the middle of the foil and then slide outward to the edge it helps pull out any wrinkles in the foil.

The magnets are strong enough that they will hold down both the material (with the exception of faux leather) and the foil. They are also thin enough that they will fit under the CAMEO rollers.

You'll notice that you obviously can't see the grid lines on the magnetic mat - that's the most challenging part about using the Foil Quill in my opinion - but that's an issue with or without the Magnetic mat.  It's hard to know exactly where to place your design in Silhouette Studio so it hits your foil.

One trick is to grab a clear Silhouette mat and overlay it over the mat with the foil lining up the edges. This will allow you to see exactly which grid boxes are covered with foil and where, in Silhouette Studio, you need to place your design.

How to Use the Foil Quill Magnetic Mat with Silhouette CAMEO

When you're ready you can load the cutting mat with the Foil Quill magnet mat into your Silhouette CAMEO 3.  I would suggest you use the mat supports hidden inside the tool drawer to help support the relatively heavy, rigid mat.

Please Note: Unfortunately due to the thickness of the mat and magnets and lower clearance of the Silhouette CAMEO 1 and 2 the Foil Quill Magnetic Mat will not work with the other CAMEO machines.  You can still use the Foil Quill tools with the CAMEO 1 and 2 you'll just need to use the tape method to hold everything in place!

As long as your Foil Quill is warmed up and in the tool carriage, you're ready to Send the design to foil.

When the foiling is done, just slide off the magnets.

Using the magnets instead of tape not only speeds up the prep process, but it also prevents the tape from pulling off layers from your material and gives you a better chance at being able to re-use the piece of foil since it's not left wrinkled and sticky from the tape.

Foil Quill with Magnetic Mat Video Tutorial 

 

Foil Quill Magnetic Mat Review 

Overall, I would recommend the Foil Quill magnetic board for paper, stickers, vinyl and other thinner material. It won't work well for foiling onto faux leather and other thicker materials because the magnets are just not strong enough.

I think it's a great way to not only save on time, but also help ensure you can re-use your foil scrap pieces.

If you want to grab one, the Foil Quill Magnetic Mat is available for sale at Swing Design!

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I receive a small commission. That's what helps fund Silhouette School so I can keep buying new Silhouette-related products to show you how to get the most out of your machine!

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