How to Use Foil Quill with Cricut Machines
What is Foil Quill? How does it work?
Foil quill pens work by inserting them into your Cricut machine using the adapters to fit your pen holder. The pens come in Fine Tip, Standard Tip and Bold Tip.
Once inserted into the Cricut Maker, the foil quill pen heats up, by plugging it into a USB charger.
Once you send the project to Draw, the heated foil quill pen heats the foil sheet along the lines where it draws, leaving a metallic design on your paper, vinyl or fabric.
It creates a stunning foil finish as you can see from the Thank You tags below:
Today we are going to create Thank You Card tags using the We R Memory Keepers Foil Quill pens, the Cricut Maker and watercolor paper/paints.
Here are the materials we are using:
- Cricut Maker
- WRMK Foil Quill All in One Kit
- WRMK Foil Quill Phrases, Quotes & Sayings - Set of 100 Designs
- Speedball Brayer
- Clear Contact Paper
- Watercolor Paper
- Watercolor Paints
First, I created my own watercolor background with fall/autumn colors. I washed the entire paper lightly with water, then added strips of the water color paints.
Using a round watercolor brush, I blended the colors until I had a pretty background and let it dry. Tip: Speed up drying by using your heat gun!
You could always use a patterned card stock instead of doing the watercolor painting step!
Once the watercolor paper dries, cut the paper into the size to accommodate your foil quill sheets. I am using the 6" silver foil so I cut my watercolor background down into 4" strips.
Here's a fantastic tip to keep the foil quill from sticking to your Cricut mat:
Place a 12 x 12 piece of clear contact paper, sticky side up, onto your mat. I used my brayer to quickly lay it across the mat.
Now pull off the paper side and place your watercolor paper onto the sticky contact paper.
Place your foil sheet over your watercolor paper and smooth it down so it is nice and taut across the paper.
It will stick to the contact paper so you do not need to use the tape. But be careful because the foil will stick to the contact paper immediately as you can see from some of the pulled up areas in my photo. It's ok - keep going!
First remove the Cricut pen adapter, by pushing firmly from underneath the carriage to pop it out.
Load the Foil Quill Standard Tip Pen into the pen holder with adapter "C".
Connect the Foil Quill Standard Tip pen to a USB charger. Be sure to place the heat resistant plate under the tip. You can find my charging bank here. Let that heat up while you get your design ready in Design Space.
Open Cricut Design Space and upload your design.
I am using this Thank You Banner single line design from the WRMK Foil Quill Phrases, Quotes & Sayings - Set of 100 Designs Bundle.
You will want every bundle of Foil Quill designs for Cricut in the We R Memory Keepers Design Shop, I promise.
After you upload your design, change the Linetype to Draw.
Resize the Thank You Banner single line design so that it's 2.25" high.
Add a square. Unlock the sizes and resize to 2.2" w x 2.5" h.
Select both layers and click Align: Center.
Click Attach so these layers cut and print as you see.
I adjusted the colors of both layers so I could see them better.
Now duplicate this Attached group twice so there are 3 total. This is the size of the watercolor paper strip that I am using.
Align all 3 layers so there's a little space between them and select them all and click Attach.
Click Make It.
Now move the designs down so they are below the 1" axis. This will allow clearance around the watercolor paper for the foil quill sheet to overhang.
Choose your material and send to the machine.
I am using 140lb watercolor paper.
Load the mat and press go.
The foil quill will work its magic first. Then the fine cut blade will cut out the background rectangle.
Once you have removed the project from the contact paper, you will see the foil quill that it left behind.
Just peel it off and voila - a clean mat!!
I write a little note on the back of the Foil Quill Thank you cards when I shop out an order....
Here's a video tutorial for Cricut Design Space:
Find more gorgeous foil quill designs HERE.
Receive free svg cut files for Cricut, Silhouette, and ScanNCut, embroidery designs, fonts & deals straight to your email inbox, by signing up for one (or ALL) of our newsletters:
Embroidery & Applique Newsletter