Cricut Explore Review 3 - Intricate Cuts and Vellum

So many of us love using vellum and those who try to cut it know the horrors of ripping and tearing and the crying that comes along with ruining that ever so beautiful and expensive divine goodness. And with that out of the way vellum was the next thing I wanted to try and cut!

I decided to upload an image that was available this time instead of importing one of my thousands of SVG files I had because I wanted to see how easy it was to use one of their images and...it was easy. I thought I would see if I could find something to cut that I could put in a clear ornament and thought about a snowflake but then when I saw the design I used I thought "oh yeah, let's see if that machine can handle that design at 2 1/2"! I just knew I had the correct design to finally show some limitations of the machine.

My first cut I had chosen the setting of parchment in the custom settings since what I was cutting isn't true vellum and is actually called translucent sheets, not even sure what that means but it is exactly like vellum but I wanted to see what it would do on that setting. It did cut but didn't cut all the way through.

I reloaded the mat and changed my setting to vellum and this thing cut like a champ! The tears and blemishes you see are not because of the machine but because of my errors in getting it off the mat, I kinda forgot how careful you have to be with this delicate material.  I should have put the ruler up there so you guys can believe what you are seeing, the image was set at 2.6 inches, so just a hair over 2 1/2" and it cut FAB U LUST LEE! Once again I was disappointed because I could say "AH HA! YOU CAN'T CUT THIS" *all the sudden okie has MC Hammer's "You Can't Touch This" playing in her head*.

I guess I will go ahead and find something to decorate the top of the bulb but here is the image I cut out in a clear bulb. I did have to use a stick to straighten it out once it was in the bulb but it turned out really nice and it does look better in person *okie looks and notices she can see her fingers and camera in the reflection and is suddenly glad she wasn't craftin nekkid when she took this picture*.

 

MY HONEST OPINION: I am IMPRESSED with how well the machine cut this delectable material! I think I will be looking forward to working more with vellum since I know the Explore can do such a wonderful job with it. Vellum is something I have always loved to use but dreaded at the same time but not anymore!