A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I had bought these, the new Tim Holtz Embossing Diffusers. You have probably seen, like me, the DIY versions that people have posted on You Tube, and they looked like a really cool idea. So when I saw these, I thought they had to be worth a try. This has #1 on it, so I assume he will be bringing out some other shapes somewhere along the line. What you get in the pack is 3 frames, for want of a better description, and the 3 inserts that are cut from them. A large oval, a small long oval and a circle. So effectively you get 6 options for changing around what you can do with your embossing folders. To try them out, I used the large oval. The idea is that you get an un-embossed area with the frame, or just a small embossed area with the insert. You can stamp into the un-embossed area, or even double emboss-adding a different texture to that blank area. Now, I did have a look around the net to see what sandwiches people were using with these and the 'bug, as Tim obviously uses a Vagabond in his demos. I did find a couple of different sandwiches for the 'bug, neither of which worked in my machine. So WARNING & DISCLAIMER here: If you've had your 'bug a long time, you will have a good idea what will fit through it, and what won't. To those who are not so familiar with their machine, NEVER, EVER try to force a sandwich through- you WILL break your 'bug. Err on the side of caution and start with a really thin sandwich, and gradually shim up till it will go through with reasonable ease, and produce a good embossed piece. Better to throw away poorly embossed cardstock, than a Cuttlebug! The sandwich here worked for mine. It may be too thick, or too thin for your machine. One video I saw the lady used an A plate, B plate, folder with cardstock, Diffuser, then B plate. Went through her machine perfectly, and came out well embossed. This sandwich was WAY too thick for my machine, but hers was fine with it. So be warned! According to Tim, the Diffuser replaces one cutting plate, and as for embossing folders I would usually use A plate, B plate, folder & cardstock, then B plate,I put one B plate aside, and my sandwich was: A plate, B plate, Folder & cardstock, Diffuser. Like I said, this worked just nicely in my 'bug. The first time I tried it out, I discovered that its a bit difficult to get the folder/Diffuser to stay where you want it to- so I recommend low tack tape to hold everything together while you feed the sandwich through. The first piece I did was with one of the Tim Holtz Alterations folders , Retro Cirque set. You can see my sandwich on the left. This is what you get- an embossed piece of cardstock, with a central oval panel left plain. Meaning you can stamp onto it, or use it as a base for a matted piece of stamping. You don't get a crisp outline around the embossing, by the way, it just sort of fades out. So now, the oval shape that is cut from the frame. Its layered up exactly the same, on top of the folder, and this time you definitely need the low tack tape to hold it in place- otherwise the minute you try to feed it, it slides everywhere. You have lots of options as to where you place it, or the orientation, as it just sits on top. I'm just going for the central oval here. I also tried feeding it through upside down, just to see if it made any difference- it doesn't, . So here are the two pieces together- the top one is the frame Diffuser, the bottom one what you get with the Oval. The thing Tim demo'ed with this is that you can place one type of embossing with the frame part of the Diffuser, then another type within the plain area using the oval insert. This time I have used the Swiss Dots folder, with the Diffuser frame for the first bit. The first embossing.Looking through my folders, I found one that I thought would go perfectly with this: I tried the frame over it, and it does indeed seem like a perfect fit. It's a Sizzix folder, by the way. This was layered up exactly the same as to get the embossed oval with a plain frame: Folder with cardstock, Oval Diffuser on top. Its not too difficult to get everything in the right place, as you can see enough through the folder to place your design. As you can see, lots of tape this time, I really didn't want it to move at all. The oval plate just puts the pressure on the words in the folder, and adds it to the blank area. The three pieces from the various combinations.
