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My one and only marianne die came a couple days ago - the 112 Circle & Flower die - with 2 delicate flourishes. I was excited until I discovered no amount of "prying" could release the paper/cs out of those flourishes and small flower/stamen. I'd been following this thread, so I tried the wax paper and then the wax paper with the emboss mat, even though the flourishes were not meant to emboss. Still not very successful...
I have also ordered from Dutch Paper Crafts. A bit old school in the ordering process but she ships quickly and has some really unique European craft products. For you butterfly lovers, I got a set of three smaller, but detailed butterflies from this woman. They were the Joy Crafts brand and very inexpensive compared to Spellbinders...but I won't stop buying Spellbinders!
For you butterfly lovers, I got a set of three smaller, but detailed butterflies from this woman. They were the Joy Crafts brand and very inexpensive compared to Spellbinders...but I won't stop buying Spellbinders!
bbgirl66, what are the approximate dimensions of those little butterflies in the set made by Joy. I liked the look of them, but I didn't see any specifics on size.
GypsyRose,
I loaned all my dies to a friend and won't see her until Saturday but from memory...I believe the largest butterfly was about 2+ inches wide maybe 1.5 inches tall and the smallest was about an inch or just over with another sized in between. I can report better measurements after this weekend. They have a lot of detail and emboss beautifully. You won't be disappointed...unless you are looking for something larger. Good luck!
Even with using waxed paper some of the smaller pieces sometimes remain in the die. I just keep a darning needle (blunt point) handy and use it to slide out the remaining pieces of cardstock or waxed paper. This is fast and does not harm the die.
Although I am in Australia, I have bought some of these Marianne dies (as well as other products) from Bunny Zoe's crafts in the UK. She does ship worldwide and I think her prices are very, very reasonable
Thank you so much. I just placed my order. I love the new birdcage dies. Can hardly wait to get them.
Hope I'm in the right thread. New to this. My first post!
Marianne dies can be found through Ecstasycrafts.com out of Ontario, Canada. They have a Ogdensburg, NY office which ships for the US. Think you'll find your butterfly there ... and then some! Gypsy Rose, let me know how you make out.
I have quite a few by now, including some of Joy Crafts and Nellie Snellen also. Most came from Dutch Paper Crafts, and some from Sweet Stamps. I check this UK company web site to watch for the new stuff that comes out: Marianne Design There appear to be new styles coming out monthly.
I guess I'm really behind the times here! That must have been a fairly old posting I responded to! But now that you have the dies, Gypsy Rose, how do you like them? I'm waiting for my shipment from Ecstasy. But after reading through this thread, I'm getting concerned. People have commented on how hard it is to get the paper out of the die. I am also very new to my die cutting machine (Cuttlebug) and don't understand the talk about wax paper, some kind of sticky foam, etc. I hope I haven't just spent a ton of money on dies that are going to totally frustrate me and will then get little use. What has been your experience?
The dies aren't all that difficult to remove the paper. I guess older dies didn't have holes for poking things out, but the newer ones have that and it's not much of a problem. I have some other doily type dies from Wizard and Cheery Lynn that require a lot of tiny holes to be removed by pin. Not difficult, just time-consuming.
Besides the butterfly I got, my other favorite is a label with ornate fringe and two leaf flourishes. Wish these things went by names, rather than just item numbers! The Marianne dies are just so delicate with the intricate cuts. Love 'em!
You say it isn't too hard to get the paper out of the Marianne dies. But what about the ones like the butterflies where there are many intricate cuts? Does all the paper just "fall" out or are there tiny holes for each of the tiny cut out pieces. Seems to me they could have devised a better system. But I'm so new to this that I don't have much experience with many different dies. I mostly have nestabilities and they are so easy to deal with. And I thought all dies would be as easy!
You say it isn't too hard to get the paper out of the Marianne dies. But what about the ones like the butterflies where there are many intricate cuts? Does all the paper just "fall" out or are there tiny holes for each of the tiny cut out pieces. Seems to me they could have devised a better system. But I'm so new to this that I don't have much experience with many different dies. I mostly have nestabilities and they are so easy to deal with. And I thought all dies would be as easy!
OK, since I hadn't used any in a couple of weeks, I cut a few and did not add any waxed paper, fabric softener sheet, or talcum powder.
I cut the butterfly from metallic gold paper, and it fell out on its own. All the cut-outs within the butterfly remained though and needed to be popped out with a pin. Took less than a minute, probably 30 seconds.
Next I cut a Marianne Creatables frame with two flourishes. I didn't get a complete cut on the frame the first time; so I added a shim. The frame was easy to push out with my finger, but the flourishes had to be pried out with the pin.
I notice that a newer Marianne die, a flourished bird, has the holes for pushing the paper out.
In summary, yes, you do work a little harder on these that you would, say, on a Nestability scalloped circle, but it's not really fair to compare a solid shape to these delicate and intricate shapes. If you want some seriously time consuming pin pushing, try the Cheery Lynn doily dies; they have dozens and dozens of holes to punch to get the intricate doily.
I think I'll bypass on the seriously time-consuming pin pushing(But I think I'm going to check out those dies any way! LOL) I suppose I'll find out what I'm in for as soon as my shipment arrives. When I ordered, I thought all dies work like my nestabilities and shapeabilities. Guess I've got lots to learn yet about dies. I thank you for all your help.
I have a lot of the Marianne dies ( with a few more on the way), and love all of them. I also have the dies from Cheery Lynn. I have a suggestion for getting rid of all those little pieces that we get from punching or falling out. Darice makes a small, battery operated, hand held vacuum. I keep it on my table next to the Big Shot and when all the little devils are out, I just vacuum them into the little container attached to the vacuum.. I got mine at Hancock Fabrics, but saw them at JoAnn the other day. They are around $20.00, but very well worth it.
My one and only marianne die came a couple days ago - the 112 Circle & Flower die - with 2 delicate flourishes. I was excited until I discovered no amount of "prying" could release the paper/cs out of those flourishes and small flower/stamen. I'd been following this thread, so I tried the wax paper and then the wax paper with the emboss mat, even though the flourishes were not meant to emboss. Still not very successful...
Molly, thank you so much for your idea! Brilliant! I doubt it would make the Spellbinders people who sued QK about dies very happy though! I'm certainly most grateful. Living in Switzerland I often can't get dies from the US and so am dependent on the European sellers.
__________________ Best wishes from Patricia P.S. Stay away from negative people - for every solution, they find a problem.
One down side of the Maryanne and Nelly Snellen is that, as far as I have been able to tell, they don't cut fabric or felt and I have troubles with acetate - especially the plastic ones!
__________________ Best wishes from Patricia P.S. Stay away from negative people - for every solution, they find a problem.
I would like to suggest you look at dies from Cherry Lynn Designs. She has lots of butterfly dies and tons of dies with intricate patterns. The best part is that your paper will EASILY fall out of the dies due to a coating on the dies. Take a look at the videos online. I've had lots of problems getting the paper out of the Marianne dies.
I was told the best route is to use a cuttlehug metal plate for better cutting. I can only find these in australia orders online. There must a an economical alternative for a metal shim plate?
__________________ Carolyn
my avatar: (such desparation), Dear God, if you can't make me thin; make my
friends fat"
I was told the best route is to use a cuttlehug metal plate for better cutting. I can only find these in australia orders online. There must a an economical alternative for a metal shim plate?
I don't fully understand the Australia reference. Are you saying you're in Australia and they're expensive there, or that you can only find them to purchase from Australia?
Your widget says you're from MN, and if that's the case, you can purchase them several places in the States. Cherry Lynn sells them, for instance. I got mine from Darlene at: DutchPaperCrafts Both are in the US.
They aren't too pricey - under $10 for each size (I know of 2). Hope this helps.
Austrailian mail does take much longer to receive, and extra for shipping; I believe. I found an online order, in stock, and speedy service with clear dollar stamps for the cuttlehug plate
__________________ Carolyn
my avatar: (such desparation), Dear God, if you can't make me thin; make my
friends fat"
Glad to be of help! I'm sure you will be pleased with your dies. I put mine through the Cuttlebug with no problems but they cut better if they are sandwiched with the paper on top then the cutting mat on top of that. I also emboss the larger dies even if they don't have embossed areas - it seems to make the edges smoother and can help getting them out of the die. The smaller ones I cut in my old red sizzix with the adaptor plate and the little square adaptors - then I do it the opposite and have the cutting base plate, card then the die with the little square adaptor on top of that. Slide through, press and hey presto - quicker than turning the handle!
They can be fiddly to remove from the die once cut - I have a piece of bluetack (not sure what you call it in USA) which I warm up into a ball in my hand then dab it on the card to help pull it out of the die. I also use a pricking tool but am careful not to scratch the metal. The newer dies are now coming out with little holes that don't cut or emboss but are there so you can push the card out
hugs, annie x
If you will run your dies through your die cutting machine with a few layers of wax paper your dies will release the paper easier. I do this with all my dies before using them and then every once in a while.
About 6-8 weeks ago I purchased some Marianne Creatable Dies from 'Dutch Paper Crafts', She's from New York and seems like a very small business of only one.
I have purchased from Dutch Paper Crafts and been very happy. Great service, fast shipping, low shipping prices. She has a great selection of Marianne dies, Cheery Lynn and others. I highly recommend her store.
She also does great videos so you can see exactly what the die cuts look like.
I don't know for sure, but I think I read somewhere that Spellbinders has a patent on open metal dies (ones that you can see through) like the Nesties and that's why My Favorite Things, Papertrey, and Tim Holtz's dies have to be solid metal (you can't see through them).
Maybe since the dies mentioned above are the open kind, they can't be imported under this same argument? If they were just stencils and didn't cut, I bet that we could get them here.
Again, I'm no patent lawyer - just what I read elsewhere.
well MY Favorite Things has their own line of Die Namics and they would be same as spellbinders so this can't be the case, they're US based.
The marianne dies I have just discovered and seen at a store in canada so nice to see more out there, the storage and cost of these is SO much nicer than the big solid dies in my opinion.
I just got my Marianne dies, and I am in love! So far, I have been running them through my Grand Caliber just like I do with my Nestabilities, and I have had no problem getting the paper out, or with the way they cut. They are the light blue ones, and the finish seems slippery. I've had more problems getting the extra bits out of the Cuttlebug Plus folders than the Marianne dies.
I also got some of the stencils where you manually emboss and cut. It's a lot of work, but the results are gorgeous!
I got one of the Marianne embossing/Cutting folders too, and I love it. I use it in the same way as I do my other embossing folders.
I have one of the Cheery Lynn doilies and it cuts and embosses beautifully. Hard to tell from the real thing. I do cut them out with a layer of wax paper tho....
