Scrapbooking, Stickers, and More: Cricut Expression Cuts Nice, Plays Dirty
Craft has broken out, and is barely a niche anymore. From Maker’s Faire to the wide array of knitting groups and do-it-yourself projects, it’s clear that Americans take their hobbies seriously. Provo Craft does as well, and have created a line of machines aimed at those who like to cut things up. A lot. And nicely. So, if you’re a scrapbooker, card-maker, quilter, papercrafter or just someone who likes to have really neat invitations, you’ll like the Cricut.
We’ve been trying their high-end machine, the Cricut Expression. They also make a Personal Electric Cutter and a Create model, which offer slightly different feature sets. The Expression is much larger, allowing you to work on surfaces up to 12” x 24”. Imagine a sewing machine for paper, or to put it perhaps more clearly, a fancy pattern machine. No computer necessary- you use cartridges to control shapes and patterns. Included with the machine are two- one with fonts and one with a pretty decent variety of shapes, but you will quickly hit your limits and want to use more. Cartridges and blades are the same across machines, which is nice.
Unfortunately, new cartridges are quite pricey- in the $80-$100 range! Frankly, we would’ve rather connected to a computer for more flexibility (more on that in a bit). On the other hand, cutting was a blast, and really easy- this is definitely a device aimed at folks who might not be super technologically savvy. The buttons might seem imposing at first, and mothers might want a hand getting started but should quickly pick up the basics. Overall, we liked the balance of customization and simplicity. You will need some time to figure out how to get the desired results, but the learning curve is more about the materials used than anything electronic. For instance, using quilting fabric at first didn’t work- the blades caused the fabric to move and bunch. But with some adjustments, stiffening up the material and increasing the pressure, we were able to carve some intricate patterns.
Even thin paper had issues, as the blades simply wouldn’t cut it. Alignment can be tricky. And the cutting mat is frustrating; the idea is to stick to your paper or material to prevent shifting during the cutting process, but the essential stickiness wears out pretty quickly. You can “renew” the mat with soap and water, but it is bit of a hassle. Switching cartridges isn’t difficult, but is slightly annoying. And we should mention that Cricut offers a way to connect to your computer, but at the moment for PC users only and our primary testers were using Macs. In our trials of DesignStudio, their software program, we found it fairly easy to use but quite annoying- you’ll still need to buy the separate cartridges for fonts and patterns even though most or all are usable in the software. In other words, if you make a neat design, you won’t be able to cut it with the machine until you get the cartridges. And you can’t just create anything- you’re still stuck with preset designs and fonts.
We liked the array of projects they had available, and loved the community. Much like with any good tools, there are some folks who have figured out how to get a lot of the Cricut, and ways to save money on cartridges. And we have to admit, the Expression was surprisingly fast, and once we got the hang of it, quite accurate. Detailed shapes, even fairly small ones with curves, came out nicely. You can’t emboss, but you can create some fantastic and simple Halloween and Christmas decorations, quickly and cheaply. The machine will set you back quite a bit- more than $300- and is thus likely mainly for those who want to add more pizazz to their paper habit. For those folks, though, it’s a nifty product with some limitations, and a strong community behind it.
Good overview- the Cricut is a neat machine, and I’d love to hear more about their add-on, the Gypsy.
— Sarah · Aug 26, 09:17 PM · #