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Hi Everyone! I purchased the Cricut Foil Transfer Kit the day it was released back in September 2020. I was super excited about it and it’s a tool I’ve wanted to love, but mainly it’s brought A LOT of frustration and wasted materials. I’ve seen so many people get really great results with this tool and I keep thinking what am I doing wrong, or what am I missing?
I’ve gone though A LOT of trial and error when using the foil transfer tool. One of the biggest problems I have encountered is the foil just not sticking to my cardstock, especially my black cardstock. I decided to tested 3 different black cardstocks that I have and here are my results.
65LB Recollections Black Cardstock
I’ve had this 65lb cardstock from Michael’s for a while. It’s a multi-color pack, some of the colors take the Cricut Foil beautifully, others just don’t stick. I definitely have had issues in the past with the foil not really sticking to the black if I use the Lightweight Cardstock setting with default pressure.
I’ve seen people having success using the Paper + setting on their Explore Air machines, so I decided to try the Copy Paper 20lb setting on my Maker.
The results with the Copy Paper 20lb setting Default pressure are slightly better than using the Lightweight cardstock setting with the fine tip. The medium tip was OK a little bit of skipping, the bold tip was also OK but a lot of foil dust. Overall, the fine tip had the best results with this setting.
With some of the other colors in the cardstock pack I can get nice results with the medium tip, light cardstock setting, less pressure. I haven’t found a setting yet for the Medium or Bold tip that I am satisfied with yet for the black cardstock.
65lb cardstock using Copy Paper 20lb material setting, default pressure
LUXPaper Cardstock - 18pt
This is a heavier weight cardstock that I purchased on Amazon a while ago, in the description it’s referred to as 18pt. In general, it has really good reviews, but nothing in reference to using the Cricut Foil Transfer tool. It’s not super expensive so I decided to give it a shot. It’s pretty heavy, very smooth and more of a faded black.
First I tried the 100lb heavy cardstock default pressure setting, the foil barely sticks to it and rubs off if I run my finger over it.
LUXPaper Heavy Cardstock, Heavy Cardstock material setting, default pressure
Next I tried the Copy Paper 20lb Default pressure setting. The results were better, but still not super great. The fine tip worked the best and the bold tip left a lot of foil dust. I think this cardstock might be too smooth for the foil to adhere properly.
LUXPaper Heavy Cardstock, Copy Paper 20lb material setting, default pressure
Sirio Ultra Black Cardstock - 104lb
I just recently purchased this cardstock on Amazon after reading some articles about people using Sirio cardstock and getting great results with the Foil Transfer tool. This cardstock is a much richer black than the Recollections and LuxPaper cardstocks. It’s also not quite as smooth as the other two.
(Left) 65lb Recollections Cardstock, (Center) 18pt LUXPaper Cardstock, (Right) Sirio 104lb Cardstock
I first tried it out on Heavy Cardstock Default pressure setting. The fine tip did OK, medium tip was meh, the bold tip was not great at all.
Sirio 104lb Cardstock, Heavy Cardstock Material Setting, default pressure
Next I tried the Light Cardstock Default pressure setting. Again, the fine tip did OK. The medium and bold tips did better than on the heavy cardstock setting.
Sirio 104lb Cardstock, Light Cardstock Material Setting, default pressure
Finally I tried the Copy Paper 20lb default pressure setting. The fine tip did great. The medium and bold tips did ok, but still not as good as I would like.
Sirio 104lb Cardstock, Copy Paper 20lb Material Setting, default pressure
Overall the Copy Paper 20lb Default pressure setting worked the best with the fine point tip on the 65lb Recollections cardstock and the Sirio 104lb cardstock. Not the settings I would have guessed, but most things with my Cricut machine don’t work as I think they should LOL!
(Left) 65lb Recollections Cardstock, (Center) 18pt LUXPaper Cardstock, (Right) Sirio 104lb Cardstock
I would NOT recommend using the LUXPaper cardstock with the Cricut Foil Transfer tool. My top pick would be the Sirio 104lb cardstock. It is a little pricier than the LUXPaper, but in the end, the quality of the cardstock really matters!
LUXPaper 18pt Cardstock, fine tip, Copy Paper 20lb material setting, default pressure (sorry, my placement was off on my mat, that’s why it’s cut off on the top)
Sirio 104lb Cardstock, Fine Tip, Copy Paper 20lb Material Setting, default pressure
Once again, always make sure you have plenty of materials on hand to TEST, TEST, TEST before you attempt your final project.