Tried & Tested - WRMK Foil Quill with EXCLUSIVE Discount!
Ingrid Vichova reviews the fantastic Foil Quill from We R Memory Keepers and guides us through what you can achieve with this craft innovation!
Learn a new skill and bring foiling into your cardmaking with the We R Memory Keepers Foil Quill!
I purchased the WRMK All In One kit the moment it became available and would like to share my experience of working with the Foil Quill with you.
We've teamed up with CraftStash to offer £5 off the amazing products in this range!*
We R Memory Keepers (WRMK) proudly received the Creativation 2019 New Product Award for this fabulous innovation that caught many crafter’s attention during and after the show. Myself included! The moment I saw it I knew I had to have it. I love foiling and if I can add foils effortlessly and in a professional way, I’m all in.
The Foil Quill works exactly like a Sketch Pen or any pen you would use with a pen holder but puts out heat and is used with heat-reactive foils over the material you intend to foil. It can foil various materials like paper, cardstock, vinyl, acetate, vellum, fabric, ribbons, faux leather, chipboard etc. I would recommend reading the instructions manual and the dedicated foilquill.com website for helpful information and tips and tricks on how to use it.
The set up itself is very straight forward and easy. You simply select the correct adapter for your machine, screw the adapter onto the Foil Quill tool and insert it into your machine. The tool requires plugging the USB end into a power source. My Cameo 3 doesn’t support charging this device, so I used my laptop connected to a power source for charging. I also tested it with my Apple charger and it seemed to work just fine. You can also use a portable power bank, if you have one. Your power source must be within 2 feet from the working Foil Quill so keep this in mind when setting it up.
It is worth mentioning that I still use the Basic Edition of the Silhouette Studio with CAMEO 3 and wanted to test the tool to its full potential without having to purchase the Designer Edition, giving our readers an equal chance of recreating these projects. This for me meant using Sketch, DXF or PNG files, but not using any SVG files. If you do have a Designer or a higher edition, you will be able to easily convert any SVG file into a Sketch file. I also created my own Studio3 file that you can download, should you wish, or you can create your own.
The Foil Quill tool is designed to follow single-line designs as if you would with a sketch pen. How compatible are any of your previously purchased files or the new Foil Quill USB or downloadable SVG and PNG files that you can purchase from the WRMK website, you ask? You can still use the PNG files with the Basic Edition. Well, this is where you need to be slightly more inventive and use the ‘Trace’ tool in your Silhouette Studio to define the edges of the design in preparation for sketching, but this will not fill the design. In my mind, this defeats the whole purpose of using a single line design and with my Basic Edition in mind, it is the only reason why I decided not to purchase the USB files at this point and will wait until I purchase the Designer Edition. All the artworks and files themselves are very beautiful and hard to resist so they are on my shopping list.
So now you traced your chosen PNG file and what next... you can either use the file as is and send it to foil or you can utilise the ‘Internal Offset’ tool to gradually fill the design, just like I did with the scripty ‘Hello’ sentiment on my card. Simply ‘Internally Offset’ and reduce the distance between the outline and the offset lines. Repeat until the word is filled with lines. The Foil Quill will follow the lines and the word will be filled. I used the Standard Tip Pen for this, because my sentiment was small, but the Bold Tip Pen would come in handy for the ‘fill’ action and when working on a larger scale.
I found myself using the Standard Tip Pen the most as it works beautifully with most designs and materials I tested so far. The Fine Tip Pen is perfect for delicate elegant script sentiments and detailed artworks. I cannot even describe the excitement when I foiled cardstock for the first time or when I saw the amazing results on the faux leather! I cannot fault the Tip Pens at all. Like with any tool, you need to spend time experimenting with individual settings and materials as each design and material is different, but once you get the hang of it, you will literally want to foil everything.
I also love the fact that WRMK released a bunch of gorgeous foil colours in various colours and finishes. You can purchase spare Washi tapes, but any Washi or a similar low-tack tape will work and can be reused for subsequent projects so it will last you for a while.
This tool opens so many creative possibilities and I cannot wait to play more. I am also looking forward to creating some Print and Foil projects and adding foils to scrapbooking layouts and die cuts. If you have a cutting machine and want to take your crafting up a notch, then I would highly recommend getting the Foil Quill tool. It’s easy and oh-so satisfying!
*£5 Off We R Memory Keepers Foil Quill Pens offer applied at checkout when using code WRMK5. Offer valid until 11.59pm (BST) 12 April 2021 or whilst promotional stocks last.