embosslit XL dies

I was browsing the Sizzix site a couple of weeks ago, checking to see if there were any sale items that I couldn't live without. I was just about to leave when I came across a couple of embosslit XL dies. What was this? I hadn't heard anything about XL embosslits! There are two being sold on the site--one has a dotted background and a cake in the center, the other has flourishes, candles, and Happy Birthday text embossed on it. Well, I had to check this out. I knew that you all would want me to tell you about them. :-)

So, here's one of the embosslit XL dies.


There you see the design that I chose, and the die that I pulled out of the packaging. The die is actually all metal.


Here is the die opened up. You can see the positive and negative faces as well as the blade that will cut out the shape.


Now, there were no instructions for using this die other than that arrow, so I figured that I'd use the same set up that I'd use for any other embosslit die. Here you can see that I have my multipurpose platform open to Tab 1, then a clear plate, the die with the aqua cardstock tucked inside of it, and another clear plate ready to go on top.


I rolled that stack through and you can see the result up above. The center in particular is nicely embossed. The dots toward the sides are less crisply embossed.


The blades cut cleanly around the edges, giving me an embossed die cut that's 3 3/8" by 4 3/8".


And here's a quick card that I made using that die cut. The stamped sentiment is by Memory Box and stamped using Memento dye ink.

So, my take on this die--it's okay. I'm not sure why the embossing wasn't uniform throughout. That was disappointing to see. I'll have to try shimming to see if that would help improve the embossing of those edges without causing the center to be cut through or to tear. I'll also mention here that I originally used one of my clear plates that had a crack starting on one of the edges and that somehow that was "transferred" to my die cut in the form of a split--the cardstock actually looked like it had been cut, and the cut correlated with the position and size of the crack. It was weird to see, and it happened a couple of times before it occurred to me to switch that plate out. Not sure what the physics is behind that, but be sure to use nice solid plates if you try these dies.

From a versatility standpoint, it was easy for me to see at the outset that these would have a fairly limited use, though that's part of why I chose the cake die--to keep my options open to occasions other than just birthdays. But unlike Cuttlebug embossing folders, you have less flexibility in how to use this type of die because of the fact that it does cut out the shape of the layer and there's no good way to get around that. I could see this being handy if you're making a number of the same "type" of card though, so it probably has its place. A holiday design could speed up card-making considerably this time of year. Haven't seen any designs like that yet, so we'll see. :-)