Chart for Assorted Dies & Sizzix Multipurpose Platform

Quite a while back I wrote up an entry about the Big Shot and multipurpose platform (MPP) called Big Shot Basics. I'd said that I love the MPP because it makes using all of the dies, folders, texture plates etc. so easy. It's tabbed and the instructions are printed right on each tab, with helpful illustrations, no less! After reading the comments made concerning that blog entry, the only other nifty addition would have been if Sizzix had specified just which other dies etc could be used with each tab. I'd written that up in the body of that post, but I decided that it'd be easier if that information was put in chart form.

Here's where you can now find a chart: Dies & Sizzix Multipurpose Platform

This is a pdf file, so you'll need Adobe Reader (can be downloaded for free) or some other application that will let you open and read pdf files. If you want to print it out, it's best to print it in landscape.

I've tried to include most of the more commonly used manufacturers' dies etc. If I've missed one (or more--Yikes!) feel free to let me know. I think there is only one place where my chart differs from what's recommended on the MPP and that's when using the Cuttlebug embossing folders. I tend to use No Tabs because I get a crisply embossed image with less likelihood of tearing the card stock or getting extra creases. I think that Tab 1 is what's actually recommended. I added that in the notes.

I didn't include any of my tips, tricks, or tweaks on this chart. If I've done some experimenting or tweaking, the post can be found in my sidebar in the Tutorials and Info for the Big Shot and Cuttlebug menu. I'll be adding this post to that menu shortly. :-)

Milestone and a Recap

This morning I noticed that the counter on this blog ticked over 18000 hits. There have actually been more than that since I didn't have a counter when I started and since I've had to reset it at least once along the way. LOL! But still, it's a milestone of sorts. I also noticed a few old posts that have been racking up some hits lately. These are posts from some time back. It's neat to see that people must be getting something useful out of them. When I get into crafting and come across ideas that seem like they might be helpful, I try to include them here. I thought I'd do a recap of sorts. Yeah, and I also don't have any new cards to post yet today. I could just say, "Hey, be sure to click over on the Mini-Tutorial & Tips menu over on my sidebar," but that'd be too easy. I'll just recap some of the more informative type posts.

So, here goes....

• Using The Font Thing - I love this application for managing my fonts. I have over 1400 of them at last count. Really, I do know that there are a lot of folks out there who have more! TFT saves me a lot of time when I'm searching for a particular look.
• Using the Big Shot to emboss with brass stencils - this goes for the Cuttlebug, too, but I don't know what the specific sandwich combos are since it has the various plates and I just use the multipurpose platform. The principle is the same for both machines, and I showed how to emboss so that the edges of the brass stencil won't show if you don't want them to.
• The Bind It All - I posted quite a bit of info about this when it first came out. There's a post describing how the machine works. There's a chart that summarizes the approximate coil size that would be needed to bind a certain number of pages. There is also a work-around for those small 1/4" coils--this was before Zutter came out with their plastic gizmo, the space bar add on. You know, that thing that you get for free but it costs $2.99. LOL! Just strikes me as funny. I realize that S/H costs money, but really--folks had come up with work-arounds and for cheaper. Crafters are so creative.
  
• Manual die cutters - all sorts of questions came up about these when the Cuttlebug was released. Everyone wanted to know which dies could be used in which machines and with what materials. I tried to summarize the info that I found in various forums and those are in a couple of charts. I tried to include all of the major die cutters and dies, so there's info about which dies you can use whether you have a Sizzix, Cuttlebug, Big Shot, Big Kick, Wizard, Bosskut, Sidekick, Tag-along, Zip 'e mate, or Quickutz. I also tried to include info in another chart about what sorts of materials each type of die could cut, and I included acetate, cardstock, chipboard, cork, fabric, felt, fun foam, foil, HVAC tape, magnet paper, shrink plastic, transparency, vellum, and velveteen paper.
  
• Those Cuttlebug embossing folders and those Nestabilities dies! Both are so much fun! They're great to use as is, but I made a couple of posts about partial Cuttling and partial Nesties, using these folders and dies in slightly different ways. I think that the partial technique is probably something that can be applied to any of the die machines that use a "sandwich". The idea is to take some of the guesswork out of it when you want to emboss or cut only so far. Instead of rolling your sandwich combo in and then backing out, a method that's rather imprecise since you have to guess when you've rolled it far enough, you set it up so that you just roll the combo through and leave the part that you want to leave unembossed outside of the sandwich. Voila! No pressure applied means no embossing.
• Info about the Scor-It - scoring boards have become very popular and it seems like there is an ongoing dialogue about the Scor-It vs the Scor-pal and which is better and so forth. I've had the Scor-It for a couple of years and have been satisfied and not inclined to buy yet another board, so I'm not taking sides on this one. I'd read about people having trouble making accurate scores with the Scor-It though, so I compiled info that I'd found about troubleshooting that particular issue with the Scor-It.
  

I hope this will sort of act as a refresher about some of what can be found here. Also, the labels in my sidebar can be useful for finding relevant posts. Blogger seems to arrange them by frequency first, so the ones referenced most often are at the top, then alphabetical after that.

Quick addendum

I didn't think that this would come up often enough to add to my chart of manual die cutters and dies, but it occurred to me today that I left off some dies by one more manufacturer. Those would be the dies that were made to be used with the Scraparatus. They're cute little dies and I've used them in my Big Shot. I just treated them like the usual wafer-thin dies. I was able to cut decorative paper and cardstock with them. I haven't tried anything thicker than that. They're fun because they're very easy to place exactly where you want them, and you can use both the positive and the negative cutouts.

Comparing manual die cutters

There are lots of die cutters available for personal use these days. It can be tough to know which ones will cut which dies, which can use what folders, and that sort of thing. I have three machines. I've had a red Sizzix for years. I've had the Sidekick for a little less than that. I've had my Big Shot for at least a couple of years now and it's the most versatile of the three.

But everyday I see lots of folks with questions about die cutter compatibility, so I compiled a chart of what works with what. Now I tried not to include erroneous information, but that means that I may have left something out if I couldn't find enough info about it. This is not meant to be all-inclusive in any sense, and I expect, and hope, that if there are errors they'll be pointed out, and that if there are additions that need to be made, they'll be sent or posted so that I can add them.

Okay, so with that disclaimer out of the way, here's a link to a file where I've compiled my information in chart form.

http://www.indigojay.com/crafting/diecutter_compatibilitychart.pdf

Hopefully this is viewable by most folks. You do have to have Adobe Acrobat Reader which is free and can be downloaded here.

Addendum:
I didn't go in search of this info. It kind of dropped in my lap, so I thought I'd add it here. If you have a Cuttlebug and want to know the sandwiches for the various dies, here's a link on SplitCoastStampers that will help:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4505306#post4505306

It has the info in doc and pdf form. Hope that makes things easier.

The Big Shot

I haven't done any stamping this weekend, but I've fielded some questions about the Big Shot by Ellison Design. I love this tool. I had the big Sizzix for years. It was versatile, but heavy and bulky. I didn't use my dies as much as I would have since it was more trouble to get it out and work with it. After I got a Sidekick, I used the thin dies more often. I could emboss with brass stencils, too, but size was a big limitation. A number of other tools came out, but there seemed to be drawbacks for all of them, whether it was the dies that could be used, ease of use (or lack of ease, rather), or price, etc. Then the Big Shot was released.

The Big Shot is a die cutter that rolls the dies through on a wide 6" bed. It's lighter and more portable than the Sizzix, and the cranking action is easy and cuts dies very well. It also embosses brass stencils nicely. Early on, I'd tinker with shims, use adapters and such, and I could use just about any die out there and get great results. Recently Ellison came out with a multipurpose platform. You can picture it as a hinged book. A thick platform is the last "page" of the book. Two thinner pages rest on top of it and allow the user to adjust the thickness to what's needed for embossing or cutting wafer thin dies with or without backing. The instructions are all printed on the platform, by the way. That accessory made it incredibly easy to use any die in this machine. I've used large Ellison thick cut dies, Ellison thin cut dies and cut 'n' emboss dies, Sizzix original dies, Sizzlits, Sizzix alphabars, Quikutz dies, Wizard dies, Bosskut dies, and Zip'e mate dies without any problems. With the bigger dies, thicker materials, such as fabric, chipboard, magnets, and cork can be cut. I get a good cut the first roll through with my dies, too. I should also add that I've tried the new Cuttlebug dies in the Big Shot and they work great!

Now the other thing that these machines can do is emboss. They do the brass stencils in the folders quite nicely. They do the Cuttlebug embossing folders, too. Another recent addition to the Big Shot arsenal was the texture embossing kit. It came with double-sided texture plates, the foam layer and the plastic plate necessary for getting a good impression. These worked wonderfully in the machine, and so did my Fiskars texture plates. My snowflake cards a few posts below show how the Fiskars snowflake embossing plate did in the Big Shot. I think that with some trial and error, the combination of the right shims and right kind of foam could be found, but for me it was much simpler to go with a combo that worked well out of the package.

All in all, I'd have to say that I'm very happy with my Big Shot and with all of the things that it's been touted as being able to do. I've been able to get great results with little tinkering and, best of all, with little frustration! For me, it was worth investing in the texture kit and the multipurpose platform. I'd found work-arounds, but these two purchases have made life a lot easier, and I find that I'm much more likely to use my craft tools if they're easy to get to and easy to use. So that's my take on that. :-)