I spent this weekend foiling up a storm - thanks to the generosity of Crafter's Companion, I was sent a
Gemini Foilpress Machine to review! I'm familiar with foiling, so it was fun to see what this system can do.
I started with a couple of techniques that don't require heat - first I debossed the
Thank You plate with no foil or ink, and then inked up the plate for this card using
Stazon Pigment ink. Both techniques worked beautifully. By the way, I've tried several different inks, and this is my favorite for this type of letterpress effect.
As I was looking at the instructions I noticed that acetate was listed as something to be foiled, and I hadn't tried that before - I was really happy with these results! Look at this gorgeous foil too - I love that holographic rainbow.
One of the sets that is included with the machine is a "Stamp 'n Cut" set - this is a die that has foiling details and cuts the edge on the same pass. The set had a frame (below) with a matching photo corner. Seemed like a perfect match for this fancy little toad!
I followed the instructions for using a regular wafer die for foiling as well - my results were a little more subtle, but that worked with the card design.
I used the die's cut lines for a kind of 'no-line' watercolor - at an angle, you can see the gold branches peeking through the paint. If you're still building a collection of foiling plates, it's nice to know that you can regular dies for foiling too.
From this point I went a little outside the box and tried some other techniques that were newer to me. I stamped the wreath image below with Versamark ink, and applied sticky embossing powder (the pot I have is from Judikins but there are other brands). The foiling platform is warm enough to melt the powder. I then applied gold foil and waited for the powder to cool and dry.
When it was dry but still tacky, I pressed the foil into the design, then lifted it to reveal my foiled stamped image! Areas that were a little less foiled could be reheated and the foil reapplied.
I had also heard that embossing folders could be used for foiling, and a 3D folder was included with my Gemini Junior so I started there! To foil the folder's design I heated the folder (open), layered the foil and my cardstock, then added a cardstock shim and the metal shim to run it through the machine.
Finally, a non-card project. Faux leather was also listed as a material that could be foiled, and I hadn't been able to do that successfully before. This material is actually vinyl - I used the low heat setting with the multi-surface foil, and I didn't get the cleanest results, but I ended up with something fun that made a pretty layer for these earrings.
I reread the instructions and noticed that the multi-surface foil is supposed to be used at high temperature for textiles, so I tried again with some faux and fabric swatches. The best results were on the brown swatch, and I'm not sure what the content of that is. The denim did pretty well too - it's thicker and some foil transfered onto the texture of the fabric, but rubbed off quite easily too. The other pieces I have are synthetic, and I had mixed results there - you can see on the blue piece that the plate just melted the surface without transferring any foil. Kind of a cool effect too! I might have to play with that idea some more.
Overall I had a
lot of fun with the foiling machine, and I'm impressed (no pun intended) with all that it can do! I'll do a little more thinking and testing to compare this system with the one I already have - look for that soon!
I printed a circle guide with degree markings, and spaced the palettes every 60 degrees, then placed the brushes in between. 
Be sure to poke around for other samples, especially on the Spellbinders site, so you can see the full easel put together - it's cute!
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