Page 15 - THE INDEPENDENT

Different Types of dies
Steel rule Dies
Thin metal Dies
The first dies that were created for craft die cutting involved a wooden base with a deep steel rule, surrounded by dense foam. The foam is multi functional in that it not only lessens the chance of access to the blades but also gives the crafter the opportunity to cut denser materials or multiple sheets of different materials. Due to the nature of manufacturing these dies, the designs tend to be relatively simple outlines.
fabric dies
There are two types of thin metal dies, with or without foam. The foam-covered dies were used for small die cuts to aid the release of the die cut from the die. Thin metal dies are now often produced with a non-stick coating. This coating is incredibly popular across many brands and so the use of the foam is diminishing, although they are still available. There are also thin dies available that are made of plastic but with a foam layer. These have the same purpose. The manufacturing process of thin metal dies with foam allows for a little more intricacy of design, however, when compared to thin metal dies without the foam, the difference in detail is incredible.
Fabric can be cut using a variety of different dies. Firstly there are thin metal dies with a deeper blade which are used in the same way as the thin metal dies detailed above, however, the extra depth of the blade allows for a clean cut through multiple layers of fabric items. Steel rule dies can also be used for fabric and there are ranges being created specifically for this medium which can be used for quilting, appliqué and other crafting techniques.
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