A Cricut is a machine that can cut and print different types of materials, such as card stock, paper, heat transfer vinyl, and adhesive vinyl. With a Cricut machine, you can cut anything that you can cut with a craft knife or scissors, but the Cricut makes the work easier and faster for you.
How Does a Cricut Work?
One can think of a Cricut machine as a printer; the only difference is it does not just print an image or text onto a piece of paper, but it cuts a shape out of the material and print the design on it.
There is a small blade you can see on opening the Cricut machine; it cuts your desired or chosen design by moving around on a carriage. There is a miniature X-acto knife-like fine print blade that can cut even the most delicate and intricate shapes.
What Can a Cricut Machine Cut?
The Cricut machine can cut a large variety of materials, and the Cricut keeps on adding new materials. Some of the most popular items that can be used as cutting materials are aluminum foil, cardstock, butcher paper, construction paper, chalkboard vinyl, cardboard, copy paper, iron-on vinyl, craft foam, glitter cardstock, faux leather, felt, natural wood veneer, infusible ink sheets, magnetic sheet, removable vinyl, parchment paper, printable sticker paper, vellum, smart materials, washi tape, stencil film, wrapping paper, and the list goes on.
Other Accessories That You Need With the Cricut
You will need a few items to start with the Cricut.
Materials
- If someone wants to work on paper projects, then they need to shop for scrapbook paper, cardstock, and vellum.
- If someone wants to work on vinyl projects, then they need to have adhesive vinyl, iron-on vinyl, and transfer tape.
- If someone wants to work with Cricut Infusible Ink projects, then you will need the infusible ink sheets or markers and a compatible “blank” item.
Mats
If you get the machine without the mats, you will need to buy some mats. The Cricut mats come with four different strengths for different types of materials.
Blades
You can buy additional Cricut blades and tools that you can do different new projects. Some of the available tools, like the engraving tool, the scoring wheels, the knife blade, and the rotatory blade for fabric.
Pens
You can use Cricut pens or markers to envelope and address cards or to draw intricate designs on paper projects.
Hand Tools
You can buy some inexpensive hand tools that will make your Cricut work easier. The Cricut offers some beginner kits, which include an Essential Tool Set and a Basic Tool Set. The kit has essential tools like tweezers, a weeding tool, a small spatula, scissors, a scoring stylus, a scraper, and a paper trimmer.
Heat Press
To apply iron-on vinyl to projects, a person will need to press it with a heat press, Cricut EasyPress, or household iron. You can use any of these three.
Which Cricut Machine Should You Get?
There are many diverse kinds of Cricut machines. Which Cricut machine you should buy depends on your needs and your work. Every Cricut machine is great on its own and does its work perfectly. Here are some examples of the Cricut machine:
- The Cricut Explore 3 is one of the best-selling machines and is the mid-level option. This model replaced the previous Cricut Explore Air 2 model and can cut various materials. Also, it is able to work on many different projects.
- The Cricut Maker 3 is compatible with tools like the rotatory blade, the scoring wheels, the knife blade, and the engraving tip. It is a powerful model that can cut a lot of kinds of materials, including thicker materials like balsa wood.
- The Cricut Joy is easy to use and set up and is a portable and smaller model.