The MINC – a foil applicator machine and deluxe laminator.
I’m excited to share with you one of my new favorite things in the world of paper crafts: It’s the Minc foil applicator by Heidi Swapp. You know the beautiful shine you see on professional cards when the letters are in a metallic foil? With the new MINC, you can create beautiful metallic foil effects on cards, paper crafts, wall art, and so much more, and it’s so easy!
To get started, you need the machine, different colors of metallic foil (look at all those fun colors!), and you can either buy some of the darling designed paper products that go with the Minc, or this is my favorite part…you can design your own! The foil adheres to the toner on the page. The foil will only work with a toner style printer not an ink jet printer.
To show you how it works, here is a cute Thank You note as part of the Minc line of products. I chose the pink metallic foil for this card.
You start by turning on The Minc machine to allow it to warm up. I had it set to the #3 setting. While it warms up, I cut a small piece of the foil from the roll. Here I have it on the inside of the envelope liner with the foil face up. Then you stick it into the 12×12 plastic protective envelope and you just roll it through the machine. The heat of the machine activates the foil to adhere to the design on the paper with toner. It’s so neat!
Any extra foil you have that you didn’t use, can be saved to be used for later.
I love that you can use up all the foil, with big projects and little, so that you don’t waste the foil.
I was so excited to try it out with one of our own designs! We designed this simple Mother’s Day card or gift tag. Send me an email if you’d like the file for this design, and I’m happy to share.
Just like I explained above, you just add the foil on top of your design and the foil just sticks to the toner as you run your project through the minc machine! It’s so fun!
I love the metallic shine it adds to the text. I’m addicted to adding foil to everything now! It’s really such a cool machine!
More info about the Minc Machine:
You can buy The Minc Foil Applicator and Starter Kit on Amazon, and the Minc colored foils too (the foil roll is 12”x10’in size)
Minc Foil Applicator and accessories are also available at Hobby Lobby, Jo-Ann, as well as locally owned craft stores and online shops…like Amazon!
The Minc is a fairly light weight and compact. It measures about 19.5” x 5” so it doesn’t take a ton of storage space.
Minc features:
The Minc has the ability to accept a 12” wide sheet.
The Minc has four pressure rollers (most laminators have two) to evenly distribute pressure across a 12×12 surface.
A heating element that covers the entire 12”, as opposed heat focused at the outer edges (also common in every day laminators)
Adjustable heat settings allows for foil transfer on sensitive materials like vellum, all the way to more robust chipboard and even thin wood veneer.
*(affiliate links in this post)
Julie Learned says
Thanks for a great tutorial on how to use the Minc. I would love the Mother’s Day file to give it a try. Thanks for sharing!
Have a great day!
kami says
You bet! I can send it over now!
Nance says
I am soooooooooooo in love with this.
I don’t have a laser printer.
I wouldn’t want to have to buy the designs so I would want a laser printer.
Would a cheap one that only prints in black work.
Thank you (or not, LOL) for the info.
Too too cool…………………
**U**
Nance
kami says
Hi Nance! I know! Isn’t it so fun?! I’m not sure on the printer. My husband has an old one at his office that we used. It might even be cheaper to just print your designs at your local photo copy shop. You will love it!
Valgerdur Thoroddsen says
I had my designs printed at Staples and they didn´t come out good….I am not sure how to proceed. Heidi (I saw on her FB site) that she recommends http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00847UWUE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00847UWUE&linkCode=as2&tag=heidiswappc0d-20&linkId=N4A7XN6TZXBDE3IV
but I don´t need another printer…so I am feeling annoyed that Staples is not working for me and I also bought the Heidi toner pen and it doesn´t look good. I saw a comment above about trying to run my designed thru the machine again and see if the toner spots can pick up more foil. This has taken serious trial and error….
Valgerdur Thoroddsen says
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00847UWUE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00847UWUE&linkCode=as2&tag=heidiswappc0d-20&linkId=N4A7XN6TZXBDE3IV
Heidi herself recommends this one…..I saw this on her FB page
itsmeglo says
Super cool! I hope one of my friends buys one of these so that I can borrow! 🙂 I’m afraid that if I bring in ONE more craft item into the house, I may get kicked out! I could so use this for everything though!
kami says
You need one!
Ali says
Hi. Beautiful projects Do you know a way to put foil on part of a laser printed card? The first time I tried covering half of my card, the laser ink that wasn’t covered in foil came off onto the transfer folder. Thanks for any help
kami says
Hi Ali!
This happened to me as well. I would try putting a thin plain white piece of paper over your project and the foil before you run it through the machine to protect the plastic folder. Also, I used a little bit of Soft Scrub with bleach to remove the ink that came off onto the transfer folder, when I had the same thing happen, and it took the ink off well. After I cleaned it, I used more water and really dried it off well, to leave no chemicals behind. I hope this helps!
Ali says
Thanks so much for your suggestions. I’m going to give them a try right now. 🙂
Fash says
Hi. I just bought my Minc machine and I tried it but the results were spotty. There are little dots everywhere that were not foiled and the ink was still showing. Did this happen to you? Thanks.
kami says
Hi Fash! If it’s spotty, it might need to warm up more. Or you can always run it through with more foil a few more times. The toner will pick up the foil on the spots that it missed. Hopefully those tips can help you.
Nancy Morris says
I just bought the Minc machine and am looking forward to playing with it! I would love a copy of your printable(s) to add to my collection to experiment and play with. Your designs are beautiful. Thanks so much!
kami says
Hi Nancy! Cool! All files I have shared are free downloads, just click on the links in each post to download!