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Friday, 3 June 2016

So what do I think of...

...the WRMK Alphabet punch board.

It is a very clever piece of equipment that allows you to cut all the letters of the alphabet, numbers and some punctuation symbols.

I've only had a brief 'play' with it but here is my opinion...

When you open the packaging, this is what the board looks like...
 ...it has a cutting area with a grid and cutting tool. A single function punch and a double function punch.
The board comes with a detailed instruction booklet...
...so all you need to do is decide what you want to cut your letters etc. from. Most of the letters are cut from pieces of card 3" x 5" but there are instructions for doing "M" & "W" from a 5" x 5" piece so that you don't have to join anything.
Wandering around the board...
 ...the single function punch cuts a 'd-shaped' piece from your card and there are score marks on the board to help you ensure that you have placed your CS correctly.
The cutting area has a grid that is hinged and lifts up so that you can place/move your CS...
 ...this has magnets in it that help to keep it and your CS in place whilst cutting. The cutter is the small round blue item to the left of the photo and has its own storage area attached to the grid so it is always to hand. When cutting, this little tool slots onto the grid and you have a guide to slide along to create your cutting line.
The double function punch has a notched, curved 'v-shaped' cut at the top...
...and the board in this area has markings and raised areas that help you line up where you need your card to be before you 'cut'.
The bottom of the double function punch rounds off your corners...
 ...and works very much like a corner rounder - you slide your CS in to fit snuggly into the recess before punching.
My 'play' was so that I could make some signs...
...I cut everything twice - once in blue (for the shadow) and once in red...
...I also used the curved 'v-shaped' punch to fancy up the edges of the red pieces.

So what do I really think...

PROs
* The letters/numbers are a good size for signs, bunting, scrapbook titles and initial/number greetings cards (you can actually cut letter shaped cards by using folded CS/PP).
* Once you have cut a stack of CS/PP the process is fairly quick & easy.
* The instruction booklet provides details for every letter & number. This is provided in step-by-step pictures of the actions you need to take.
* You can stick with plain style letters or you can pretty them up a bit with additional punching so you have the option of more than one style.
* There are quite a few YouTube videos out there so there are lots of ideas for getting the most out of your board.
* It is easy to use.

CONs
* You need to follow the instruction booklet carefully on some letters. On some of the images the CS is 'grey' - this means that you need to cut from the reverse otherwise you end up with some funny looking pieces, especially if you are using a PP.
* Even being very careful about cutting my CS pieces to the required size, I had a couple of incidents where the cutting on the grid area didn't quite line-up - a craft knife or scissors soon sorts this but you need to know that it does happen.
* The pieces are large - 3x5 or 5x5 so these letters/numbers will not be suitable for all your crafting but don't just think of the pieces as letters. On the packaging is an example of a scrapbook LO where one of the photos had been cut to form the title - so you still have your photo but also the title - two for the price of one.
* This punch board is more expensive than previous boards but then you have more functions, so I suppose it is swings & roundabouts.

At the end of the day, am I pleased that I bought it - yes.

It wasn't something that I rushed into, I thought about it for a few months and my purchase was actually well timed as far as the RNLI fund-raising is concerned.

So if you have been thinking about one of these, I hope my comments help................................

7 comments:

Marianne's Craftroom said...

Thanks for this

aussie aNNie said...

Interesting As I have never heard of one.xx

voodoo vixen said...

Great write up but I am not sure I would actually need that size letter enough to make the investment worthwhile. It would be a handy thing to have at a local crop so you could cut some to play with though!! ;)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your blog comment, much appreciated...as is the post here...I think I may just dust mine down and have a play! xx

Virginia said...

Fab review Toni - loving the signage too!

Chidkid said...

A good review. Well done on the fundraising too Toni

Carmen said...

Your letters look so professional. Such an informative review too - I don't think I'd use it, it would be like the cuttlebug that I bought 3 times and rarely ever used each time! :P

The photos as title sounds really clever - that would be good in PL type stuff too to spread over the pockets.