In today’s video I talk about a couple of products that I have been using and really liking for my paper crafting. One is TerraSlate paper, the five mil version. It is a plastic paper like Yupo, but a little bit thinner than the medium Yupo (74#) that I use. I have a lot of posts where I use Yupo paper as masks and stencils and cutouts. It is still my favorite paper for masks and stencils, because normal stencil material does not cut well when you are trying to cut very intricate (especially when they are also small) designs. I often double or triple the layers to get thicker pieces for stenciling, and especially for when I will use my designs to emboss with. However, for just a single cutout to use as a design element, or when the design is so small and intricate
that it is hard to cut well with the Yupo paper, I feel like the TerraSlate will fit that niche.
I had tried a different Yupo like paper before called SAA which was super thin and easy to tear. The TerraSlate seems to be in between the Yupo and the SAA when it comes to thickness/weight. You can still tear it if you are forceful, but it is a little bit tougher/stiffer than the SAA, and it seems to be a bit easier to cut than the Yupo. And here is the best part- if you have a laser printer, even better a color laser printer, you can print on it! Beautifully!
I also found Xenart cutting mats that I use instead of Cricut brand cutting mats for my Black Cat Cougar now. I use the blue light hold and they seem to stand up pretty well to my usage. They make a normal hold in green as well, but I tend to like the light hold the best. I have not tried the heavy duty sticky hold because I don’t tend to need that in my work.
I demonstrate in the video how I try to weed stubborn designs with the TerraSlate paper. Especially when the designs are intricate, and as the mats get less sticky, there will be more weeding. The TerraSlates seems to be a bit better to weed than either the Yupo or the SAA. It’s better than the Yupo because it is thinner and doesn’t require as deep or as many repeat cuts. It is easier than the SAA because it doesn’t tear as easily when your are working at removing the pieces that weren’t weeded by the sticky mat.
I show a few examples of things that I cut from the TerraSlate on my Black Cat Cougar, and I also show a Print and Cut design that I made on my Silhouette Curio. My Black Cat does not have the ability to do print and cut because it is an older model.
So if you are in the market for paper that cuts well on the digital cutters- even with smaller and more intricate designs- and as an added bonus is waterproof and can be printed on a laser printer, then you might want to give TerraSlate a try. I found it on Amazon, which is also where I found the Xenart cutting mats.
Enjoy!
