What is a Cricut Machine And How Does it Work?
Maybe you got a Cricut machine for your birthday or Christmas, but it is still inside the box. Or perhaps you are an avid gamer looking for a simple machine to make crafting easy. Or maybe you have seen a lot of great projects on Pinterest and wondered, “How do they cut out those complex designs? Or maybe you have heard of the Cricut machine, but are wondering, “What is a Cricut machine, and what can you do with this Cricut machine?” If your answer is yes to any of the above situations, you are in the right spot; we will share all kinds of information about the Cricut machines – what they are, how they work, and show you different types of Cricut machines and more!
What is a Cricut Machine?
Cricut is a cutting machine that cuts all kinds of designs from various materials such as paper, vinyl, card stock, and iron-on transfer or HTV (heat transfer vinyl). Some of the Cricut machines cut wood and leather too.
With the Cricut machine, you can cut anything you would normally cut with scissors or an X-Acto knife. A Cricut machine can cut with far greater accuracy and speed than you can achieve by hand.
How Does Cricut Machine Work?
You can think of the Cricut machine as a home printer. Instead of printing a design on a paper sheet, a Cricut machine uses a small, movable blade to cut your design out of a sheet of paper (or other smart material).
Cricut has Design Space software or app (available for Windows, Mac, tablets, and iOS and Android phones) that allows you to make and import designs to cut from a Cricut machine. You can connect a Cricut machine to your computer wirelessly through Bluetooth, create or download the designs, and send them to your Cricut machine to cut. A small blade (rotary cutter, pen, or scoring tool) is inside the Cricut machine. Once you’ve a design ready to cut in the Cricut Design Space, you can lay the material you want on a 12-inch-wide cutting mat. Then, send your design from the computer to the Cricut machine, and load your materials into the machine. With the press button, your project will be cut.
How To Use Cricut Machine Step-By-Step
Here are the easy and simple steps to use a Cricut machine.
- First, you have to select your cutting material and put it on a sticky cutting mat. (The cutting mat holds your material in place while the Cricut machine cuts.) put the mat into your Cricut machine.
- Next, select a design in the Cricut Design Space. Then, pick your material settings, and send the design to the Cricut machine.
- Now, switch on your Cricut machine to begin cutting.
- Lastly, after the machine has cut, remove the mat and material from the mat.
Different Types of Cricut Machines
There are 3 types of Cricut machines available on the market: Cricut Joy, Cricut Explore Air 2, and Cricut Maker. All machines come with Cricut’s free Design Spaces software, so which machine to buy will depend on the type of project you want to build.
Cricut Joy
The Cricut Joy machine is by far the easiest to use. In fact, it’s perfect for quick, daily projects, and it makes beautifully detailed cuts and craft creations. You can make your designs and projects easy to use with Cricut Design Space, then send them to your machine. Or you can use any design from their vast online library.
Cricut Joy can repeatedly cut an image up to 5 inches wide and 4 feet tall, or 20 feet tall. So, if you need or want a simple, quick-cutting machine, the Cricut Joy will be worth it to you. It is also intended to be compact and portable.
Cricut Explore Air 2
The Cricut Explore Air 2 will allow you to import your own designs from your computer, tablet, or Android phone, or you can use any design from their vast online library of pre-made designs. The Cricut Design Space works for Android devices and iOS devices. Android users have no problem using the Cricut Explore Air 2, but some people who use iOS find the Cricut Design Space difficult to access.
Also, this machine allows you to use over 100+ materials for various projects with its Smart Set dial. If you use an iPad or iOS system product, you may want to consider a Cricut model that works well with your machine.
Cricut Maker
You’ll be able to make everything with Cricut Maker, as it works with almost all types of materials, from paper, fabric to balsa wood. You can also access 100+ digital designs from the Cricut image library. But, not all of them are free—freedom to select from 100+ digital designs from the Cricut database.
As with the Cricut Explore Air 2, you can also use your own designs; Simply import these and use them using the Cricut Design Space app. This Cricut model is one of the most popular, but the knife blade that allows you to cut even thicker materials is sold individually. Also, some complain that it is time-consuming to work with the iPad.