Hey guys, it’s. Danny welcome back to my channel for today’s. Video, I’m, going to be sharing how I use the we r memory keepers fuse tool as well as some tips and tricks that might help you guys use yours a little bit more effectively.
Now I will say right up front that I’ve, never had any problems using my we r memory keepers fuse tool. What my little wheel thing does not stick. It heats up evenly and I just haven’t had any issues they do seem to be somewhat hit or miss, though, from the reviews that I’ve read online as well as comments from you guys.
So if you have a defective one, definitely reach out to we r memory keepers and see if they can help you. If it’s, just a little tip on there, that’s, messed up. You can purchase separate tips and give that a try if you want, but today I’m, going to be sharing.
How I use it and maybe you can use some of the tips and tricks to adapt for your own use. So let’s, go ahead and get started, so my first tip for using the fuse tool successfully is to let it heat up for a while.
So mine has been sitting here on my desk heating up for about 20 minutes. That might be a little excessive. You might not need to do that for yours, but I do find the most success when I let mine heat up for a while.
So my second tip is to get a scrap piece of plastic, page protector or whatever kind of plastic you’re, going to use to make your shakers or whatever it is that you’re sealing up, get a scrap piece of that To practice on it’s really helpful.
If you use the same exact material that you’re planning to use in your final project. That way, you can really get a feel for the plastic thickness and how it will seal and behave with the fuse tool. I’m, going to share a few different plastic options with you guys here in just a moment and then, of course you will need the fuse tool ruler or a metal ruler of any sort and then some kind of protective surface for your workspace.
So if you use your fuse tool directly on a mat or something it will leave little indents in there and we don’t want that. I know some people use a silicone mat and that should be okay. I have heard of people using glass mats and maybe you use one and have great success with it, but from what I’ve heard glass mats and slippery mats like that, can sometimes impact how the wheel moves.
So I actually used a subscribe piece of like cardboard or chipboard and it seems to work great there’s little bit of give to the material which is nice. So when I press down, I’m, really getting a nice indentation and it also has a little bit of grip to it.
So it lets the wheel run really nicely. So if you’re, having troubles with the wheel rolling as you move the fuse tool back and forth, maybe try a piece of cardboard or another material that has a little bit of texture to it.
So I ‘ Ve moved the fuse tool aside for just a moment when we talk about the plastic pages, we are memory. Keepers does have their own line of them. I do not have any experience with them, so I cannot say whether or not they’re good or not.
I don’t know, but if you have used their brand of pocket pages before with the fuse tool, definitely leave a comment down below letting us know how it went but to get started for a beginner. I would suggest something like a Becky Higgins project life page or one from simple stories, or I guess any kind of like pocket sleeve page situation.
This one in particular, is a little bit thinner of a plastic you can tell because it’s kind of crinkly, so this one I find seals up really easily and fairly consistently. So you might want to give something like this a try.
If you’re new to the fuse tool, a plastic option, that is a little bit thicker than the Becky Higgins, one are these Avery Elle stamp storage pockets. They are nice and big too. So you can do bigger shakers or like things for cards or whatever or like large shakers in your album.
These are really nice quality and I personally feel like the plastic on these is just slightly thicker than the pocket pages. So if you have some of these lying around, you can definitely practice on these Avery Elle ones as well for pocket letters I find out these pages by ultra Pro are a nice kind of medium plastic weight.
They’re, not as thin as the other two I just showed, but they’re, not nearly as heavy as the one. I’m about to show you, so this one is a nice medium. I have a lot of success with this kind. It is the ultra Pro I will leave links to all of these by the way down below, for you guys in case you’re interested in trying any of them, but this one is a little bit more of a medium weight plastic, which is Nice, it feels really durable, but it does take just a little bit more work.
I find and then a less as a plastic. Sleeve option are these photo pages from, I guess BC W. So these are really thick. So if you’re wanting to maybe I don’t know put something through the mail with these or really seal ups, like something kind of heavy-duty in here.
These would probably be a really good option. This plastic is definitely thicker than the other options that I showed, so this one definitely takes a bit more work. If you are a newbie to the fuse tool, I would definitely recommend practicing with one of these options.
You could also practice with the pocket letter pages. I would hold off, though, on the super thick plastic pages until you feel really comfortable with the tool, but for today I’m, going to show you on each of these, so you can kind of get an idea of how each of them behaves With the fuse tool, so enough talking about plastic, let’s, go ahead and start making some little pockets so to get started.
Today I’m, going to practice just a little bit on this extra Becky Higgins, pocket page that I have here just to make sure that my fuse tool is all heated up and I kind of get the right motion going and the right pressure And speed, so if you have some extra plastic lying around, go ahead and grab that, so we can start practicing, there is a bit of a learning curve with this tool.
So I find that, having like an extra piece of page protector is really helpful and then you feel more confident when you go to use the tool on your project alright, so I assumed you guys in just a little bit so go ahead and grab your ruler.
Now you will notice there are like these little pads on the bottom of it, and this is to help the ruler keep from sliding around, but I actually find that using the ruler face up as it is intended. Doesn’t press the plastic down enough on itself before I even go in with my fuse tool.
So the thing I like to do to kind of combat that is to flip over my ruler, because then I can really press down on that metal edge right there and really press the plastic pieces together, just with the pressure of my hands on the metal ruler Before I even get my fuse tool involved, so this might be something you want to try.
If you’re having problems with your seal, you know popping open. I find that this works for me, and hopefully it works for you guys too, so to make my first practice lines. I’m gonna press down pretty hard on this ruler and you will notice that, as I’m running the wheel down the plastic, I’m, not running it vertically, like perpendicularly to the cardboard here.
I’m, actually going to run it down at a very slight angle, and I find that that gives me a little bit better of a steel. I press down pretty hard with the fuse tool. I use a decent amount of pressure, and that is the real-time speed of what I do.
So I don’t, go too quick and I don’t, go too slow, just kind of a happy medium, and this is perfect for a practice sheet. So you can find that happy medium that works for you and your particular plastic.
I pretty much always seal the front and the back. I know some people don’t, but I find I have better success if I do now putting it at a slight angle like that against the plastic, will make it a little bit of a Messier seam.
But I don’t really care. To be quite honest, I want things to seal. I don’t. I mean you’re gonna, be looking at all the pretty shaky bits inside and stuff make sure you let it cool, and then you can test it and you can see it takes a lot of freaking pressure to make that thing pull apart.
So let’s, go ahead and do another mine, slight angle: lots of pressure, medium speed right up against that ruler, and I am pressing down with the ruler to to make sure that the plastic is right next to itself.
I flip it over and I always seal the back and then you let it cool for a moment, and if you want to test it, you can so that’s. I had to pull really hard on that to get it to rip, and you know once you fill up your shaker pocket and you have all the edges sealed and you cut off the excess.
Like you’re, not gonna be able to use that much pressure to pull it apart. Just go ahead and do one more you guys can get a sense of the speed I’m using just try to keep it like a medium speed and consistent press down that plastic with the ruler there we go.
So that is what that looks. Like you can see it’s, a pretty good seal right there. So let’s, go ahead and make some shaker pockets, and I’m going to use the various types of plastic that I show you guys.
So you can get a feel for how each one works. I have another of these Becky Higgins photo sleeves right here that I’m gonna use. I’m, going to seal up this little card and I prepped this little shaker mix to put in here.
You just slide your card in. I’m gonna go ahead and fuse up the bottom edge first. So what I’m gonna do is line up this bottom edge of the ruler right along the bottom edge of this card. I’m, not gonna.
You know seal it like that, and I’m, not gon. Na go way past it either. I’m gonna try to line it right up. If you want a little bit more of an edge, you could do something like that and line it up that way.
But personally I like to line it right up from right against the edge, so I can barely just not see the edge of the card underneath press down on the ruler and then press down and go medium speed V fuse tool.
So there’s. The first seal right there again, I always do the back to line up you can see. I’m, going in a little bit of an angle with the fuse tool wheel. Here we go. We have a nice seal in there. So let’s, go ahead and do the other sides I find.
I also have more control if I seal from the top and roll it down towards me, so you might want to give that a try. If you’ve been doing it the other way. Oh there you can see it’s, all sealed up pretty nicely.
I’m gonna go ahead and pop my shaker mix in and then I’m gonna go ahead and seal up the top. The same way that I sealed the other sites there we go trim off the excess and then we have a completed shaker pocket and when you’re trimming off the excess plastic, try not to trim right on top of that fuse line.
Leave just a tiny little bit of unsealed plastic before you cut so here you can see my fuse line and I’m gonna leave. Just a tiny bit of plastic see there’s, just a little bit of extra plastic there. So you don’t want to cut through your steel and you just work so hard to make.
So there is the completed shaker and gets super cute really fun. I dig it all right. So let’s. Try to make a shaker with the Avery Elle stamp pocket. Now this one is slightly thicker than the plastic we use for this one.
It should be okay. So for this plastic I’m gonna use this card. It’s, really cute flamingos from the Amy tan on a whim collection. Then I am right-handed, so I like to have my fuse, be on the right hand, side.
If you’re left-handed, the other way might work for you. It just helps me see and control where exactly I’m. Putting that fuse line got a slight tingle heavy pressure, or at least I use heavy pressure again.
It will totally depend on your particular plastic that you’re using and what you feel comfortable doing. Maybe you don’t want to use heavy pressure, but it takes you a few more passes that’s. Fine again, I seal up the back because it’s.
What I do: [ Music ]. I’m, going to go ahead and trim off this excess plastic, see that for another project, when we have so far, you can see. I’m, putting quite a bit of pressure in there to try to pop it open and it’s, not doing it.
So if you don’t double seal, I definitely recommend it. So it’s time for the little C clinics. So I created this one to go with this card. Look like that! Go ahead, trim off the excess again leaving a little bit of plastic outside of that seam that we made.
So that is this finished shaker now. You guys will probably notice that these little holes here where this seam is actually is the tool melting through both layers of plastic, and I don’t think that’s.
How we are memory keepers intended for this tool to be used, but that is how I use it, and that is how I have success in using it. I find that if I don’t get these like little bitty holes, then the seal is not very good.
Now I mean if you’re consistent with the pressure and the speed at which you’re using the tool. It should look consistent and should be fine, but maybe if you’re, having issues with the seams popping open, maybe try adding some more pressure and slowing down a little bit, because these holes don’t really bother me.
I don’t feel like they take away from the look of the shaker, because let’s be real once you put it in the sparkly buts, that’s. All anybody is looking at right, so yeah. So I I don’t think that we are memory keepers intended for that to be how this works best, but that’s, how I find it works best so spot.
I would mention that maybe this time let’s, use a pocket litter page sleeve, actually gonna cut this down. So it’s a little bit easier to work with all right. So I have just this little slice of a pocket litter sleeve.
Also, I should mention that I don’t use this. I think this is silly and it just topples over too much. So what I normally do is I just set this on the corner of my mat or whatever I’m working on and it’s.
Fine, all right! So let’s, go ahead and do a shaker in here. So I have one of these cards. This is a little bit big. You know what maybe let’s, try one without a card in it, so you guys can see what that looks like.
So I have this blue and gold sequin mix. I think it’s really pretty so let’s, go ahead and dump this in give me this middle pocket. So that is what that looks like now. The pocket letter pocket things are only sealed to about here.
So I like to seal from like point to point on these, if you seal way up here at stuffs, gonna slide out so just keep that in mind, I’m, actually gonna seal. It right here again just doing the same process like a medium speed, heavy pressure and then flipped over and do the back to pocket letters.
Are nice cuz. You only have the one seal to worry about, so that is what that looks like so this seal. I don’t care if it’s a little bit kind of crazy, because usually I just cover these with washi tape.
First, some kind of die-cut or some things go ahead and do the old pull test. So I’m pulling on it and it’s not coming apart, so that is that one alright. So for the last pocket we’re gonna use this page.
This plastic is super thick, you guys, so we’re gonna try this and see how it goes. I think it’ll, be fine, so I just cut it down a little bit. You can see that they’re seal is like not that great right, so let’s, see if we can do better.
So for this super thick plastic page, I’m going to use this card. It’s, cute little pineapple and start at the bottom, at least that’s. What I do that way, I don’t, get any kind of weird puckering or anything so for this one.
I’m gonna go pretty slow and press down really hard, that’s and I will do the backside and I am pressing down pretty hard you guys. So I’ll. Just keep that in mind all right. This one, we might have a little bit of issues with since the posture gets super thick no looks like we’re, okay, all right cool.
So this is why it’s, important to have a practice sheet. So if I was making a whole project out of this particular plastic, I would definitely do some practice lines on it. First, because you’re, not gonna be able to use the same amount of pressure and speed on something like this, as you could with this one.
Okay, so definitely make sure you practice. First, cannot stress that enough right, pressing down pretty dang hard rolling it at a slight angle, going pretty slow and again I don’t, really care that there’s, those little holes in the seal.
I’d, rather have those than have the thing not seal at all, so it’s up to you. Maybe you don’t like those and you want to you know, Chuck your fuse tool because use you don’t like those that’s. Fine, you got a do you me I personally don’t care meet.
That is that pocket can see. I’m, putting some pressure in there trying to rip it apart and it’s not coming up. So that’s, a good thing for this one. I have this little pre-made sequin mix. I made that in there and then we have one more side to seal up astound, pretty hard go pretty slow.
So I guess the take away for the plastic is the thicker, the plastic, the slower you probably need to go and the more you probably need to press down. This is what I would suggest trying when you’re practicing.
Okay, so let’s, see if that did a good job yeah, I feel like it does alright. So let’s, go ahead and trim this one down, and these are the finished shaker pockets we made. So this is the thinnest plastic.
Next thinnest pocket letter, page plastic and then deep thickest plastic. You can see that the fuse tool does work on all of them. You just kind of have to tailor how you use it to the plastic that you’re using, but I do hope that you guys found this video helpful.
I hope that you tried my little tips and tricks and that they are helpful. If you have any questions or concerns or anything, leave them down below, and we can kind of crowd, source solutions and things for you guys again, if you have any further problems with your fuse tool, make sure to reach out to we r memory keepers so that They can make it right, but that is it for today.
Thank you guys so much for watching. Please subscribe. If you are not already – and I will see you guys in my next video – alright bye, guys