HSN recently had another one of their 24 hour crafting shows and Anna Griffin was on with her brand of crafting materials. I have been interested in the Empress die cutting and embossing machine for a while now but, it always is out of stock. This time it was back in stock so I jumped at the chance to purchase it. I paid $238 for it.
I decided to do an unboxing and demonstration of it to show you what comes with it and how easy it is to use.
I really like the electric machine. I like that it takes up less space than my Vagabond by Tim Holtz when it is open. Closed it is about the same size footprint, but I have to rearrange things on my crafting table when I want to use it and with the Empress, I won't have to do this. I used to own a manual machine, the Big Shot and I found it hard to turn the handle at times as I have fibromyalgia. That is the reason I originally purchased my Vagabond.
There are other reasons for liking the Empress. I like that you can just press the run button and feed your "sandwich" through without having to hold the button and be pushing the "sandwich" through the Vagabond. The opening is larger than the Vagabond. I have found a few embossing folders recently that I could not get through the small opening of the Vagabond. It doesn't seem to warp the plates as easily as with the other machines either. This will allow the plates to have a longer life without having to replace them as often.
The instructions were very easy to follow. There are clear pictures and descriptions for every "sandwich" you would need to either die cut or emboss. I really liked that the plates were all labeled so it does make it easier to know what plates/shims go with which process.
The only con that I noticed was the pressure. It seems to press deeply into the embossing folders impressions. That could be that it is new and the shim hasn't had time to compress. Just a thought. I will monitor that and see if over time it performs any differently.
I would definitely recommend this machine. Although it is hard to find because it is not sold in craft stores that I have been able to find, HSN does carry it when it is in stock.
#annagriffin
#diecuttingmachine
#unboxingtheempress
