For the leather, check out the Cutting Materials post in this series to see some of my preliminary stuff. All of the leathers I used there were belly or shoulder cuts and sold at either a 6-7 or 8-9 oz. They ranged from 2.5-3.8 mm in width (thought the 3.8mm is really pushing the edge of what will fit in the machine). Each of those cuts went almost all the way through (or all the way through in some parts). I have had success in running it through the machine twice to get a more complete cut. Usually, I’ve been running it through once (which gets through most of the material) and then use my leather scissors to follow the cut and finish it off. It’s an extra step, but I get a better result then if I were to cut it by hand for curvy cuts.

I’ve also run a 4-5oz tooling leather (1.8mm thick) through, which cut like butter. This isn’t shown on the page (I did it later). That should give him an idea on the capabilities of the machine when it comes to leather.

http://kgdcraftermath.com/2014/03/cricut-explore-cutting-materials/

Actually, yes… card! Here, in the main big craft store “Hobbycraft” they sell their own basic cardstock, which when putting through my Cricut Mini it gets caught up when cutting intricate things. No matter what settings I use, blade depth, pressure, it still does it.

We’re slowly starting to get more of the brands you know and love over there so the card weights are all different – from basic unbranded cardstock to American Crafts, BoBunny etc. I’d be very interested to see your results with different weights/brands of cardstock – and which settings you have to put your machine too.

My Dad would also like to see leather being cut, now, does that come in different weights because he said he didn’t think it would cut heavy leather, only light leather?

~kgd

I found your blog after searching for reviews on the Cricut Explore. It launched here today in England. I’m so excited because I’ve been reading so much about it since it launched in the USA!

Thank you for doing your review, especially about the kind of things it cuts. It’s so nice to see the actual results you had, rather than just read what someone can cut with it.

Tammie
Eastbourne, England

Yes! I had not thought to consider previous investments, having not been invested in either previous to this past year. I plan to update the post (and infographic) to reflect then when I have a moment of spare time.

I’ve been finding myself more comfortable with the software as I go along, but it was a bear to work with at first! I’m glad my posts have helped make it manageable for you.

With the poster board, I had originally thought they mean the foam poster board, but this is too thick for the machine to cut (at least the stuff I had was). I tried it with disastrous results. I think that they are instead referring to the really stiff paper that can be used as posters, or possibly the corrugated cardboard type (frequently found as tri-folds). I haven’t gotten my hands on any to try though yet. It looks like I’ll be doing another cut test in a week or so, I’ll make sure to add those in and let you know!

I found this late, but still very helpful. I already own the explorer. I do own a lot of cartridges so that was a major factor. I do not have a silhouette so I don’t know what I am missing out on but it sure sounds like a favorite… Maybe one day.

Do you happen to know if I can truly cut poster board with the setting with regular blade, and do I need to cut it more than once? PS the software is not user friendly I am really struggling/fumbling to figure it out. Your previous blog posts helped me figure out a lot more. Thanks!!!