Edible Electronic Cutters for Icing Sheets and Fondant

About Electronic Cutting

Technology has definitely found its place in the world of confection. Electronic cutters allow decorators to save time, money and allow them to create edible decorations that they were never able to do without these versatile machines. With the Icing Images lineup of electronic cutters, decorators can:

• Cut icing sheets, wafer paper, FlexFrost™ edible fabric, Flexique™, fondant, gumpaste, Magic Chocolate, and more!
• Use an edible printer with an electronic cutter to print and cut a design.
• Use edible markers to draw a design on edible paper.
• Create cake toppers.
• Create custom stencils and silk screens for cakes, cookies, and more.

For decorators who print large numbers of cookie or cupcake images, Icing Images now recommends using an electronic cutter and an edible printer to create their images. This is recommended over using the precut icing sheets that Icing Images currently sells. It is more economical, more accurate, and it allows decorators to carry only full uncut icing sheets while also enabling them to print any size and cut any shape in large quantities. This will allow decorators to no longer stock a large variety of shapes and sizes of icing sheets.

Please note: All Icing Images products are considered safe for food use. Icing Images sources specific products created from specific materials and chooses them for safety, durability, and ease of use.

Choosing an Electronic Cutter

Both the Cricut Explore Air 2 and the Silhouette Cameo 4 are great machines, and both Icing Images bundles come with everything you need to get started including food safe instructions.

Software is the bigggest difference between the machines. The Cricut's has an cloud version as well as a downloadable program. The cloud version of the software allows the user to work on mobile devices and smoothly transition to a desktop. The Cricuit's software is also very easy to use and therefore limited in its capabilities. The Cameo has downloadable software. This software is more complicated then the Cricut software. If you have a basic knowledge of graphics software then the Silhouette will be the better machine for you giving you more capabilities and control when desigining.

Both machines are durable and have enough strength to cut everything from wafer paper to fondant and even food safe polyester stencil material. If you plan to do a lot of print and cut, the Cameo has a larger print and cut area. Choosing an electronic cutter is a personal choice, and no choice is wrong.

If you are not very graphically skilled and you are nervous about using a cutter, choose the Cricut Explore Air 2. It is easy to work with and will handle your basic needs. If you want to upgrade your software on the Cricuit, you can purchase the Cameo Business Edition at a discount on the Icing Images website. This will allow you more designing capability, however you will still have to upload your design to the Cricut software to make your final cut.

If you are comfortable with graphics and do not mind a little bit of a learning curve, the Silhouette Cameo 4 is a great machine. Because the Cameo 4 is new, the specialty blades for cutting fondant and food safe polyester for stencils will be avialble soon.

About the Cricut Explore Air 2

The Cricut Explore Air 2 is the first Cricut product that Icing Images is proud to offer to its customers. This machine can be paired with an edible printer for creating an edible print and cut design.

If you are not very graphically skilled and you are nervous about using a cutter, choose the Cricut Explore Air 2. It is easy to work with and will handle your basic needs. The software with this machine is very simple to use and the Cricut is a hearty machine. The Cricut's web based software allows you to design on the go on your iPad, iPhone, or android device, not just on your computer, making it convenient to present ideas to your customers. In addition, as your skills grow, many artists use the Silhouette Business Edition software which can be used to edit images and then sent to the Cricut software cut. This opens up more designing features and this software can be purchased at Icing Images. The maximum print and cut size is 6.75" x 9.25".

Icing Images has tested cutting the following brands of products with the Cricut: Satin Ice Fondant, Satin Ice Gumpaste, CK Fondant, Fat Daddios Fondant, Dream Fondant, ChocoPan Fondant, Magic Chocolate, with more being added regularly. These settings are only available when you purchase the food safe cutting mat at Icing Images.

About the Silhouette Cameo 4

The Silhouette Cameo 4 is the latest edition to the Silhouette family. This machine Is equivalent to the Cricut Maker which is more machine that is needed for the edible world. Because this machine is more advanced (again more then it is needed for edibles) the price point is a bit higher.

The Cameo 4 comes with free basic software that can be downloaded from the Silhouette America site on to your computer. While the software can be trickier to learn, the software is more advanced than the Cricut software and allows for more freedom and accuracy and a larger print and cut area.

It has a dual carriage which uses a 2nd motor for heavier cuts such as the food safe stencil polyester in much fewer passes/cuts. In addition, there will be a new weeding blade that will mark the pieces that need to be weeded for easy detection and removing. This weeding blade is not currently featured for the Cricut. Currently, the extra blades for cutting fondant, weeding, and the food safe stencil material are not available, but we are expecting them to be available very soon. Until the blades are available, Icing Images is offering a 15% off coupon with the puchase of the Cameo 4 bundle from Icing Images. This coupon can be applied to the future purchase of an accessory blade kit. The Cameo 4 is PixScan compatible.

Icing Images also offers Silhouette Business Edition as a download for purchase. If you are graphically inclined, this software version unlocks additional features and facilitates large-scale projects that help facilitate saving time designing and cutting. You can use the Cameo software to control your edible printer to print an image on edible paper and then use the Cameo to cut out what was printed! The Cameo's print and cut area is the largest of the Icing Images electronic cutters.

The current price of the Silhouette Cameo 4 is an introductory price. Once all the blades are avaialble the kit will increase in price and will offer the extra accessory blades.

Videos, Tutorials and Support for Electronic Cutting

To best assist you with electronic cutting, Icing Images is working with designers and Icing Images Ambassadors who will be adding videos to the Icing Images YouTube page (Subscribe Here). Here you will find new ideas, instructions, and more!

In addition, Icing Images recommends Nancy Westfall's website, thecolorfulcookie.com. This website centers mostly on cookies and stenciling; however, there are countless tutorials that revolve around electronic cutting. Nancy is highly regarded and well known in the decorating community for her expertise and excellent teaching skills. She loves to teach and it shows!