If you already own a Cricut Explore Air 2 or plan to buy one, you are at the right place. Cricut Explore Air 2 is a digital die-cutting machine that lets you cut, write, and score various materials for your craft projects. However, you must be wondering what additional items you should buy. Well, the options are limitless, which makes choosing the right tools and accessories for your Cricut machine a bit overwhelming. To help you out, we have compiled a list of essential Cricut Explore Air 2 accessories & tools.
Cricut Trimmer
A Cricut Trimmer is the must-have addition to your Cricut arsenal, letting you achieve precise and smooth paper cuts. You will love this great trimmer if you are a scrapbooker or cardmaker. Other than Cricut Explore Air 2, it can be used with Cricut Explore 3 and Cricut Maker 3 materials. You can quickly and professionally trim down various paper, cardstock, and vinyl. Cricut Trimmer is lightweight and durable. It’s easy-glide blade system lets you make firm and steady cuts, while its smooth, custom-fit handle provides stability when you run it through paper, cardstock, and other material. So, you can be assured of putting your DIY crafts in safe hands.
Cricut Brayer and Removal Set
The Cricut Brayer is used to smooth out the material over your mat. It is a must-have item for thin and flimsy materials. With the Cricut Brayer and Remover Set, you can personalize fabric projects with a flawless finish and achieve wonderful results every time. These high-quality tools help to extend the life of your Cricut FabricGrip cutting mat. The Brayer is designed to minimize your material's wrinkling, puckering, and bubbling. Use it to press down fabric, vinyl, or iron-on. It can also be used for prink work. The tweezers come in handy to lift off fine threads and excess material from the mat without damaging the adhesive surface.
Cricut Basic Tool Set
To help amateur crafters, Cricut offers a beginner kit. This kit comes with essential handheld tools, such as tweezers, scissors, a small spatula, a scraper, a scoring stylus, a weeding tool, and a paper trimmer. These few inexpensive hand tools will make creating your Cricut projects even easier. You will use the weeding tool and scraper tool. The scraper and spatula will aid you in lifting excess material or fine threads of your Cricut mats, helping you to preserve the adhesive on your mat. The wedding tool and tweezers come in handy when working on vinyl projects.
Cricut XL Scraper
Cricut XL Scraper lets you quickly clear Cricut mats and easily apply larger vinyl projects to the surface. Due to its simplistic design, speed, and large surface area, you can easily work with bigger vinyl designs. It can also be used to quickly remove scraps and debris off the mat and use this tool for applying vinyl. It'll prolong your cutting mat's life and ensure you get a clean surface for every project.
Cricut Mat
The EasyPress Mat is an essential companion to your EasyPress 2 and helps you get the most out of your heat press gadget. The mat helps to direct heat to the iron-on design and eliminate the mixture. It also protects your work area from heat and moisture and enables you to create professional iron-on results every time.
The mat is thick, high quality, and heat-resistant silicone. The foil membrane reflects the heat onto your project, protecting moisture transfer. And the silicone foam will protect the project's surface from heat damage while the bottom barrier seal layers together for best results. It is ideal for all heat transfer projects, sewing projects, and more. You can count on it and EasyPress 2 to achieve a flawless finish every time.
Cricut Brightpad Go
The Cricut BrightPad Go will be an excellent tool if you plan to work with vinyl regularly. It will illuminate every project, making every cut line more visible, so you can easily weed and remove vinyl pieces more quickly. Its cordless feature offers you more freedom to weed wherever you choose. With Cricut Brightpad Go, you get a lit area of 29.2 x 22.8cm with five adjustable brightness settings with up to 4200 lux illumination. It is the perfect accessory for weeding, tracing, quilt piercing, and papercrafts. The device boasts a durable 6H hardness surface to protect the light box from scratches, scrapes, and tools. The Brighpad not just provides maximum comfort while working, and it also minimizes the risk of eye strain.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What items do you get in the box with Cricut Explore Air 2?
To help crafters, Cricut provides various tools and accessories along with its products; the same goes for Cricut Explore Air 2. You get Cricut Fine Point Blade, Cricut StandardGrip Mat, Black Pen, and Cardstock with the machine. All these items help you start craft-making; you can use sample material for a test run.
What tools should you purchase with Cricut Explore Air 2?
You should purchase tools depending on the type of crafts you would like to make. Here is a list of tools compatible with Cricut Explore Air 2.
- Additional Cricut Blades
- Cricut Mats
- Scoring Stylus
- Cricut Pens
- 12 x 24’’ Mat
Can you use iron instead of Cricut EasyPress for HTV projects?
Yes, you can use a household iron to apply heat transfer vinyl design on fabric, but you must guess the right temperature yourself. You must also remember that many irons do not maintain consistent temperature throughout the entire surface, so you may not get the desired results every time.