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Welcome to our CUTTING BASICS tutorial.
Our goal is to teach you how to properly use the correct tools to make detail cutting (freehand or with metal templates) very easy.
PLEASE, PLEASE, use a #16 craft blade. The photo at left shows the standard, #11 blade on the left
and the recommended, #16 blade on the right. Note the difference in the angle of the blades. This is what
makes the cutting easier, when used in conjunction with our technique.
They can be difficult to find, but worth the effort.
If you cannot find them at your local store, let them know that they can order from us.
You can order them from us if your store will not supply them.
Hold the knife as you would a pencil, as shown.
Without changing that position, bring your hand down to the table such that the knife handle is straight up and down.
Your palm does not touch the table. You can use your little finger to steady yourself.
KEEP THE KNIFE HANDLE STRAIGHT UP AND DOWN throughout the cutting stroke.
Your arm movement makes the cut (No bending of the wrist or flicking of the fingers to make the cut).
Cut in the direction of the elbow of the cuting hand. You will be most consistant if you do this.
By holding the handle straight up and down, you can easily rotate the handle in your fingers to make curved cuts.
Curved cuts will take a little practice.
This technique will feel awkward at first, but will make cutting VERY easy when mastered.
Before making any cuts with a template, take a piece of test paper and practice a few strokes.
Here are some tips for cutting with templates:
Always cut from corners out (NEVER CUT INTO A CORNER). This is shown in the
FOLD-em and
POP-UP tutorials
Because of the angle of the blade and the thickness of a template, it is impossible to get all the way INTO a corner.
If you cut from corners out, you will always get a clean, complete cut.
If you have opposing corners, as you do with most openings in the POP-UP templates,
cut out, from one corner, a little over half way towards the other corner.
Cut out, from the other corner, far enough to overlap with the previous cut.
Do not press any harder than necessary to make the cut in the paper.
Pressing harder than necessary only makes the tip of the blade sink further into the pad
and make it difficult to pull your knife to make a cut.
Let the template do the guiding. You want the blade to glide along the edge of the template.
You simply keep the blade parallel with (and against) the template and let the template do the guiding.
If cutting into the end of a slit (as you do with a #2 FOLD-em template, from corner to end of slit),
be careful to not run the blade edge over the metal. When you get to the end of the slit, just stop and lift the blade.
This will increase the life of your blade. Remember, you are cutting against the edge of a metal template;
the blades will dull. The more you cut, the easier it will be for you to tell when the blade is dulling.
Replace the blade before it gets so dull that you tear your paper. The number of cuts you can make with a blade
will depend on the type of cuts you are making (straight versus curved). If you have difficulty cutting, contact us.
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