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Is there a trick to using a hobby knife/swivel knife when making cutouts on your cards? No matter what I do or how careful I try to be, my knife slides out of path and makes mess of my image. Heck, I can't even do the square cutout using a coluzzle template. My knife has a mind of its own and still gets out of path. :( Am I using the wrong knife, the wrong paper or am I just wrong for the technique???
You might try a new blade...that made a big difference for me. Also practice is helpful and I've also heard that cutting on a glass surface is helpful (of course it needs to be one that it OK to get scratched up.)
HTH,
Anita
I agree with Anita, a very sharp exacto blade with a perfect point makes all the difference in the world. Also, cutting on top of a self healing mat helps. It's just practice, practice and practice. Don't push to hard. Let the blade do the work for you.
__________________ "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." Abraham Lincoln
I do use a self-healing mat to do my cutout. I'll try the glass next time to see if it makes a difference. Otherwise, just as you said, practice, practice, practice!
The SU paper snips have made all the difference for me. I feel like I have more control than with an exacto knife. They are the same sissors as the ones made by Cutter Bee. They're fabulous!
__________________ Cyndi My Gallery My Blog There are 10 kinds of people in the world: Those who understand binary and those who don't.
Yes I love my scissors, however they can't compare to the blade for getting into the interior of the designs that I sometimes want to cut out. Only the blade will work. But I agree, I lovvvvvvvvve my paper snip. Use it for everything else.
__________________ "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." Abraham Lincoln
A tip for using a swivel knife especially with a COluzzle is to hold the knife straight up and down and do not move your wrist. Instead move your whold arm cutting toward you. Clear as mud right! Once you get the hang of using the COluzzle I think you will love it.
I've tried Fiskars Shape cutters, Coluzzle, Blade Runner and Creative Memories. Only the Creative memories tool was I able to cut my shapes perfectly the first time and every time. A friend of mine is a scrapper and has both CM and Coluzzle. I don't cut that many shapes that I could justify that cost. All the others just take practice! Everyone presses differently and even that makes a difference. Keep trying, I'm sure it'll work!
When you use the coluzzle, use the white piece of foam that comes with it to cut on. It helps the knife swivel easily and glide smoothly. I know a lot of people think it's trash when they get their coluzzle. I was lucky my upline warned me when I mentioned I'd ordered one.
I saw a guy on Carol Duvall who talked about using xacto knives. He said that the triangular blade (the one SU sells) has to be held upright for the best cutting - almost a 90 degree angle. There's another blade that is much more forgiving, it has an angled square tip and you can hold it more like a pencil. I was lucky it was in my xacto kit, and it really does work better. I do use the xacto on a self healing mat.
A tip for using a swivel knife especially with a COluzzle is to hold the knife straight up and down and do not move your wrist.
This may seem elementary for the rest of you, but the biggest break through for me was buying and using that foamy mat that Coluzzle sells. I figured I could do without it and use my self healing mat. But I could never get the cuts made without jumping the tracks and ruining my project. The mat made ALL the difference for me.
How do you do those amazing cutouts?
