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Tuesday 15 January 2013

Making labels, a brooch and using PaperClay !




Hi Everyone
At last Ive got a few minutes to write my blog ! My much dreaded Winter Camp for the kids has cost me several days in packing and unpacking/washing. They had the most fantastic time, so all worth it !!!! I was so worried about them because of the weather but they did great and were fine when we arrived to pick them up ( a tad too early and just in time to help break camp).

The weather today is wonderful (if you like snow) - its so nice Ive taken a picture instead of trying to describe the scene.





I'm not sure about how things will go from here but at the moment it's lovely to look at.

I've not done much creating for almost a week, however, a few items have arrived which will help move on a few projects. The postman brought these today



Some new cutter blades for making yet another stamp and some paper clay. I've used this stuff before to make buttons and I'm going to try and use my stamps to develop some paper clay shapes for the January painting. If you need background on any of the projects look back a few blogs for details. I've also tracked down a gem for my 'crochet brooch to be'. Here is another look at the final brooch idea.



My gem is currently a ring. I will need to cut off the ring bit. It's not quite what I want but it's a starter. If anyone knows where I can get a better gem please email me.


My gem is a similar colour but the shapes not quite there. Lets see how it turns out. I'm optimistic !

Now, it's time to talk about the next episode in the die cut series. Today, I'm starting with a die cut. I've mentioned the machines and the cutting plates, there are other bits which I'm calling equipment but making the die cuts is the exciting bit - we need to get to it. I will weave the 'other equipment' bits into the next few episodes.
I've chose a die at random. It's a thin die from Sizzix and you can see the name, 'Label,Ornate #2'.


The process is very simple and uses the same technique no matter which dies are used with the Sizzix machines. I will deal with the Quickcutz technique separately. Ive taken a few photos of the process to illustrate the steps.
I've used an old envelope to cut into my shape (in this case it's a label).


Cut the paper into about the size of the die itself.


I've 'sandwiched' the bits together (die and paper inside the plates).


The third photo shows a side view of the 'sandwiched' die and paper before posting through the machine.


Simply wind the handle to roll the 'sandwich' through the machine.








You can see how the shape comes out at the end. It's a very clean and easy process. For this die and thickness of paper (its an old envelope) I could probably cut about 3 or 4 labels like this and get a clean cut. If I tried to layer more papers than that, probably the quality of the shape would not be so good. It all depends on the thickness of the paper and how complicated the shape is. We can explore this idea in the future episodes.

That's it for today.

Bye for now.

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