Translate

Friday 28 October 2011

Trimmers

Is there a perfect trimmer out there? I'm beginning to doubt it! I've got three, and none of them is perfect.

The first one I bought was a Ryman own brand, and it didn't cut square. The edge where you'd expect to butt against allowed paper to sneak under it, so you couldn't use it as a guide. I've taken it into school where it's fine as long as you're not layering things too precisely.

The second trimmer I bought was a Hobbycraft one, and on the whole, it's been fine. It cuts square and straight, providing the paper is long enough to butt against the guide. It measures in millimetres. The downside of it is that the guide disappears, making it difficult to cut less than 50mm and keep it square - so it's hard to layer up sentiments neatly. And, now that I've had it for several years, the silver measurement grid and ruler has started to fade around the 60 - 80 mm area - just where I'm most often needing to cut. Another downside is that replacement blades can be expensive, although I bought a load of them recently when they were reduced.

In an effort to get the effect I wanted, last year, about this time, I bought a X cut trimmer, but that just mangled paper, so I took it back and got a refund. Next I tried a Woodware trimmer. The guide on this one allows much shorter lengths to be cut, but you have to exert significant downward pressure to cut, and that pushes the paper or card so it's not square to the guide, and it often isn't straight either, tending to curve. It's pretty good as a scorer - so long as you don't mind re-trimming after you've made the folds you need to square up the final result.

I was looking at a Purple Cow trimmer online - it had both a guillotine and a rotary trimmer, but when I looked more closely at the photo, it only measured in inches, so that's no good. (Why would I want to work in fractions of an inch when I can work in whole number millimetres? So much easier!)

If anyone out there knows of a trimmer that has everything I need - cuts straight, square, copes with small sizes (as low as 20mm would be ideal) and has a good millimetre grid that won't rub off with use, I'd be very interested to hear about it! And, if replacement blades aren't too expensive, that'd be a definite bonus.

1 comment:

J said...

I've got a tonic A3 guillotine, and I LOVE it.

The flat base has both inches and centimetres marked top, bottom and centre, there is an extendable arm so you can cut 12 x 12 paper, and etched guide line grooves too. It might be a bit tricky with the 20mm minimum though - I usually cut it from a larger piece of card if I want to get that narrow. I have just tried it, and while the finger plates to hold the card in place help, you still have to have a good eye to really get it straight. :(

Rotary trimmers really don't float my boat - I always cut wonky with them. It might be a bit tricky with the 20mm minimum though - I usually cut it from a larger piece of card if I want to get that narrow.

Labels

3d frame (1) Aall and Create (1) acetate (10) acrylic block technique (1) acrylic paint (5) alipeeps (2) animal spirit (1) apple blossom (3) aquamarkers (5) baby (1) barbara jensen (4) bbcakes (6) beading (2) beary dust (13) blackberry lane (2) blackwork (1) border punch (40) borderabilities (8) brass stencil (4) brayer (3) britania (1) Brushos (10) BSP (299) bsp spellbinders (1) C'Art US (1) candle decoration (1) card mad fairy (2) cards (1) carousel (1) CC stamping platform (1) ccm (219) ccn (1) cg (1) chalk cloud (1) chameleon pens (1) Cheery Lynn (9) ching chou kuik (1) chocolate baroque (1) christmas (2) circle cutter (3) Circle Flip Book (3) clarity (8) colour chart (13) colour map (1) coloursoft (11) coosty creations (6) coredinations (20) cosmic shimmer (1) cottage cutz (3) crafter's companion (34) crafts and me (1) crafts beautiful (1) crafty cardmakers top three (2) crafty cardmaking (1) crafty girl (2) crafty image emporium (4) crafty individuals (1) crealies dies (8) creative expressions (3) creative expressions dies (7) creative stamper (5) creative stamping magazine (4) crochet (4) cross stitch (2) cuttlebug (23) debbi moore (4) debbie moore (1) decoupage (8) delicious doodles (13) derwent coloursoft pencils (4) destinations (1) diesire (1) digi (5) digi blessings (5) digi doodle (1) digiital (2) digital (348) distress (6) distress ink (92) distress inks (4) distress oxide (21) ditital (1) docrafts (1) dovecraft (1) dover (7) dover books (1) dry embossing (43) dz doodles (1) edwardian lady (1) eileen hull (3) elizabeth craft (7) embossalicious (14) embossing (7) embossing folder (1) embossing paste (2) embroidery (1) enchanted dreams (13) exploding box (2) fabric (1) face masks (1) family (1) fancy folds (1) fantasy film (1) faux bleaching (2) faux leather (1) fineliners (2) flexmarkers (8) floor polish (1) floppy latte (15) Floral Delights (1) flowers (4) foam flowers (1) form a line (1) frantic stamper (1) gel pen (1) gelli plate (21) gesso (1) gift box (1) gilding wax (5) gimp (1) gingerloft (9) glamour dust (4) glaze (3) glitter (5) glitter markers (1) glitter pens (2) glitterbabe (1) guest dt (1) hand made flowers (52) hardanger (1) hardanger embroidery (1) heartfelt creations (2) heat embossing (43) hope jacare (17) Hunkydory (1) iaas (128) ias (4) ike's art (11) imagination crafts (1) impressabilities (4) impression obsession (1) indigo blue (1) infinity card (2) ink background (3) inktense pencils (2) inky doodles (4) inkylicious (8) inkylicous (2) insetting technique (1) ivory cats (3) jewellery wire (1) jlj (2) joanna sheen (1) joanna sheen dies (4) joke de vette (2) josephine wall (2) kaleidacolor (3) kaleidoscope (1) kaleidoscope ink (1) kassal (1) kaz Kraft (3) Kelley's Kids (2) ken benner (2) kinkade (1) Koh-i-Noor (3) lacquer (1) lavinia (14) layering (2) lexi (2) lil diva (5) liquid pearls (3) lucido (1) luke carr (1) majestix (2) marianne (20) marianne creatables (22) mary hickmott (1) masking (5) medallion (1) media plate (2) memento (4) memory box (6) mica liquid (3) michael powell (2) milk coffee (1) modge podge (1) moonglow ink (4) my craft studio (2) My Heart Pieces (7) needle case (1) nellie snellen (4) nestibilities (76) not a card (2) OSAAT (202) painbox poppets (1) paint pen (1) paintbox poppets (1) pamela west (4) pan pastel (8) pan pastels (46) panda bear (17) paper embroidery (20) paper piecing (1) paper pricking (7) paper weaving (1) pastels (1) peel offs (1) pencils (3) pendant die (6) perfect pearls (20) personal impressions (1) Phindy (1) photoshop elements (83) photoshope elements (1) pixie powder (4) pollycraft (1) pookie (5) pop up (1) pop up box (1) posca (5) presscut dies (2) Printable Heaven (4) pro (1) promarker water pens (1) promarkers (344) promarkers pan pastels (1) pse (56) punch (18) punched flowers (1) pyramage (1) radiant rain (3) recycle (2) reece's scrap pieces (15) reflection stamping (1) resist stamping (1) robyn's fetish (1) rotational stamps (1) sakura (40) sassy studios (1) saturated canary (1) scrappers delights (1) sentimental susan (4) sew easy (1) sew pretty (6) sewing (1) shaker card (1) sharpie (1) sheena douglass (2) shrink plastic (5) signature dies (1) silhouette (7) sizzix (74) sparkle pens (1) spectrum noir pencils (21) spellbinders (167) spellninders (1) spirelli (3) sponsor (3) spotlight (1) spray and sparkle (3) srappers' delights (2) stamperia (2) stamping (240) stamping boutique (5) starburst stains (3) stencil (13) stencils (10) step card (2) stitching (15) stitching cards (8) Stitchy (36) sue wilson (14) sulky (4) susan Tierney Cockburn (1) Susan's Garden (39) Susan's Garden Club (3) Susan's Garden Notes (4) sweet pea (2) sylvie (5) tags (1) tapestry stamps (6) tattered lace (6) tea bag folding (2) teresAward (1) thread art (1) tonic (21) tonic kaleidoscope (1) tonic studios (13) toucan scraps (1) tracing paper (1) travel journal (1) tri-shutter (1) trinitage (1) triple embossing (6) tutorial (1) twinkling h2os (16) umount (1) versacraft (3) Versafine (2) versafine clair (24) versamark (1) watercolour (16) watercolour markers (4) watercolour paper (1) watercolour pencils (2) waterfall card (1) web editor (1) wedding (1) wire designer (2) wizard (150) woodware (5) xcut (1)

Blog Archive

Followers