I am doing a bunch of Mill Hill kits right now, in between my Chatelaine, and I am having a dickens of a time cutting them out neatly. Send me to remedial kindergarden! But seriously, every pair of scissors I try either won't cut to the end of the blades or tends to crush the paper, rather than cut it cleanly. Anyone have any suggestions for a reasonably priced solution, preferably available at ACMoore or Michaels? TIA, Sara
Sara, The quality of the scissors is the quality of the steel in the blades. I am sorry, but quality never comes cheap. Jim.
Hmm - take a peek in the paper crafts area. You should find scissors for heavy stock paper. They're about $10 IIRC
My approach to perf paper is to cut once well away from the final line with a my craft shears - which were about a $1 at the Dollar store and then use a small paper of paper shears found in the discount section of a craft store (it was a set of 4 that was damaged and missing a pair). Not a 100% sure, but the tips aren't as pointy as embroidery scissors.
Cheryl
I found the best scissors for that job was a surgical stitch cutter. I swiped mine from a nurse friend of mine, but I think you can find them at a reasonable price.
Lucille
Hmm - hadn't thought of that one!
C
I should add that I don't mean the throwaway kind with the curved tip. This one is a bent scissor with sharp points.
I actually got a bent scissor with points at Michaels - I think on sale for about $5. I've used my "Tooltron" cheapie $8 scissors - they've cut canvas, perf paper, etc. They're with my stitching supplies, but I use them for all the "don't use your good scissors" stuff - and they work fine.
On the suture removal side - I was wondering - the last pair I got wouldn't really do for anything as hefty as perf paper. And the staple remover one, is just too blunt.
The other option - depending on how steady your hand is - a blade cutter. I have a couple of Xacto knives that I use for cutting shapes from plastic. I also recently got a "fingertip" tool set, Fiskars - has a mini-xacto, mini-rotary cutter, mini-tweezers. Or a regular quilters rotary cutter - but you really need a mat to use with that. Often Joann's will have the small sets on sale or you could coupon them. Just be very careful using one.
Ellice
I actually have a rotary cutter and mat, but there's no way that would work for the detail cutting. I have an exacto knife around here somewhere; maybe I'll try that.Could I use the rotary mat for a surface? Has anyone seen or tried the ceramic (I think) exacto style knife that I've seen in catalogs? Think geek maybe.
Sara
I use my mat for all sorts of things beyond the fabric cutting it is "meant" for.
Got a link for the ceramic exacto knife??? Curious minds and all that.
Cheryl
I have a wonderful pair of bent scissors, long handle, very short, sharp, pointed blades offset at about a 65 or 70 degree angle. BUT, I bought them in the drugstore, labelled "toenail scissors", cost around $10 I think. They live with my embroidery supplies, NOT in the bathroom.
Olwyn Mary in New Orleans
Sara
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