An Early Holiday Start
Trader Sam | November 30, 2009
I know it’s been slow lately, but it seems like Halloween was only a couple of weeks ago, and I’m still getting over it. Then, Thanksgiving showed up, and now the holiday season is here. Where did all of the time go!?
To make things a tad bit more hectic, I’m having random computer crashes (it’s the dreaded Blue Screen of Death). Could it be the brand-new RAM that I recently installed? I don’t know; I’m not a computer guru.
But, despite the busy time, I did manage to finally finish the Sleeping Beauty Castle Holiday Pop-Up Card, which I’ve been trying to get approval from Disney for over a year. Whew! So, download it, and take your time with this delicate holiday project.
Hi, I’m a lurker. Thank you for this and all you do for us.
On an inkjet HP 6310, you can change the ink printing volume in 5 preset stages. On a project like this, I usually set the ink at it’s heaviest so those gray shadows show up at their best. If everything goes right, you shouldn’t have any overspray or dotting in the white areas since nothing’s supposed to be printed there in the first place.
This trick is also critical when printing this type of cut-out on colored paper. I always have the ink level set high when I do the carousel cards on color, otherwise you can’t see the fine details at all. (I’m thinking of doing the castle cut-out sans card on gold paper as a table decoration.)
As far as cutting goes I try to remember that the paper gets weaker the more I cut, so I mount the project first on a clipboard and let it provide backpressure to my cutting. Greater mass behind the cut equals smooth cut in front. Then I work “up” towards the metal clamp of the clipboard always watching where my hands go. A self-healing cutting mat mounted to the clipboard also helps the blade roll around curves almost effortlessly. And the blades will break. I made the castle card Monday night (told ya I was anxious!) and went through at least 10 blades. They’re cheapest when bought by the gross and as soon as that tip breaks off they’re done! So get them out of there and start a new blade.
Anyhoo, these are the lessons I learned making 14 carousel cards in a week last year!
Those are some excellent tips! I love self-healing cutting mats. But, you have to take care when those blade tips break off, because they can get lodged inside the mat.
I also keep on using my blades long after the tip has broken off. It just means that I have to use the blade a little differently.
Yes they do get stuck in the mats!
Hobbylinc.com has a box of 100 Hobbico brand #11 blades half Staple’s price for 100 X-Actos. They’re pretty good, all things considered. They do lose their tips just a bit more frequently than the X-Actos because they’re a hair thinner. But for a large scale project where you expect to lose the blades anyways they’re hard to beat. Of course, you have to factor in shipping so you really have to buy more than just one box of blades to get the savings. They do have other tools that come in handy for the papercrafter if y’all want to check them out.
PS I’ll be taking some photos tomorrow better than the ones I sent you the other day.
Sam, this looks terrific. However, looking at the parts, I am a little confused. Should they be cut out on the lines, or are the blue shadows meant to be preserved in some way?
Thanks for another great project.
(and, btw, is does sound like you probably have a RAM problem)
No, only cut on the lines. The blue shadows are there to give the pieces some minor graphic details.
I know the lines may be kind of hard to see at times, but they won’t be visible once you cut out the parts. The idea is to have crisp, clean, pure white parts.
Any hints on cutting the finer details? You mention a sharp knife – that’s a given. I assume also that you should cut out the small details before you cut out the part. Any other tips? As an aside, what bond paper would work best? Thanks!
Hmmm . . . It’s usually best to start with the finer details, and work from the center, out. You kind of have to think ahead and plan things out.
This is awesome! Cant wait to build it! Excellent Job again Trader Sam!
I love pop up cards…I’m so happy you finally released this too! I wish there were more free pop up card designs.
WOO HOO!!!! I’ve been waiting to see this project live and in person for a long time! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
My PC crashed last January and I’m still not back to 100% Try operating in safe mode, at the very least you should be able to back-up some important files to CD.
Doing some research on the Internet, I’ve narrowed my computer problems down to bad RAM. That’s really the only thing that’s changed. I’m going to return the RAM for a refund and try another brand.
As an update, I did replace my RAM. So far, everything seems to be running just fine (knock on wood).