More lessons learned - via the Pazzles

So, today we'll look at what I call "intricacy problems"... ha!

What are we looking at? We are looking at various die cuts, in relation to a Tombow Adhesive. I included the adhesive roller in these pictures so you can understand the proportionate scale of the die cut.

Here we are looking at a leaf, a swirly-swirl and a cute lil' flower blossom. These three die cuts turned out great (except for the smallest li' holes in the middle of the flower). And the second image down is a paper clip of sorts... cute, eh?! Nice cute, too.





And here - what are we looking at? A die cut that had a problem... here is where I started seeing "intricacy problems"... see the bottom half of that flower? The final cut of the petal did not complete. I'm thinking this happened because the cutting mat had started to lose it's tackyness... or stickyness. Since the paper quit sticking to the mat, it lifted and just moved around along w/ the blade for that last little swoop of the cut. Hmph! OK... keep testing...



And here... even deeper "intricacy problems". All those individual cuts ... and some broken swirls. See the swirls across the top? The right side of those swirls are mostly un finished/broken.





So, what did I learn today? Do these intricate cuts on a larger scale and/or a tackier mat.

Off I go to shop for more mats... I have heard that it is normal for these mats to lose their tackyness rather quickly. But, this next part is key...

Most Valuable Lesson learned this week... I made a big mistake on my first run through the machine. I pushed the cardstock onto the cutting mat rather hard... and after my cut, when I pulled the cardstock back off the cutting mat... well, a lot of cardstock stayed behind. And when I worked to get it off, the adhesive started to come off the cutting mat as well.

Note to self #1: press the cardstock against the cutting mat. But DO NOT, and I mean DO NOT, press it too hard.
Note to self #2: maybe i should buy some more cutting mats.

Off to the lab to keep testing and playing and learning...