Crafting Essentials: Scissors
Saturday, October 05, 2013
At the top of every crafter's list of tools they need, or at least very close to the top of that list, is a good pair of scissors. In my case, it's several pairs of scissors. To me, there is nothing more frustrating than trying to cut something with the wrong or low quality scissors. I'm sure you've had those moments yourself. Trying to cut a piece of fabric and the cloth either bends with the scissors or becomes extremely frayed. So here I am to give you what I like to have in my arsenal to keep my crafting going smoothly.
Because one of my great passions is papercrafting, first place on my scissors list goes to detailed scissors. My favorite are the Cutterbee Nonstick scissors. I have owned a pair of these since 2008 when I first began scrapbooking and have only replaced them this year. Perfect for detailed cutting around intricate stamped images, they were also sharp enough to tackle chipboard and thick cardstock. The nonstick coating was a definite plus when cutting out stickers or double-sided tape.
My second pair is these other Cutterbee scissors. The non-coated pair are actually a bit more hefty and have retained their sharpness pretty well. However, they do not perform as well for fussy cutting. I use these mainly for the heavy stuff like my cardstock and chipboard. I now save the non-stick pair for detailed cutting and sticky jobs.
TIP: To keep your scissors at their sharpest, dedicate them to a specific job.
My third pair is a set of fabric scissors. I learned that I dulled my first pair of Cutterbees on cutting ribbons and bits of felt so now I have a specific pair just for fabric. These really are used for nothing else. I have even warned Nestor from using these for anything else since he has a tendency to wander into my craft room when he needs something.
For all else, I use this pair of Tim Holtz scissors by Tonic. The serrated edge seems to slice through all types of materials with ease. They really are pretty amazing. My favorite use for them is to cut through thick corrugated cardboard. The wide mouth handles ease a lot of the strain on my hands when using a lot of force. However, because of the serrated edge, it leaves tiny marks when used on paper. Not super noticeable, but they are there. For that reason, I don't typically use them for general crafting.
At any given time, you can probably find several other pairs of scissors in my tool bucket, but these are my essentials.
Crafting Essentials is a series of posts describing the crafting products I cannot do without. You can check out more of my favorite crafty products here.
Hello! My name is Christine Portilla. I live in Southern Maryland, with my husband, our toddler son, and our fifteen-year-old cat.
0 comments