A slice more

We've got the glue thing sussed, interweb, and I'm happy to report that I'm in good company when I craft with glue abandon. And so refreshed and relieved of potential guilt, we move onto the next er, tool examination. Anne wants to know too, so I figure it's a worth an inconsequential revelation. As you can and have seen, I do a few decoupage cards and often, when I'm demo-ing for The Crafthouse Press, people express surprise that I use scissors. After one event, I spent some time cutting out the characters with a scalpel, but for loads of reasons I went back to the scissors! I need a scalpel for sure, scissors are great for key lines and speedy cutting, but there are always 'insidey' bits and tricky angles that need the blade treatment. But what I could really use is a scalpel that's engineered like my egg timer. I 'd like it to have a blade that changes colour as it gets less sharp; I am totally blind to a dull blade. Don't know why, just end up pressing harder and harder and hurting my lickle fingers, probably damaging my grip too. Then I realise that it's not because I'm useless at cutting, it's because I'm useless at recognising a dull blade. When I was a Cricut demonstrator, people would ask me how you'd know when the blade needed changing (they also asked how long it would last, and I couldn't answer that, I mean, how long is a piece of string?). I used to facetiously suggest that it needed changing when it wouldn't cut anymore (which is genuinely how I know with my model!) - so how come I don't recognise this in a scalpel blade? Dunno! The Enthusiastic Educator likes a ruler and a scalpel to trim papers and square things off. Probably for the rush of being able to use such a dangerous tool - after all, she works with young children and rounded-end scissors on a daily basis! The idea makes me shudder - couldn't cut a straight line with a scalpel if my life depended on it. For that, I actually get off my butt and turn around to my trusty guillotine. I prefer the old chop type to the circular blade of a paper trimmer too. It's probably due to something deeply Freudian, and I don't know why, except that I can cut a straight line with a guillotine. Success with it makes a tool a must-have, huh! My friend Lady Nurse once gave me some wonderful little pads soaked with rubbing alcohol so that I could efficiently and effectively clean some very used workshop scissors. She advised me gently not to cut myself. Of course, I scornfully reminded her that I wasn't quite that silly. And was bleeding like a stuck pig before she had crossed the road to her car. I have three pairs of scissors in constant use; large 12" Fiskars, teflon coated, quite pointy ended 6"scissors which are non-stick, so I use for cutting tape and gluey stuff and therefore avoid having to clean them and visit Casualty too often, and my trusty, pointy 4" Fiskars craft scissors. Often re-sharpened too, thanks to Mr Dunnit and a Japanese stone. I actually have 2 pairs of these, but I know immediately if I've picked up the spare pair, they don't cut the same at all - a bit like a fountain pen. I also have my lovelies trained...they are 'allowed' - welcome - to use anything in my workroom as long as it's put back and as long as the scissors aren't used for anything but cutting paper. Despite my having to buy a Doodlebug scalpel (because my friend WelshHelen, the best scrapbooker in the world has one and I thought it would make me good at it too - really!) it is used less by all of us. The best thing about it really is the flower head which stops it rolling off the table! The worst thing - the blade needs changing, but it's still sharp enough to cut me - AND it hasn't improved my scrapbook abilities one bit.