Tuesday 18 May 2010

Top Tip Tuesday...Removing die cuts...

Wow it's been a while since we had any tips, but hopefully this one will be well worth the wait! Recently a friend was asking how to get die cuts out without doing any damage to the cut piece. She was using mirri card and as we all know if you start digging around with a pokey tool or tweezers it's all to easy to make marks on the card.

I must admit I've always dug mine out - until now when a sudden flash of inspiration struck! I was trying to cut some Marianne swirls, which can be really tricky to remove without tearing or completely wrecking the finished piece.
This photo shows the die with the paper still in it. As you can see it cuts really fine and as it was quite thin paper I was sure it was going to be tricky to remove without ruining the swirl.


Then a thought came to me that maybe if I stuck my putty rubber (blutack may also work) to the back and then pulled gently it may just release the die. Oh how pleased was I when this worked - one very happy crafter!
This photo shows the die cut half out of the die with the putty rubber still attached.

So far I've only tried this with this particular swirl die, but I'm sure it will work with most dies. An added bonus is that it also removes all those tiny circles that build up in the die itself.


Here's the swirl completely free of the die and undamaged. Yeah success! Hope you've found today's top tip useful. More tips are on the way and we do promise that there won't be such a long gap between this and the next tip.

Have a wonderful Tuesday and don't forget our challenge until Friday is 'Punched Borders' and you can enter your card here

Ann, Irene and Max xxx

14 comments:

  1. thank you for this useful tip. I've just got my first Marianne die, gorgeous but as you say, a bit fiddly. I resorted to the pokey tool but love your putty rubber idea - will put one on the shopping list!
    hugs, annie x

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  2. Wow a great Idea will give that a try next time.xxx

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  3. Brilliant idea Ann, I damaged some light cardstock recently trying to get leaves out of a Mariannes die
    Beryl x

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  4. thanks so much for this useful tip - those fine swirls are often a problem (or have been in the past).

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  5. Excellent! Have lost a good few butterflies via tweezer removal operations. Thanks a million!

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  6. Fab idea! will have to try! Thanks for the tip! xxD

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  7. Fab tip Ann but why couldn't you have told us this when I was trying to get my snowflakes out of the die. I had to throw loads away before I got a decent one lol. Debs xx

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  8. Fabby tip that's great thanks girls! :0)

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  9. Thanks Eileen for answering my query, now I know how to get mirri card from my Pendants Die. Will let you know how I get on.
    Christine x

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  10. Top tip ladies - thanks!
    Wedgie xxx

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  11. Brilliant tip Ann - my first two Marianne dies arrived this morning (totally your fault by the way!!) and for the record, you're right and blu tack works a treat too.
    Ann x

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  12. Fab tip thanks for sharing xxx

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  13. Wow that is a top tip off to try it with the butterfly die... love the die but don't use that often because can't get it out. Will let you know how I get on.
    Hugs Shirley x x x

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