Splitcoaststampers.com - the world's #1 papercrafting community
You're currently viewing Splitcoaststampers as a GUEST. We pride ourselves on being great hosts, but guests have limited access to some of our incredible artwork, our lively forums and other super cool features of the site! You can join our incredible papercrafting community at NO COST. So what are you waiting for?
i never realized how dirty our plates and equipment gets. While making a card, I saw dark lines on my card stock and it took a while to realize they came from the plates on my big shot. I had been cutting multiple pilgrim hats in brown card stock and the residue came off on my next card.. on closer look I saw washi tape bits and other glue stuck especially from new dies that have the super glue on them that is near impossible to remove. I am forever cleaning my mats and sissdors but never thought about the big shot and score board.
How often and how do you other crafters clean these tools?
I often cut with a clean sheet of copy paper in between my card surface and the cutting platform... especially if I am cutting something which I have just stamped on, because the pressure can cause the stamped image to transfer to the plate if the ink isn't totally dry. And then to the next project... I clean my scoreboard on a fairly regular basis, also my cutting mat. And my scissors and acrylic blocks, though the latter two are for performance rather than contamination issues.
Funnily enough, I was watching a Gina K video the other night, and she recommended the exact tip Cook22 gives to avoid this happening- a sheet of copy paper between the plates & your cardstock. The really amusing part was that when she cut it out, she'd put the die upside down, so cut a circle from the copy paper- proving, she said, that even she makes mistakes sometimes!
what does it say when my brain was no where near thinking you were talking about those kind of dirty cards.....:eek::cool:
I do not clean them as often as I should, and normally get cross with myself when I manage to do something that puts a mark on my card when it is nearly finished.
I remove leftovers from the Cuttlebug plate after each die cut, if necessary rubbing with a very small microfiber towel. (I use them for scads of stuff, including cleaning stamps.)
If there's static electricity, I use a small piece of Swiffer duster. (In an old video, Jennifer McGuire used a small piece of Swiffer duster to wipe fine glitter residue from her craft mat, and talked about cutting them up into sixths.)
Like Jukie, I was curious about the R- or X-rated cards...
I clean mine immediately after I've ruined something. Then I quickly forget I've done it, and go back to my wayward ways. I guess there's some room for personal growth here.
__________________ I have come to the conclusion that buying craft supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies. RachelRose Designs by Robin... GALLERY
I totally agree with using a pice of white printer paper. I sometimes do this to eliminate those little impressions from too many prior cuts on well-loved plates, too.
Another thing I do with dirtied cut plates is run them under hot water & scrub with a toothbrush or scratchy scrubber & dish soap.to remove colored card stock particles. I use those puppies until the practically crumble. lol
LOL That is how I often do stuff too-after the fact.
I clean my mind less often than I should given what I thought this was about too...I thought we were going to go past snarky...perked up a Thursday morning for a minute there. LOL
tip: I use goo gone to get the sticky off dies. And then a quick swipe with simple green/water. I cant stand things being sticky. Personal peeve. My hands can be 14 colors from ink but never sticky.
Gee I dont know if I have ever cleaned my plates. I guess I must have?...When they get super duper opaque from a bazillion cuts and little bits are coming off both sides, I switch em out to new. But I tend to be cutting images, not into the CS face if that makes sense-like leaves and not openings to look through.
I like the paper idea I want to try that and see if I can sqeeze more life out of the plates.
Last edited by wavejumper; 11-30-2017 at 08:47 AM..
I somehow managed to get ink or paint or a combo of adhesive and ink on the underside of the finger guard on my Tonic guillotine paper cutter. It took me ruining three or four pieces of paper before I realized where the mark was coming from! Okay, not ruined, but now need to be used carefully or cut into smaller pieces to work around the smudge. I had to unscrew the guard and wash with Dawn and warm water.
I regularly use an old toothbrush on my Big Shot cutting plates just to remove imbedded pieces of paper but I need to start adding the copy paper to prevent the cut lines from transferring onto my die cuts.
I just remembered something else that I clean regularly - the piece of plastic for the Stamp-a-ma-Jig. I do, lesson learned the hard way, try to clean it with a damp cloth each time but it's more than once been the source of smudges.
another thing that I notice is sometimes if I cut red cardstock it stains the dies so the next time you use that die on white cardstock the edge could be red.. so, I just grab a baby wipe and wipe off dies when I use them on red now.
what does it say when my brain was no where near thinking you were talking about those kind of dirty cards.....:eek::cool:
I do not clean them as often as I should, and normally get cross with myself when I manage to do something that puts a mark on my card when it is nearly finished.
I was right there too and looking for some afternoon entertainment :shock: Instead, I got some terrific ideas. I use a dry toothbrush on my Cuttlebug plates. I will definitely adopt the copy sheet trick. I've go something stuck on the guard for my paper cutter and am having a heck of a time getting it off.
Dirty cards
