Hand cutting intricate fonts is an interesting and simple way to create a stunning effect on your scrapbook pages.   It is not difficult but it makes pages look like a great deal of effort was taken.  It is used mostly for titles and the more intricate the font, the more effect on the page.

Hand cutting takes some time and patience.  The key to hand cutting is to take your time and make deliberate, controlled cuts. 

You will need a very sharp knife.  And X-acto knife is a good choice.  Some choose the type of knife that has the snap off tips so that they always have a sharp edge. It is important to change the blade of whatever knife you choose often, so that it is always very sharp.  The knives with the snap off tips are inexpensive so they are a good choice.

 You will also need some sort of a cutting matt.  I prefer a glass matt, as the knife and the paper slides most easily across the glass.  These can be found readily at home.  A piece of glass from a picture frame, the tray from an old microwave, a large mirror, or a sheet of glass bought for this purpose are sources of glass that are available.     

After gathering the supplies needed, you next need to find your source of letters.  There are ready-made titles that can be bought and cut out by hand.  One may choose to use the computer to print out a title to be hand-cut.  There are some very intricate fonts available on the Internet.  “Scriptina” is a very popular font for fancy pages, but any font can be used, and there are some very intricate ones out there!!  The font in the example is “Old English Text MT”, found on most versions of Word.  Choosing Word art from the draw menu, (see Computer Fonts Article http://pagesoftheheart.net/tutorials/pcfonts/pcfonts.htm )  we can choose the type of effect we want.  Solid letters can be used in the color and form they appear.  In the example we are choosing the outline letters so that we can print onto colored or patterned paper without wasting ink.  Chose a size of letters (we chose 36 points here) and your font, then write the text in the Word art Text box.  The words will appear on your page. 

Click on the letters to cause the small adjusting squares to appear around your words, and use them to adjust the letters to the size you need.  Pulling the letters out to the sides will make them “fatter” and perhaps a little easier to cut out.

If you are going to print out solid colored letters onto white cardstock you could print them now, facing forward.  In order to print onto the backside of patterned or colored paper with the outline letters to save ink, we turn the letters backwards now.  By printing on the back of the paper, the printer ink cannot be seen, and on the front of the letters all that can be seen is the paper or the color, no printer lines.  To turn the letters backwards, we click on the letters once to bring back the adjusting squares around them, and click on “draw” on the Drawing toolbar.  On this menu we find Rotate or Flip.  We want to Flip Horizontal, to make the letters appear backwards. 

This is the image that we print out onto our paper, either cardstock or the back of a patterned piece of paper. 

Using the knife and the glass matt, start to cut out your letters.  I hold my knife like I would hold a pen.  Using firm pressure and pushing down with my index finger on top of the knife, cut on or just on the outside of the line (if on the back side of the paper; if on the front side, cut inside the ink line or outside the border).  Always point the knife blade towards you, holding the paper with your other hand on the backside of the knife.  If pulling towards you hand, it is more likely that you will be cut if you should slip. 

 Try to cut each line in a single swipe as stopping and starting causes nicks and edges.  When cutting corners I use my opposite hand to move the paper around my knife, not the knife.  When cutting a longer straight line I will move the knife somewhat towards myself…stopping when I reach corners and moving the paper around the knife around the corner.    It’ll take some practice to get it right and might be a good idea to practice on some printer paper. 

When I get to points I cut beyond them and crisscross the ends to get the whole point.  After all lines are cut I just poke the letter out, finishing any corners that are not completely cut through.

Always cut out the insides of letters, and the small intricate loops and swirls of the letters first; then go back and cut the larger lines and thicker areas. 

An alternative to printing the letters out on your cardstock/patterned paper is to print the letters out on printer paper and using reposition-able glue, stick the printer paper onto the patterned paper/cardstock (pay attention to which side you are gluing to depending on whether your letters are backwards or forward) and then cut through both pieces of paper at once.  This is not difficult and works particularly well for cutting letter out of photos and things you would not want to print on.  In the “Snow Angels” example, the letters for the title were cut out of leftover pieces of photos after the photos were cropped.

Below are the letters from the first word of the title, Pages, in the “Old English Text MT” font.  The thin lines are cut first, and then the thicker lines can be cut.  The key again is patience and going very slow. 

“Scriptina” in the layouts “Magic” and “Beauty” is very thin and loopy and makes wonderfully romantic and elegant titles.  It is best cut from thick cardstock that holds the shape well while cutting.

The example “Fly Fishing” has a title cut using the font “Mistral” which was somewhat easier to use as it is thicker and less loopy but the thin centers of loops are tricky.

These examples show some fairly simple intricate fonts.  With practice you can be cutting out fonts such as

Antique

CoelnischeCurrent

Fractur

Decadentia

Parchment

INITIALS

ARDENWOOD

These will be beautiful additions to your scrapbook pages!  Good luck with your hand cut titles!!