Sticking Stuff Straight

[Phree]

Does anyone have any really good tips for sticking stuff like matting and layering down straight? As a card-maker that is one of my biggest weaknesses. It often seems that no matter how carefully I "hover" over the card with my matting layer and try to line it up, when I finally stick it down, somehow or another I have a slight "twist" in the postioning that means straight edges that should run parallel don't! :(

[Rainbowwand]

If you do please dont keep it to yourself, cause i would also really like to know :D

[Jeanette]

Photo glue is a good one sometimes or if you are using DST, don't peel the backing off completely, just fold it back a little until the matting is correctly positioned then just gently pull the rest of the backing off.

[Dips]

OK, I may be able to help here. As some of you know, I often need to stick literally hundreds of mats/layers straight, and whilst I wouldn't say I have a 100% success rate, my method does hit the high 90's.

You may have seen the trick of "folding-back" the release paper of the DST, demo'd by a number of presenters on CAC, where by they move around the mat, folding back each piece of release paper so that all four sides release in a different direction. I have adapted this method and found a way that is far more reliable (well, it is for me, lol). It doesn't matter which way you fold-back the top and bottom edges, but for the left and right edges, it is very important to fold back the release paper from the top on both sides. Position your mat in place, lining up the left side to be in paralell. When you are sure of this, lightly press down in the top left and top right. Keep one hand on your mat to stop it slipping, then gently pull out the right then left release papers. Only when you have the mat secured on the left and right should you remove the top and bottom release papers.

This is the "Dips Patented Matting Technique" - hope it works for you :)!

[Phree]

Thanks dips, I will give your method a try next time. I have tried the pulling only the ends of the tape backing away first then trying to remove the remainder once the layer was stuck down, but I never really bothered about the sequencing of the tape removal - so next time I will try that and see if it works for me.

[Wellington]

Cheers for the tip Dips :) I've done the same as Phree, but maybe a more organised approach is needed.

I shall also confess here that I very rarely measure my mats - invariable I stick a mat down directly on to a full sheet of the under layer, lining it up with a corner so that 2 borders are even by eye. Then I get a big pair of scissors & trim the other 2 sides down, by eye. This mostly seems to work :D

[Julie]

I shall also confess here that I very rarely measure my mats - invariable I stick a mat down directly on to a full sheet of the under layer, lining it up with a corner so that 2 borders are even by eye. Then I get a big pair of scissors & trim the other 2 sides down, by eye. This mostly seems to work :D

That is my method, except i use a paper trimmer :)

[Mrs D]

Does anyone measure their mats & layers? I confess that I don't but then sometimes the result isn't so good. I've seen demos where crafters leave a specific gap between layers eg 3mm or 5mm and the cards look very good with only a tiny border showing.
What is the easiest (& quickest) way of measuring?

[Dips]

Does anyone measure their mats & layers?

Yes, me, I'm absolutely anal about it:D and getting proper right-angled cuts as well:rolleyes: And, yes Mrs D, you are absolutely right that either a 3mm or 5mm edge work great (so a mat that is 6mm or 1cm bigger). I use my trusty Fiskars Rotary trimmer and also a metal rule to measure the topper, and then work out my mat measurements from that!

[sheilaj]

two suggestions....repositionable adhesive!! and the other is to lay the underneath down on your squared work may then use a transparent ruler or right angle over the undeneath bit to mark where the top mat should start.
Mostly I eyeball it as I find that you get better with practice

[Anne]

I never measure my mats either, and wouldn't dream of using scissors to cut them with - bound to go wonky for me. It's a paper trimmer every time.

[Little Jan]

The way I do it is to get the top matt cut out first, I then roughly cut out the under matt slightly bigger and stick the top matt to it I then trim the under matt down with my little trimmer, for making sure that its even on the card itself I do cheat and measure and make a pencil dot on the base card to line the matt up against.
I have had a lot of problems even cutting card straight with a trimmer no matter how many times I do it it looks slanted , time I have finished its from A4 to a postage stamp:rolleyes:but this is due to my glasses they make eveything look slanted, I have been back to specksavers twice and they say that my eyes need to adjust to the prescription, so now I'm just screwing up my eyes and doing it with out my glasses, The cardmaking that is :D

[LynneH]

I like things to be neat and I also use double sided tape around the edges. I use the technique Dips mentioned (pulling back a small estion of backing paper along each edge) but what I find helps the most is to cover the area inseide the tape with glue stick. This gives a bond that keeps what you are positioning in place but still allows adjustment. I use this technique for both matting and layering and covering the fronts of cards with paper. I find the Tombow glue stick works really well for this.
I hope that makes sense!

[Rentochops]

I use Welly's technique even thought I have a Fiskars paper trimmer: I use photoglue as well so I can reposition. I am still no good at getting things straight though!

[Wellington]

I have sometimes measured my mats - I've always wanted to do that thing that seems to work so well in the demos where they have all the bits of the card pre-cut & ready to stick together. Never never seems to work for me, the layers end up wonky, specially when I'm matting on to the panels of a gatefold card :rolleyes:

[Rainbowwand]

I use dst and remove the bottom tape section, i line up by eye the top section while holding the bottom away from the paper, once i think it is straight i hold it in position and fix down the bottom section, then the other pieces of tape are removed and the paper is smoothed down,

Thanks for the question Phree it has raised some very interesting points :)

[lovepaperstroking2]

Hmmm cant even cut straight let alone put anything straight:D:D as those of you who have had one of my wonky cards will know :D:D

[Phree]

hmmm the glue stick idea from Lynne sounds like a good un, thank you everyone for all the suggestions - it gets a bit stale having to tell hubby "but it's a feature of a hand made card" every time I say "look dear see what I made, do you like it?" and his first comment is "it's squint" :(

[Rainbowwand]

Forgive me for being a bit dense here but if you put wet glue onto dst in order to give slip, then why bother with the dst in the first place:confused:

[Phree]

If I understood Lynne's post correctly RW I think she means she puts a small dab of glue stick on areas of card where there is no tape. Then with the ends of the tape turned back, she can postion her layer as she wants it because the glue stick is giving her some slip, but also gives her just enough hold that once she is satisfied all is lined up squarely she can remove her tapes without the layer moving at the last split second.

That is what happens to me I am sure, I get things lined up well enough, but it's at that last crucial moment as I pull out the tapes that something moves, but of course as my hands are pulling the tape away I don't see the tiny amount of movement until it's too late because my hands are blocking me from having a clear view.

[Rainbowwand]

If I understood Lynne's post correctly RW I think she means she puts a small dab of glue stick on areas of card where there is no tape. Then with the ends of the tape turned back, she can postion her layer as she wants it because the glue stick is giving her some slip, but also gives her just enough hold that once she is satisfied all is lined up squarely she can remove her tapes without the layer moving at the last split second.

That is what happens to me I am sure, I get things lined up well enough, but it's at that last crucial moment as I pull out the tapes that something moves, but of course as my hands are pulling the tape away I don't see the tiny amount of movement until it's too late because my hands are blocking me from having a clear view.


Ah now that would explain it, see i knew i was being dense :D

[LynneH]

Thanks Phree, that's exactly what I do. :D

[Dips]

Yep, it is the pulling the tape away that can make it go skew, that's why I keep one hand on the mat in my method.