I love the rain and here in Idaho if the weather man says it’s supposed to be sunny, it will snow. If he says it’s going to be cloudy and windy, it’s going to be a sunny beautiful day. I can’t really blame it all on the weather man, after all this is Idaho weather we’re talking about! I think Fall is finally on her way and to make her big debut she is bringing the rain with her today, but I’m absolutely loving it! Summer is over and we’ve probably seen the last of the hot days. In the desert areas like we live in winter also means a lot more moisture and humidity than we are used to. That extra humidity also means that my paper and the pressure and blade length that I use with my Inspiration can start to change a bit too.
I was using a pressure of about 15 to cut through my cardstock. I just changed my blade and mat, but the settings I was once using aren’t working for me anymore. Any idea why?
Sheila E. Craft Room member
When Sheila contacted me we started making small talk and chatting about the weather. I told her that we expected a rainy week, but that the change was nice from the hot days of summer. I asked how her weather was and she said that they were experiencing a lot of humidity in her area on the shore and that the weather change was very unexpected because they just recently moved from Denver. This instantly got me thinking about how humidity can have a factor in the paper and the settings that you’ll use. I told her that it sounded like she may need to adjust her pressure and blade length to make up for the humidity that was in the air. We increased her blade length and moved the pressure up to 18 and she said it was cutting like a dream. Sheila, like me, was used to using the same kind of pressure consistently. However changing temperatures and humidity can play huge role in your blade and pressure settings. I was lucky enough to do a show in Nashville a few years back with Klo and was shocked to see the stack of paper we were using start to curl. I looked at Klo and she started to laugh and say “You’re lucky your climate is so dry in Idaho, you don’t have to deal with curling paper.” I also noticed the settings I was using were very high in Nashville in comparison to the settings that I would use in Idaho. I thought this was a great question to address with the seasons changing and some of the discrepancies that you might experience with settings that may have previously worked, but aren’t giving you the same results as they previously had.
I was having that same problem the other day when it just rained all day. I was finishing off a project of 14 overlay frames with words on each side of the frames. On the day it rained almost the entire day, the last two frames I had cut, I had to use scissors to clean up many of the inner pieces where the paper wouldn’t come off cleanly.
It’s very humid in Sydney… a LOT different than when I lived in Las Vegas. So as it is raining this week, I will watch for the paper cut adjustments I will need to make. Thank you!
We woke up to snow this morning, we skipped fall and went straight to winter. Thank you for your comment the weather here is changing all the time and I find I have a hard time getting the right pressures.
I was wondering why I was having problems in some parts when it had been cut I noticed I had to use my scissors to clean up many of the inner pieces where it would not come off cleanly like Linda said. Over here it is rain, rain and more rain it has rained all day here it has been like this for a week or two. When I recut it seemed to leave little slithers of paper as well. I thought I was maybe doing something wrong.
This is a good reminder for me. I live in Georgia AND my ceiling fan is on all the time.
I need to move to a dry climate! 🙂