One of the most critical steps in building miniatures is cutting out the tiny (and I mean tiny) paper components.
Sometimes, these pieces are super easy with straight edges and tabs that are easy to fold and glue together.
Other times, I swear the manufacturers is trying to play a trick on us by having stuff with lots of little shark tooth shaped tabs. Not only do you need the eyesight of a… well something with darn good eyesight.. To see the piece in the first place but then you need tiny scissors to cut the things out!
By the end of it, you’re cross-eyed, your fingers are cramped and your cutting jobs is less than stellar.
While I don’t have this portion of the miniatures mastered just yet, I have found a couple of methods that have helped me a ton.
Cut out before you cut out. By this I mean that most printouts of the paper decor is usually grouped on the sheets by part number and are outlined by a shape (usually a square or a rectangle). I have found that cutting out these sub-sections and working with a smaller piece is helpful to managing the section and part while the details are cut out.
Whittle it down – This can be accomplished a variety of ways. Finding a straight edge to cut along, cutting down a grouping of multiple pieces into their own individual components, you name it. Just start cutting away the background in the largest chunks you can.
It is worth noting that for both of the first steps, a normal pair of scissors works great. However, for the last step, I highly recommend a pair of precision scissors. In my opinion, these are mandatory for the finer details of all of these paper bits and bobs.
Speaking of which.. The Final details – for all of those tabs that need to be cut around, the flaps that need to be freed from their backgrounds, and the non-straight line edges that need to be shaped into miniature masterpieces, a pair of precision scissors or a craft knife are recommended. I personally prefer the scissors but I can definitely see the appeal of the craft knife especially in those spots where scissors just can’t reach naturally. I recall a spiral that needed to be cut out in a recent craft project I was working on. The scissors I was using was not the business and I wish I had had a quality craft knife for that task. I made the scissors work but the cuts would have definitely been cleaner.
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