Blackletter again...

I designed another card using the same technique that I used for the cards I posted yesterday.




Once again I used an element from the Blackletter font cartridge - you can see it highlighted in the screen shot above.



On my first attempt to cut this design I used a smaller sized element in a five by seven grid - as you can see above, my Cricut was not happy cutting this size(!). I also thought it looked too "busy" at that size, so I adjusted the design.


Above is the screen shot preview of the first revision.



This is my first test cut of this version of the design - I was concerned about the tiny cuts at the points of the overlapping elements, but they cut well and just needed a bit of "persuasion" to come out of the lifted cut.


I had originally planned to use this cut on a red 5 x 7 card base - here is a photo of my preview on a red 5 x 7 card base (sorry for the weird glare on the photo).



I decided that I preferred the pink and black combination with some more tiny gems added in the solid sections. I may go back and add gems on the cut holes in the center of the diamonds but, for now, I left those alone so the pink card base could show through.



Here is a closer view of the tiny gems. I dotted my Creative Memories Precision Point adhesive pen in the spots where I wanted to place the gems and then carefully positioned them.



I wanted to make the design a little less "busy" so I set about removing the small triangular cuts. This was not easy to do since they are formed by the outer line of the shape and I couldn't simply use "hide contour" to eliminate them.

I wanted to use only elements from the Blackletter cartridge to avoid having a design the required changing cartridges (no, I do not have a Jukebox - I really don't mind changing cartridges). However, it is simpler for others to use my designs if they only need one cartridge and if I went to the "standard" cartridges to find an element that I could weld into the design to eliminate these cuts I would end up doing at least two files - one for George and one for Plantin Schoolbook).

I eventually found a couple of shapes that would work, using the blackout option to make them solid shapes and doing some stretching and rotating to cover all the areas I didn't want to cut. I also had to "burp" the design by copying, deleting and then adding back various parts of the design until I had all the welds working correctly.



So, when I finally got all of that done (and it took far longer than I expected it would!) and then tried the cut - the machine once again decided to alter the way it cut silhouetted shapes. You can see in the photo above that the "rings" around the diamonds were very inconsistent and became thinner and thinner on the left side of the element as the cut progressed along to the right.

I did the usual - removed the blade housing and checked the blade, put it back and checked to be sure the screw was tightened securely and that the paper was well stuck to the mat.



I tried the cut again and this time it was much better aligned. I guess I expect too much sometimes, but it is frustrating to see a design perfectly symmetrical on the screen and have it cut "off-kilter."



For my second test cut, I had simply turned the mat around and inserted it in the opposite direction. The remainder of the 12 x 12 paper after the two test cuts looked like this.



I immediately thought that this would be great for a scrapbook page - instant decorative mat cutouts for 4 x 6 photos! If you are curious, the photos you see are from when we lived in England and I went with my Book Group to see the home of the Brontë writing family (Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights) in Haworth and toured the surrounding countryside - very beautiful and rugged.



Above you can see the two variations in color and design. I might also try this using "hide contour" to eliminate the small holes in the centers of the diamonds.



The pattern reminded me of a garden maze, so I added some flowers and more of those tiny gems (I think I need to put them away - they are ending up on all of my projects lately!).



The plain designs with just the gems added are rather formal looking...



Adding flowers with the bling, along with the different color choices, gives a much more lighthearted feel to this design.

I'd love to see any cards you make using these designs. It is fun to find card options in unexpected places like a solutions font cartridge!

Celtic Card Toppers 2