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Post by redsarge on Oct 17, 2015 13:56:31 GMT -9
Greetings, man do I love visiting this forum! I'm primarily a model builder, but I occasionally build terrain out of foam core and often cardstock or cardboard, so I konw how to cut a straight line or two. The problem I am having been a newby at papercrafting, is trying to score 100lb cardstock without "tearing" the ink, I want to keep the colored surface like I see on so many cardstock models on this board. I have a tried using a steel sculpting tool [The GW one], I've tried a round edged plastic scoring tool, and I have tried simply scoring with a knife. I have yet to try the safety pin method. I should post a picture or two of what I am working on. Should I try and score both sides with a dull metal object? The cardstock is 100C, tough so my models will be robust. Very similar to the foldable terrain found in the Infinity Operation Icestorm boxed set] Any advice would be appreciated as I have read and google the heck out of the subject.
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Post by squirmydad on Oct 17, 2015 16:17:52 GMT -9
Hi and welcome! Part of the problem with ink tearing is the gloss. I've tried using gloss paper before; the models colors look great, the paper is strong, but it doesn't like folding and scoring as it chips off. I use matt photo paper for all of my minis and decent bright (not glossy) 110lb stock for models. When I am scoring by hand I use a black ball point pen and press hard, or use a dried up ball point pen if you don't want an ink line on the score.
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Post by bravesirkevin on Oct 17, 2015 22:36:59 GMT -9
The problem I am having been a newby at papercrafting, is trying to score 100lb cardstock without "tearing" the ink, I want to keep the colored surface like I see on so many cardstock models on this board. I have a tried using a steel sculpting tool [The GW one], I've tried a round edged plastic scoring tool, and I have tried simply scoring with a knife. The act of scoring is really about using pressure to break the paper fibres so that you create a long linear weak spot on the paper. Because of this, it is almost impossible to avoid damaging the ink surface when scoring manually. Pre-scored cardboard, like on cardboard packaging doesn't have this problem because they just use a platten to press a metal bar into the page and there's very little friction involved, but when you're moving any sort of scoring tool over a printed surface you are going to scrape off ink as you go. It is possible to fold without scoring. Basically you fold the page against a hard corner like the edge of a table. This is quite tricky because getting things lined up is tough. If you do this with a laser print, the toner will just flake off, but it does work okay with inkjet prints. I'd not recommend this because it's very tricky and very easy to mess up. The second plan is to use a ball point pen, pressing very hard, but the trick is to do all the scoring on the unprinted side. Again, if you're using a laser printer, the toner's just going to flake off when you fold anyway. An ink jet print will probably be fine. All of that said, the truth is that most of the pics you'll see around here use neither of those methods. A lot of the more prolific posters of pictures around here don't cut and score by hand and instead use an automatic cutter. The automatic cutter foregoes scoring and instead uses perforations for the folds, and that preserves the ink surface quite well, but it's not practical to do by hand. The preferred method apart from that is to use a knife to "score". It's not technically scoring because rather than breaking the paper fibres, you're just cutting through the top layer of them. This gives an incredibly clean fold, but it does break the ink surface and leaves a white line at the fold, so we colour the line with markers or paint. We do the same with all the other white edges, and that's the real secret.
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Post by redsarge on Oct 18, 2015 6:27:41 GMT -9
Thanks for the replys! I'm learning a lot of the specifics of printing and papercraft. For next time I will ask my printing service if they use InkJet or Laser Printer, and as per Squirmydad'd advice I will switch to a matte photo paper, instead of glossy. bravesirkevin: I just might have to get a robo-cutter then!
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Post by Vermin King on Oct 18, 2015 14:54:52 GMT -9
Krylon clear or other clear coat will also help on that, especially if you are going laser print. Unless you clear coat laser print, you are likely to get flaking
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Post by bluecloud2k2 on Oct 18, 2015 21:57:19 GMT -9
I really wish I could invest in a Robocutter
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