My most favorite is my paper scissor. I never use it for anything other than paper. I purchased it in Germany in a specialty paper store and yes, I thought it was expensive at about 10 euros but, I knew I would use it for a long time and since papercrafting is my only major hobby, I knew it would be used quite a lot! This pair of scissors are small at about 3.5 inches long with a micro tip which is an extremely sharp point for detail work. Germans are well known for scherenschnitte (papercutting) and therefore, have a variety of scissors.
I also use discarded surgical scissors. My father is a family practitioner and does some minor office surgeries in his practice. His scissors need to be in perfect condition so when he discards his, I recycle them! They are perfect for paper use. They are very thin, with a long blade and extremely sharp. I love the heft in them and are very comfortable to work with. Plus, the blades are very pointy perfect for details.
Another good pair to have are Fiskar’s original household scissors (you know, the one with the orange handle). Perfect for long cuts with heavier weight paper. These would not be useful for detail work but great for other usage. Fiskar’s makes a right handed as well as left handed pair.
A crafting knife is useful in cutting, especially for paper cutting crafts. Use it along with a self-healing mat for precision cutting. I get mine at the hardware store as it is cheaper. Just make sure you purchase replacement blades and replace it often so that your blade is as sharp as you can make it. You don’t want to mess up your design with a blade that won’t cut. If you plan on slicing straight lines, you may want to use a metal ruler with the craft knife as plastic ones get nicked all the time.
An assortment of decorative scissors are always fun to use. These scissors have a shape built into the blade so that the paper cuts into different patterns. You can buy inexpensive ones at the craft stores but if you are into heavy decorative cutting, better buy one that is more durable with a better blade. Mine are the Provocraft decorative scissors.
Papercutters/trimmers are boards with a blade that rolls from top to bottom. These are great for cutting straight lines. You can also purchase different styled blades for different patterns. You can purchase a small photo trimmer just the right size for portability and for photos. You can also purchase a larger trimmer for larger paper sizes. Mine is a professional photographer’s trimmer with a 12 inch ruler (I re-marked it for metric system since I live in Europe). Again, replace the blade often since a dull blade with ruin a beautiful edge.
There are many different types of paper shape cutters. The Coluzzle Template Cutting System uses a plastic template with channels cut into it to hold the swivel knife. These type of cutters are easy to use and eliminate the need to measure, trace, and/or design. Again, there are many different brands and they all look and work a bit differently, some better than others. I have tried various different ones and the ones I purchased are Creative Memories’ brand. Very efficient, very simple to use, without a lot of fuss. It comes with plastic templates with a grove for the knife. The templates are sized specifically for photographs and are in gradient sizing ¼ inch apart so it’s easy to create mats for photographs.
I hope this helps you in your selection of cutting tools. There are also the new machine type of paper shapers, but that in itself is another article as there are various brands of machines with various roles. My use of cutting tools are rather simplistic. I only require a nice set of fresh blades!
