TASK ONE-STAPLED SKETCHBOOK
The first project was to create a portrait format, saddle stitched (stapled) sketchbook containing 20 pages of white paper and be no smaller than A5. The cover needed to be made out of thin coloured card and the front cover needed to feature a decorative motif of four 5mm diameter holes cut through to reveal the white page below. This decorative motif was relatively easy to do as I used a 5mm diameter hole puncher to cut through the coloured card however lining up my pages and trimming the excess was more difficult as it was done using a guillotine. Furthermore, the stapling was hard as I used card so it was challenging to push the staple through.
TASK TWO-STAB STITCHED BOOK
Book two was the hardest book to make out of the three as not only were we required to do stab stitch but also show our cutting skills inside the book. We needed to create an A5, landscape format stab stitched book containing 12 sheets of A5 paper and 2 sheets of thin A5 card to act as a cover. The holes of stitching needed to be placed at 15 mm and 10 mm from the left hand edge. I was really proud of my stitching as the colour matched the card, the stitching was done correctly and it was thicker which was easier on the eye. The interior sheets needed to have a cut, decorative motif- sheet one containing a 50mm square hole centered on the visible page and all subsequent sheets (apart from the last) should also feature a square hole that uses the same centre as above but diminishes in increments of 4 mm per sheet. I really struggled with the measurements which caused my last sheet to be a rectangle instead of a square, however I was still proud of my final piece.
TASK THREE-PERFECT BOUND BOOK
The perfect bound book could be made in any size so I decided to go with A5. The cover required to be made from a thin card and the spine needed to be at least 5mm wide and any page creep needed to be carefully trimmed.
This book was acc really fun to do as I’ve never made a perfect bound book. I used about 25-30 sheets of plain white thin card for my pages inside and glued the left side rim with PVA glue. The hard part was measuring the 5mm wide spine and trimming the pages the the correct size, however I personally think the book came out really nice.
TASK FOUR-WINDOW MOUNT PRESENTATION
This presentation required me to window mount a postcard behind an A4 sheet of mounting card. The mount needed to be hinged to a back board and the postcard should be attached to the backboard. The hole needed to be cut with a 45 degree bevel. This project I found as one of the most difficult as the 45 degree bevel was extremely hard for me to cut- I think this might be due to my lack of craft knife skills however I tried my best. It has a few rough edges however, I think it looked my best.
TASK FIVE-SIX POSTCARDS
This presentation required us to surface mount six postcards (all in the same orientation) on a mid-grey, A2 sheet of card. Cutting the postcards in A6 was pretty difficult as I cut them on a guillotine so some of them had pretty rough edges. However, I think the presentation looked quite nice and neat.
TASK SIX-PERFECT SQUARE
The perfect circle was pretty difficult as it was required to be in the centre of the page so working out the middle was time consuming however I got there at the end. The circle needed to be drawn on tracing paper and presented in pristine condition which was also quite difficult as I had to keep my sheet in a safe place to ensure no creases or crinkles were visible.
TASK SEVEN-EMBOSSING
I’ve never heard of embossing before this project yet it looked quite fun. The project required us to emboss a square, triangle and circle all 50mm high, centered on a sheet. It looked really easy yet it was hard to make really sharp edges.
TASK EIGHT-CENTERED CIRCLE CUTTING
To me at first, this project looked quite simple and I thought I can acc get it done relatively quickly however, I underestimated how difficult it was. This project required me to cut a perfect circle with the 45mm radius in the centre of the page. I tried my best to make sure there wasn’t too much rough edges however as shown above there are a few but that was the best it was going to get as I tried multiple times before my final one.
TASK NINE-SHOP
We were allowed to use a template to cut the word ‘SHOP’ however because I was a beginner to craft cutting I really wanted to try my best cut out the word in the font Rockwell. It didn’t come out perfect and it was obvious I didn’t use a template however, I was pretty proud of they way it came out so I decided to leave it.
TASK TEN-CUTTING
This project needed to be approximately A5 in size and we were required to choose the subject matter.
Before these sets of projects, I’ve never had experience with a craft knife suggesting why my cutting skills weren’t too developed however, I really wanted to do some more challenging pieces to try train my hand. I chose a tiger and a flower pot as I thought they looked really cute before cutting.
Whilst cutting I realised it was a lot harder but I tried my best to make it look some what presentable yet it’s evident I need to spend more time on my cutting skills to perfect the way I cut certain lines.
AFTER FEEDBACK