mat cut ?

[joe]

I have a nine opening mat to cut; nine 4x6 photos.
Eight of the nine are vertical and one, the center one, is horizontal. Visualize three across the top three across the bottom and three on each side all vertical. The middle three are: vertical, horizontal, and then vertical. My question is should I cut this mat from the center or go around the edges and cut the center last? I've never cut this many openings with a mixed format.

Thanks!

 

[clifpa]

Hey Joe,

I would find a framer, close by, who has a CMC and pay him/her to cut them for you, especially if this is a double mat. I think whatever you pay it will turn out better and cheaper than, I assume here, designing, calculating, cutting (over-cuts, do you redo it?).

Good luck

 

[Frank Larson]

Originally posted by joe:
. My question is should I cut this mat from the center or go around the edges and cut the center last?

The way I do it is to start at one edge and march my way across the mat cutting the same edge on all the openings. Then I turn the mat 90º and do it again. That way you're not flopping the mat around a hundred times taking a risk of bending it with each turn.

 

[Rosalyn]

I agree with Frank. His approach also insures that you won't have a bevel going the wrong way --cut from the wrong side -- been there done that on a mat similar to what you are describing . . . grrrrr

But, you learn real quick that way!

"I never (seldom ) make the same mistakes twice. I'm too busy making new ones!"

 

[Framerguy]

Joe,

I do the same thing Frank does. If you laid the mat openings out accurately and take your time with each cut you should have no problem.

One thing, if you drew pencil marks at the exact opening measurements, don't use your fence to cut the outside cuts. Chances are you will be a bit off on those fence guided cuts if you didn't originally use the fence to lay the lines out. Sometimes when you draw a line using the fence, your blade makes the cut about a sixteenth further out and, depending on how close you are cutting your openings to the image size, you may have a hair's width of white showing where you don't want it to show.

Framerguy

 

[Cliff Wilson]

Interesting. Before I got the CMC i would have started as Frank suggests, but my second pass across the board would have been 180 degrees from the first pass. When turning 90 degrees each time I thought I got more "flopping" on three moves instead of one. Hope that makes sense. It probably depends some what on how much room you have on your cutting table.

 

[joe]

Mission Accomplished! Thanks to Framerguy I didn't use the guide on the outside cuts and to Frank for the suggestion of cutting across the mat. It turned out fine. Thanks to all of you for your advise.