Smells like... burning?
I think I mentioned earlier that I am getting crafty and making save-the-date cards for the wedding.
I originally just wanted to make business card sized magnets, but noooooooooooo, I decided that wasn't good enough (the font would be too small, etc). So now I'm working on something slightly more elaborate and maybe just a little bigger than the size of two business cards.
It's been fun so far. I haven't had the opportunity to make something in a long time. Of course, the fun starts to wear off when you realize the quantity that needs to be made!
Tuesday night I worked on formatting the card using Photoshop. I couldn't get the resolution to look good. The font was extremely fuzzy. After much cursing and smashing the desk, I learned a lot about Photoshop... simple things that I probably should have already known. I had made the image the same size that I actually wanted it. Apparently for the best resolution, you should make it enormous and then shrink it down. I finally made it 5 times the size I wanted it and then shrunk it. Also, some fonts are just too smooth and will never look crisp when printed in this way. Palatino Linotype, while a pretty font, just can't get crisp enough. I finally switched to Georgia italics and it looks much better. Lastly, .jpg is NOT the best! You need something that won't compress the image out of control. I used .bmp because MS Word does not recognize .psd (the photoshop file type). .tiff would also have been acceptable.
Wednesday night I praised God that my fiance used to be a teacher. He owns one of those paper slicing things that has the arm you move up and down to chop paper. His particular version has a sliding blade that worked very well for the small size I was trying to chop the paper down to.
Last night I used an art knife to make slits in the heavier paper I plan on using as a border. I finished it early enough that I had time to start rubber stamping and embossing the stamps. Everything was going fine until ' The Office' came on. I figured that using an embosser (which makes a noise like a hair dryer... and is actually quite similar to a hair dryer) while fiance and I were watching the show might be distracting. So instead of embossing the stamps on the old coffee table where I'd been doing it, I moved my papers down to the carpeted floor.
I embossed a few cards and then noticed that the carpet looked pretty dirty, there were all these stiff brown patches that I assumed was hardened, caked on dirt. I moved to a cleaner area and kept working, but after finishing a few more cards it seemed that the "dirt" was following me.
Well, it wasn't dirt... it was me BURNING the carpet.
If we lived in a house and this was my personal carpet, I'd probably flip my shit. But since we live in an apartment where the carpet was already not up to par when we moved in, I managed to contain the shit flippage. But, I can't believe that that tool could have been burning the carpet. I tried cutting out some of the burned patches with scissors... but it's just not good.
The carpet was bad when we moved in, but I don't think I've helped the situation any while we've lived there. There was one patch on the floor that looked like a trail of dripped soda. "Resolve" cleaner wasn't working, so I moved to "Oxyclean." "Oxyclean" didn't get all of the dark patch (whatever it actually is) and it bleached the surrounding area of the carpet (at least the carpet is cream colored??). It's not a pretty sight. I just hope they don't charge us too much when we move out...
There are warnings on products about everything under the sun, but I didn't see any "beware of burning carpet" comment on the embosser box. I just see "can reach 680°F" and "be careful." Yeah... always work on a firm, non-flammable surface while embossing. And, another good rule of thumb, keep me away from your carpet.
I originally just wanted to make business card sized magnets, but noooooooooooo, I decided that wasn't good enough (the font would be too small, etc). So now I'm working on something slightly more elaborate and maybe just a little bigger than the size of two business cards.
It's been fun so far. I haven't had the opportunity to make something in a long time. Of course, the fun starts to wear off when you realize the quantity that needs to be made!
Tuesday night I worked on formatting the card using Photoshop. I couldn't get the resolution to look good. The font was extremely fuzzy. After much cursing and smashing the desk, I learned a lot about Photoshop... simple things that I probably should have already known. I had made the image the same size that I actually wanted it. Apparently for the best resolution, you should make it enormous and then shrink it down. I finally made it 5 times the size I wanted it and then shrunk it. Also, some fonts are just too smooth and will never look crisp when printed in this way. Palatino Linotype, while a pretty font, just can't get crisp enough. I finally switched to Georgia italics and it looks much better. Lastly, .jpg is NOT the best! You need something that won't compress the image out of control. I used .bmp because MS Word does not recognize .psd (the photoshop file type). .tiff would also have been acceptable.
Wednesday night I praised God that my fiance used to be a teacher. He owns one of those paper slicing things that has the arm you move up and down to chop paper. His particular version has a sliding blade that worked very well for the small size I was trying to chop the paper down to.
Last night I used an art knife to make slits in the heavier paper I plan on using as a border. I finished it early enough that I had time to start rubber stamping and embossing the stamps. Everything was going fine until ' The Office' came on. I figured that using an embosser (which makes a noise like a hair dryer... and is actually quite similar to a hair dryer) while fiance and I were watching the show might be distracting. So instead of embossing the stamps on the old coffee table where I'd been doing it, I moved my papers down to the carpeted floor.
I embossed a few cards and then noticed that the carpet looked pretty dirty, there were all these stiff brown patches that I assumed was hardened, caked on dirt. I moved to a cleaner area and kept working, but after finishing a few more cards it seemed that the "dirt" was following me.
Well, it wasn't dirt... it was me BURNING the carpet.
If we lived in a house and this was my personal carpet, I'd probably flip my shit. But since we live in an apartment where the carpet was already not up to par when we moved in, I managed to contain the shit flippage. But, I can't believe that that tool could have been burning the carpet. I tried cutting out some of the burned patches with scissors... but it's just not good.
The carpet was bad when we moved in, but I don't think I've helped the situation any while we've lived there. There was one patch on the floor that looked like a trail of dripped soda. "Resolve" cleaner wasn't working, so I moved to "Oxyclean." "Oxyclean" didn't get all of the dark patch (whatever it actually is) and it bleached the surrounding area of the carpet (at least the carpet is cream colored??). It's not a pretty sight. I just hope they don't charge us too much when we move out...
There are warnings on products about everything under the sun, but I didn't see any "beware of burning carpet" comment on the embosser box. I just see "can reach 680°F" and "be careful." Yeah... always work on a firm, non-flammable surface while embossing. And, another good rule of thumb, keep me away from your carpet.
2 Comments:
DUDE, DID YOU DIE???!!!!
Where the hell are you?
I usually don't freak out over blogs that go quiet, but you are about to break a nopost record, here!!!
Ok, I am officially dying to know how your wedding went.
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