How To Cut Mat Board

Move the star wheels to the right on your machine so that they do not hit your matboard see that tips post above.

How to cut mat board.

Place the mat board on top of the back of your frame backing and trace around it with a pencil. We begin by showing you a simple formula for measu. Cut the first backing mat. Make sure the cutting edge is flush with the ruler.

Move the cutter along the rail towards the top of the opening while applying firm downward pressure until you reach the upper line. If you re using a mat cutter tool it will be a sliding attachment with its own ruled edge to ensure that the cutter doesn t slip. Push the blade out and line it up with a piece of your mat board. Creating these l shapes at each corner will insure perfect corners in your finished mat.

Take the razor box cutter or mat cutter tool and line it up with the edge of the ruler. Too deep and it ll cut too far into your cardboard cutting mat and affect the smoothness of your cut. Slowly press the mat cutter about 1 16 beyond the opening s top line. Slowly tilt the front of the cutter up and remove from the mat.

It should extend just half a mm beyond the thickness of the board for a clean cut. Keeping a firm hold on the straight edge slowly pull the mat cutter toward you until the indicator line on the cutter meets the cut line drawn on the mat board. Once all four lines are cut the center piece or cut off will fall out. Place your artwork in the center of the mat to measure the location of the opening.

Repeat steps 3 4 for the remaining three sides. Place the knife on the mat board with the point of the knife exactly aligned with the top corner of the mat and press hard straight down to pierce the board. Repeat this process on the 3 remaining cut lines. This do it yourself video explains all the steps of cutting a professional looking mat for your artwork.

While cutting matboard if pieces start to pop out of your project you can remove the smaller pieces. Support the show on patreon https goo gl w3pg2jin this video i show how to cut mat board for some custom picture frames i ve been working on. After tracing cut out the section of mat board using your x acto knife or other sharp blade. The blade depth is adjustable.

Cut the corners first.