Scoring & Folding

There are times when your calligraphy projects need to have folds made in them - ie, cards, boxes, envelopes, etc.

One of the best ways to make a fold is to score the paper first. It gives a nice clean fold and you don't have to worry about the fold going crooked on you.

There are a couple of tools that come in very handy for this.

My favorite by far is a knitting needle. I get the ones that you can knit with from both ends. I buy them for cheap by the handful at garage sales and thrift stores.

Look for ones that have a nice smooth tip so that it will glide well on the paper, but not too thin or too rounded a tip.

(The knitting needle also comes in very handy when you need just a tiny dab of glue in a hard to reach spot. Or when you're trying to get at thick glue in the bottom of a glue bottle.)

Another tool that can be used is a bone folder. If you get one with a pointed tip, that can also be used for scoring. And of course it is also used to create nice sharp folds in your paper.

When you go to score your paper, mark your scoring line and then use a ruler to run your scoring tool along the line.

Or, if you're lucky and have a paper cutter like I have with slight indentations on the measuring lines, just lay your paper on that and run the scoring tool carefully down the line. (See video for demo.)

Check out the video for more details on how to use these tools.