STUDIO OBJECTS: Guillotine Cutter

I love to obliterate and, in so doing, to bring something new into existence, as part of my creative practice. The guillotine cutter, along with straight razors and the long scissors, is a wonderful part of how I do this.


This tool has been endlessly useful to me and came to me by way of my father-in-law when he passed away. It's a guillotine cutting board. I use this tool to reduce clutter and trash and to salvage parts of things I no longer need, that I still find value in. For example, the book printing process involves lots of proofs, meaning sample, single, unbound print runs to catch a variety of potential issues from the copy to the ink application to the layout and sequencing. I'm left with all of this paper material that I don't need, and find I can cut things down and use the paper for notes and to share an occasional high quality print from the book. I also use the guillotine cutter for


Sizing prints for folding into cards.
Cutting down print projects to become material for collage and individual prints.
Making found paper journals
Cutting down end papers for binding
Squaring up works on paper that aren't quite square
Obliterating truly failed drawings and turning them into collage potential or other project materials