I wrote an article not long ago, which had a video, and I showed how to make use of polystyrene pizza bases (click here to see)  for cutting out shapes and letters.

In the video (at the bottom of the article) I used a fine nib embossing tool to “cut” through the polystyrene.

Well in response to viewing that I received an email from Joke from the Netherlands, she wrote…

 ”Hello Sunday,
I always like to receive your mails and see your films. 
Today I received your mail and looked how you create chipboard letters from polystrene pizzapackaging. 
 
My suggestion is, to use instead of the embossing tool, a styropor cutter. It is more easy and you don’t need to trim the shape with scissors and an emery board…”

I agree that it would make a much cleaner cut to use a Styrofoam knife (looks like a Stanley knife - for UK residents!) and therefore negate the need for neatening the edges.

‘So why didn’t you show cutting with a knife then?’ I hear you ask!

Well for a couple of reasons, the first being that I know that some crafters don’t like knives, or just can’t get on with them. The second reason is that when you cut with a craft knife such as the one suggested, the deep blade can get in the way of going around tight corners, something the thin, cylindrical embossing nib doesn’t. I would suggest the use of a scalpel, which is my preferred crafting knife anyway!

The third reason was that if you do use a knife, you have to be really careful as the polystyrene cuts very easily and it is only too easy for the blade to slip and cut too much.

So all in all I decided to show cutting the board with the embossing tool, however, if you have a fine bladed knife of some sort, such as a scalpel… then by all means use it to precisely cut nice clean edges of the polystyrene… it’s actually quite satisfying!

And Thank You to Joke for her email!