MAZE13
©2013 Craig Ashby
7.75” x 9.375”
Collage

Number 13 in the MAZE Series was as unlucky as the number itself. This is the third and final piece using double-sided adhesive. Why the final piece using double-sided adhesive? Read on for the full horror.

After visiting the forums for the cutter, I decided to use repositionable spray adhesive on an old cutting mat. The mat had lost its tack and it is one of the forum solutions for such problems. Never do this in conjunction with double-sided adhesive.

Halfway through cutting, the cutting blade becomes completely covered in spray adhesive and starts lifting up the cut pieces. Because these pieces are adhesive, they completely got stuck to everything inside the cutter.

It took me two days with a bottle of Goo Gone and Q-Tips to get the machine working again. After all that work the registration was still off and it mangled a dozen more crops. It left me numb and completely hopeless.

How did I handle this setback? I got up at 2 in the morning and tried again and eventually finished this piece. Never give up. I can quit in the grave.

In the next piece I switch to a different process. I will detail that in the next post. Let me say that I am very lucky to have persevered through this next series of ten.