How to Cut Mica Sheets

	Eurotool Small Economy Disc Cutter - For Sheet Metal And Plastic SKU: XTL-0185 $69.99
	Fiskars 5 Precision Tip Scissors - Super Sharp SKU: XTL-5700 $7.45
	Eurotool EuroPunch 1.8mm Round Hole Punch Pliers SKU: XTL-0061 $18.49
	Eurotool Brass Mallet For Metal Smithing - 1 Pound SKU: XTL-0248 $34.99

Note: This audio transcript is auto-generated and may not be completely accurate.
Hi, this is Julie with Beadaholique.com and today I show you how to cut mica sheets. So I have an example of use right here. This a a project right here and I made a little collage assemblage piece sandwiched between two sheets of mica. Now mica is a thin rock that comes in layers. I'm going to show you how it will arrive. You're going to have irregular size sheets and depending upon the size you order will be how large you sheets are. You can see it actually feels like in a old cracked plastic or glass which has a great vintage feel to it. There's even little specs on it here and there. There's gonna be some color variation. I'm going to lay it out here on the table for you and you can see these are not all the same color again adding to that real vintage feel to it. Like I said it is a rock. It comes in thin layers so you can actually take your fingernail and pull it apart and there's multiple multiple layers here so you can keep pulling it apart. Have really thin layers or really thick ones. So if you want to cut it let's say you're doing a piece like this where you want to cut it to a certain size couple different ways you can go about it. I'm going to focus on one piece right here. I have a pair of metal shears right here and you can cut it just like you're cutting a piece of paper. You'll notice that we you do cut it does splinter a little bit. That is the normal side-effect once you cut it and you'll notice that the piece you cut off, the smaller piece, actually has less of those striations as the main solid piece. So if you don't have a pair of metal shears around you can actually just take a pair of scissors. I would not use your good sewing scissors though. Use a craft scissor. And you can cut it just as easily. But let's say you want to have a round shape perhaps you want apply a jump ring to this or something. I have pair of metal hole punch pliers right here and you can just sandwich the mica sheet in between your pliers. Grasp it and just punch. There you go. You can see I created a nice clean punch. Nut let's say you want a punch a little bit larger than that what you're going to want to do is take a disc cutter. I happen to have one right here. I'm going to cut a hole which 9/16 of an inch. So I'm removing the other punches. I'm going to place my mica sheet into the little slot right here. Replace the punch. You're going to want to wear safety goggles if you're doing this. I've got a one pound brass hammer and I'm going to do one clean wack. Then we will see on the other side we have a perfectly round shape of mica that's been cut out of there. Or maybe you want to use the sheet it was cut out of and you will have a hole for one of your mix media projects. So those are just several of the ways to cut mica sheets and now you can use those cut pieces and incorporate them into all your mixed media and assemblage pieces. Go to Beadaholique.com for all of your beading supply needs!