Burnishing is a must. I always do it. I use a wooden roller.

I use either a Bone Folder or a scoring tool that is made for scrapbookers - it looks like a crochet hook that is more open and flattened on the curve so I can place a finger within the curve to apply pressure directly.


Also have a wooden roller ( Think lino print roller) but use it only for the odd large panels.


The bone folder cost less than $5 and the scoring tool was also less than $5 (cam with different heads - blade, bodkin, scoring tool and a pencil) - there is no excuse for not having good solid tools.


Lord Abaddon of Wormwood

I've got a little plastic roller that I use often - but you have to be careful using in on the walls as they tend to introduce a warp if you do it to heavy handed on one side of the wall.

Other than that I tend to gluestick caps, pencils, the cork covered side of my little metal straight edge, bobby pins, whatever misc thing is laying around.

am i the only one using only his hands/nails to do this?

I use one of those metal spatula thingees for patching drywall.

left side of my right thumbnail

A variety of tools are used depending on the situation and what my brain decides at any given moment. Finger nails, bone folder, glue stick cap or body, scoring tool, wooden dowel, etc.

I use the back or side of my Xacto knife.

I'll be honest, I have yet to find a burnishing tool necessary for TLX component construction. I use my fingers, or if I'm worried about ink smearing, I put card stock on top of the item I'm burnishing, and then use my fingers on that instead.

I bought one of those nice burnishing tools from Michaels that has a handle and rubber roller:

To be honest, though, it doesn't seem any better than just using my fingers. If you do proper scoring, then you don't need much.

Yes my fuzzy friend likes to "protect" my objects as well.
I tend to just use my hands and if need be I will roll my marker a few times but with the TLX system I find by just using my hands, fingers, and once in a while a thin flat piece of metal I keep around fro hard to get to spots seems to do the trick.

Ah I do keep a small pair of needle nose pliers as well for little spots that need pressure to set the glue.

Since I use Crayola Markers for most of my edging, they also work well for burnishing. For sandwich folds I immediately place each piece beneath the cutting mat after burnishing to keep things nice and flat until dry then move on to the next piece.