# Curved Scissor Cut in TikZ

I'm searching for a good looking solution for drawing a cut with scissor symbols with Tikz.

My starting point, which explains what is to be done looks as follows: The corresponding current LaTeX/Tikz code looks as follows:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{bbding}
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{scope}
\clip (-0.5,0.3) .. controls +(1,0.4) and +(-1,-0.4) .. (3.7,0.3) -- (3.7,2) -- (0,2) -- cycle;

\node[fill=blue!20!white,rectangle,rounded corners=0.5cm,thick,inner sep=15pt,draw,anchor=south west]
at (0,0) {Hello World};
\end{scope}

\draw[thick,color=black!50!white,dashed] (-0.5,0.3) .. controls +(1,0.4) and +(-1,-0.4) ..
node[pos=0.2] {\color{black} \scriptsize \ScissorRightBrokenBottom}
node[pos=0.4] {\color{black} \scriptsize \ScissorRightBrokenBottom}
node[pos=0.6] {\color{black} \scriptsize \ScissorRightBrokenBottom}
node[pos=0.8] {\color{black} \scriptsize \ScissorRightBrokenBottom}
(3.7,0.3);

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}


But this is not yet good:

• The scissors are not rotated and located a bit too low.
• The fact that the cutting path is repeated is also not optimal.

So my question is: How can the quality of the solution be improved (while, in the optimal case, fixing the redundancy of the cutting path at the same time).

You can use decorations.markings library:

\documentclass[tikz, border=3mm]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.markings}
\usepackage{bbding}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[
decoration={markings,
mark=between positions 0.2 and 0.8 step 0.2
with { \node[font=\scriptsize,yshift=\pgflinewidth,
transform shape] {\ScissorRightBrokenBottom};}}
]
\begin{scope}
\clip (-0.5,0.3) .. controls +(1,0.4) and +(-1,-0.4) .. (3.7,0.3) -- (3.7,2) -| cycle;

\node[rounded corners=0.5cm,draw,thick,fill=blue!20!white,
inner sep=15pt,anchor=south west] {Hello World};
\end{scope}

\path[draw=black!50!white, thick, dashed,
postaction={decorate}] (-0.5,0.3) .. controls +(1,0.4) and +(-1,-0.4) .. (3.7,0.3);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document} Edit: now scissor direction follows line as requested in OP comment.

• Thanks! That doesn't rotate the scissors along the path yet, right? – DCTLib Dec 14 '20 at 11:42
• @DCTLib, ups, you are right. I forgot to add option transform shape to the definition of scissor nodes. Corrected and improved their positions now. – Zarko Dec 14 '20 at 16:44
• Uuuh, this is pretty nice now! – DCTLib Dec 14 '20 at 22:27
• @DCTLib, realy? Then the answer may be ripe for acceptance :-) – Zarko Dec 14 '20 at 22:32
• Indeed. I'm a fan of following the "wait for 24 hours before accepting a solution - there may be a better one still coming" rule, though. – DCTLib Dec 15 '20 at 14:43
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