Woodland Animals

The latest two papercuts for my Etsy shop. A cute little set... I hope!

Owl

This is my newest papercutting. Cut from a 15 x 15cm piece of origami paper.

Traditional Folk Art House 18cm x 18cm

This is a new papercut done in the traditional scherenschnitte style. I have made it into a giclee print card for my Etsy shop.

Oldy Worldy Kitchen papercut ACEO

This is another miniature for my Etsy shop - it's an ACEO measuring 3.5" x 2.5".

Papercut ACEOs

I have created some ACEOs (3.5" x 2.5") for my Etsy shop. They are collaged papercuts mounted on mountboard. Fun and relatively quick to make.

Handmade Christmas Baubles

OK - so I know these aren't papercuttings either, and I know I should've been doing laundry, or cleaning or cooking or anything else useful for that matter...but they were so much fun to make! I was considering making them to sell at my son's school Christmas fair, but then my friend pointed out that selling something to kids that's jam-packed full of pins, might not be the best idea from a health and safety point of view! I also considered selling them on Etsy, but I'm not sure that they'll exactly fly out the door.

So instead, I'll just make them because they're fun and I can always give them away as presents! After all, what's a Jewish girl like me going to do with a load of sequined Christmas baubles???!!! I'll have to have a Chanukah bush this year instead.

To make them, all you need is some polystyrene balls, sequins, beads and sequin pins... oh and lots of patience. These balls are only 60mm in diameter but each one has about 500 sequins on it.

Inspiration

I just love this gorgeous packaging for Diptyque - I had to share it!

Granny afghan

And this is how I spend my time when I'm not papercutting. That's one BIG granny!!!

Wycinanki collage detail

So this is going to take me a very very long time! I still haven't figured out how I'm going to tackle the birds.

Four Birds

My kids had half term break, hence the BIG delay in getting anything new started. However, I finally sat down at my table again and this is my latest papercutting. I enjoyed the wycinanki method of collage over the top of a base papercut, but somehow the brightness of the colours just wasn't "me". So my good friend Tania suggested that I try one in more "Suzy" colours - more earthy and natural. So here is it so far.

This is the largest piece I've attempted as well, measuring 30" x 20". The cutting has taken me about 10 hours - and now I just have to collage over the top. The picture below shows the beginnings of the collage and gives you an idea of the colour palette.

Polish Wycinanki

This is my latest piece. I have blogged a "how to" showing the process I used for creating this papercutting.

Wycinanki "How To"

A little while ago I was made aware of the Polish art of papercutting, known as Wycinanki. This involves cutting a black silhouette and then overlaying it with brightly coloured collaged details. Many wycinanki are symmetrical patterns, cut using the folded paper method and a pair of scissors. But I don't enjoy working that way. So I'm having a go at my own version - not symmetrical and cut with a knife. This is my initial sketch.

Here, I've added more detail to the sketch and started the cutting. The paper is black on the other side. The initial silhouette will be fairly simple and I hope to get the detail in there with the coloured overlays. I'm excited about this project. The circle is approximately 25cm diameter. If you want to see some genuine Polish wycinanki, take a look at my flickr favourites http://www.flickr.com/photos/conciousmess/3837909496/

The picture below shows the silhouette base for the papercutting. The fun starts now with cutting the collage overlays.

In the picture below, I have started experimenting with some coloured overlays. They're not stuck down yet, as I still haven't made up my mind and also I want to do a little bit more detail cutting on the black base (from the white "wrong" side) before I start sticking paper to the front (black) side. Now that the circle is cut, it measures 27cm diameter.

Now I've started sticking some collage on the black base. The only bit I'm not sure if I like, is the bird's head and crest - it looks like it's wearing an Egyptian headdress! Oh well - I'm still learning!

This is the final piece. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the result, but there are things that need improving. I think I could have done more with the bird.

Measures 30cm dia (including mount)

This is the finished papercutting. It measures 40cm x 55cm. I'm pretty pleased with the way it all turned out in the end. It definitely needed the border and the heart needs the different colour. Popular opinion seems to favour backing it with the blue, so I'm fairly certain I'll go that way, but won't rush a decision! Thanks everyone for following this project and keeping me encouraged! x

Juneberry Leaves and Berries papercutting

40cm x 55cm

I hope to go to this exhibition next month. Looks interesting.

I decided that the papercutting needed a border. Shouldn't take me too long to finish it off.

Leaves and Berries papercutting (40cm x 55cm)

Here are some colour options for backgrounds for this papercutting. I'm leaning towards the top one (sepia background), but the blue is nice too. I think the red is a bit Christmassy. Off to Paperchase tomorrow to hunt for more gorgeous paper possibilities - so no firm decisions made yet.

I finished cutting the leaves and berries part of my papercutting today. I'm quite pleased with the overall effect. Now I have to think of something suitable to put in the heart. Yikes - hope I don't ruin it! I've also begun to think about the backing colour. I definitely won't go for black as that'll be a bit too harsh for this particular design. I'm thinking of a more earthy tone, like an olive green or sepia.

Leaves and Berries papercutting (48cm x 33cm)

I'm making slow and steady progress with this papercutting. Hopefully I'll have the foliage cut by next week - then I'll tackle the heart.

I'm persevering with this one as I really wasn't sure whether I liked it at the beginning. But now that I've completed almost half, I think I like it a little better. I still haven't decided what's going to go in the central heart motif. I'm thinking two birds, but they'll have to be more natural and realistic than my usual style, which will be a challenge. So maybe that would be a good thing! Any suggestions anyone?

I've always been interested in botanical drawings, so I've decided to experiment and combine the botanical drawing with a papercutting. This is the result so far. It's the leaves and berries of the Juneberry shrub/tree which I thought lent themselves very well to my design idea.

For a change I'm cutting this piece from white paper, instead of black. I'll need to decide what colour backing to use as I think it'll make quite a big difference to the overall picture. I've got a hunch that black will be too harsh.

I can't really decide whether I like the way this is looking or not. My style is usually so smooth and stylised that these more naturalistic leaves and stems seem a little odd for me. But I'll hold judgment until the whole picture is completed.

Constructive criticism and opinions are more than welcome!

I finished my papercutting today - hooray! Those leaves took me ages - much longer than I expected.

50cm x 35cm

Today I drew in and cut the lady in the bottom left corner. I'm satisfied that she suits the chappy on the other side - they look very happy together! Now I just have to draw in and cut the top two corners. I've got a pretty good idea of how I want it to look, so watch this space. Hopefully the whole picture will be completed over the next day or so.

I recently visited moo.com and designed a set of my own mini business cards from a selection of my papercuttings. You can customise a variety of proucts, such as notelets, Christmas cards and business cards. Or you can just choose other people's designs. It's fun to have a look at. Here are some of mine:

www.moo.com

Today I managed to finish cutting the main part of the leaf design. Some bits work better than others, but overall I'm quite pleased with the effect. Now I just have to work out what I'm going to do with the remaining three corners.

Folk Art Leaf papercutting (18" x 13.5")

I created my second Etsy treasury today. Thank you Moonflygirl for teaching me how to take a screenshot! The bottom three pics are missing because of my small screen - if you want to take a look at the whole treasury, visit the Etsy link below.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=81382

I started this papercutting a few months ago, but then the kids' summer holiday started and it got shelved for a few weeks. So finally today, with the boys back at school and Poppy at kindergarten for 3 hours, I managed to get it finished. Yay! Hope you like it.

Jewish Wedding Papercutting (13.5" x 13.5")

I finally managed to create my first Etsy treasury! Lots of lovely green things.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=80721

Since I can't afford to buy a Rob Ryan print, I did the next best thing and bought this tea towel. The limited edition print of this picture is about £180 - so I saved myself £170! Now, do I frame it, or use it - that's the question?

Hi there! I'm back from my lovely summer holiday - a cruise around the Med with my family - and feel thoroughly spoilt. I'm now having to remember what my kitchen and utility room are for! As soon as my children go back to school I'll be able to start producing some artwork again. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these photos of our vacation.

Off on my hols for a couple of weeks (in the sun - hurrah!). Back at end of August. See ya!

Folk art leaf papercutting (wip)

50cm x 35cm

I've started cutting the other side of the leaf and have also decided to fill in the four outside corners. This is my progress so far. I'm holding my own verdict on it at the moment - still not completely convinced about the design, but fortune favours the brave. So we'll see.

Folk Art papercutting (front and reverse) work in progress.

This piece is going to be in the shape of a leaf. Showing the reverse side gives you an idea of how I go about drawing out a picture, but also, what the final piece will hopefully look like! The paper is matt black scherenschnitte paper - a German product which I can't find anywhere anymore and am rapidly running out of - boo hoo! So I'll soon be switching to fadeless art roll paper which isn't quite as velvety black. On the positive side, it comes in lots of colours, is slightly thicker and comes in a roll so I can go bigger if I want to, so we'll see how it goes. I never use scissors or tweezer scissors, just an Xcelite craft knife suits me best. This picture measures 50cm x 35cm.