Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Papercutting

There seems to be a fair bit of interest in my paper snowflakes, but you know....it doesn't always have to be a snowflake shape, how about a simple square?
I used some of my designs (drawings) to see how they would look as papercuts and have posted lots of photos so you can see the progression.
I started with a 12" square piece of paper....folded in half, then in half again twice more, resulting in a triangle of folded paper (8 layers)
The next step is to unfold the paper, draw the design lines on to one segment (triangle) and refold being sure the drawn lines are on the outer layer
I use lots of staples to hold the layers tightly together. A hole punch and an awl are used to pierce the small closed areas so that I will be able to then begin cutting with tiny scissors
here you can see a few designs prepared for cutting.


I don't cut in any particular order, but I tend to cut the smallest, trickiest areas first and the larger, open areas last....this allows me to always have something fairly solid to hang on to.
In the photos below you can see the progression of one of the designs. Notice that I leave in place, as many staples as possible as I go along ( the secret, is to keep the layers held tightly together)







here is the design, carefully opened and pressed flat using a dry iron


and here are a few others I did, it is a fun way to be creative without investing a lot of time, materials or planning. I could imagine these designs as whole cloth stitching, painted cloth, stained glass, embroidery, stencils....all sorts of things





what will you create today?

12 comments:

Brenda said...

Wow is that pretty.

Robbie said...

These are wonderful...so intricate!!! You need to write a book!!! Seriously!

What Comes Next? said...

Those are gorgeous Jill! They must be very sharp little scissors!

The Inside Stori said...

Absolutely awesome!!! Thank you for the great tip about using a hole punch!!

Karen S said...

how clever to use the hole punch to start your cut! Love these intricate designs! so much better than the snowflakes we cut out as kids.

Hopes Handcrafts said...

Wow..these are AMAZING!!

Diane J. Evans said...

A-MAZ-ING!! You make it look so easy -- gotta try it!

Diane

Suze said...

these look like they would make good 'khiamiah' (Egyptian Tentmaker designs) Very cool!

Kim said...

Unbelievable! So lovely

I hope Spring is coming your way.....it is beautiful down here in the south.

Happy Sewing

Michelle May-The Raspberry Rabbits said...

I love these so much and truly could see you painting and stitching them on cloth. Fantastic!

Amy @ Amy's FMQ Adventures said...

Absolutely beautiful! I see yours and dream of making a large one in fabric for a quilt.

Unknown said...

simply beautiful!!! I am going to try my hand at this, I want to cut fabric as well like. so many decisions to make, what should I draw!! the choices are only limited by my imagination.

Copyright Jill Buckley