Banana leaf papercut - now in my shop

So. Much. Papercutting. 

I'm really enjoying being so productive at the moment. I'm really happy with my latest piece, this banana leaf design:

It's also now available to buy in my shop if you want to bring some tropical decor into your home - and surely everyone wants that? 

I did a decent job of documenting stages of this piece: 

The intact outline, cut from one sheet
of black paper.

The first, lightest colour green is
added...

The reverse of the papercut which
is always a scrappy mess!

All the shades of green are added
and just need to decide on the
background.

This was pretty daunting to begin to assemble. Once I finished the outline and had to start deciphering what leaf should be what colour I had a headache for a while. But once I got stuck in it all came together. 

It was fun to take the plants I've done earlier another stage further and get involved in some detailed foliage. 

I think this would be awesome as a tessellation print...it's got me thinking about papercut patterns and some of the blackwork embroidery I did.

More on that soon.  What other plants could I do? Thoughts?

Papercut giveaway! Plants and lamps

I'm on a roll with the paper cutting - James bought me a drawing table for my birthday and I slotted my cutting mat onto it and hey presto: no more hunching over the living room table!

To celebrate my increased productivity and improved working conditions I thought I'd giveaway my latest papercut: 

I really like how this little guy turned out! I love the lamp...its a vintage red anglepoise that we picked up in a Crystal Palace second hand shop and I use it for all my crafting and cutting so it seems like a fitting tribute. 

So how do you enter? Well, this lamp is one of my favourite things in our home - so leave a comment on here or over on my Instagram post (or link on the right) telling me what your favourite piece in your home is. 

We are in the process of buying a house (eek!) and we'd love some inspiration!

This is open to anyone anywhere and postage is included. 

I'll choose a winner at random on Saturday 30th April. 

(A bit more about the piece: Its an original piece of papercut art, designed and handcut by me from layers of artist quality paper. Its 10cm x 15cm so will easily pop into a standard sized photo frame) 

Thanks for in inspiration and good luck!

Pomegranate papercut

I love pomegranates. We had a little ornamental pommie tree in the front garden of my house growing up. The fruits weren't edible but it didn't stop me from trying (more than once).

I'm really enjoying the new direction of my papercuts so I decided an ode to my favourite fruit was in order.

Those pips! Gah. But it was worth it. Here's a closer look at some of the detail:

And here is an interim point in the cutting that shows the outline. I overlay it on each new colour to see how it will look...and I'm always tempted to stop at this point. 

In this case I'm glad I carried on but maybe with a future piece I'll stop, we'll see. 

This piece is now available in my shop. 

Pot plant papercut

I did another papercutting this weekend and although halfway through I felt like I was going insane I am so so pleased with how this turned out! 

This piece reminds me a lot of Jean Jacques Rousseau, He was one of my favourite artists growing up. I love all the stylised foliage in his jungle pictures. Apparently he spent a long time in botanical gardens painting different exotic plants which he later used in his paintings (that from a essay I wrote for my IB art class..). 


I especially like that this piece depicts our actual plants on our actual window sill. Most of my papercuts are pulled from my imagination so it was nice to do something different. 

But man, I could really tell that this was a new direction...I must have gone through 10 blades cutting this piece. That window pane was a killer. I'm glad I stuck at it as the lines of the panes work really well with the organic shapes of the plants. 

I'm excited to do more of these but for now this one is now available in my shop. 

Deer papercut - now in shop

So I finally did a new papercut! It's been ages as I have been busy with my quilt. I have had some plans rattling around in my head for a while and haven't really been able to get them out...

This isn't the actual project I had in mind but as it is a departure from my usual style and process for papercutting I just wanted to do a quick project to test the water. 

I actually did most of this piece one Sunday evening so it was fast which was really satisfying. 

The black outline approach is new for me...it does add a layer (haha) of complexity but I do like the way it looks like stained glass. 








Here's how it came together:

1. I used a white pen to sketch the
outline of the image and then cut out
the lines..

2. The finished outline - this is all cut
from a single piece of black craft
paper.

3. I started building up the colours inside
the outlines. I started with the foreground
- flowers, deer and worked backwards. 

4. Building up the various layers to
create the background and sense of
depth.

And...done! I like how it turned out and it was fun to try a new style. I also feel like I have a better idea of how to take forward a bigger project that I am trying work out. Although probably more smaller projects like this are in order before I dive into that so keep posted... 

This piece is now available for sale in my Etsy shop. 

Some good stuff I saw recently..

I've noticed some good stuff about at the moment and thought I'd share...

- A papercutting competition! If like me you’ve fallen off the wagon and need to dust off your scalpel and get back on.. check it out here.

- Last episode of Fresh Meat (Channel 4 here in the UK). This show was so great and the last episode was brilliant... I'm literally going to start re-watching the whole thing immediately. If you haven't seen it, do.

- This amazing work from Conrad Jon Godly. How stunning? Credit to Danielle Krysa @ The Jealous Curator for bringing to my attention. Reminds me of my love of Kyfin Williams and my own forays into oil painting.

- I just discovered Marimekko design. I am going to have to use some restraint in not buying all the plates, they are great. 

Enjoy!

The owls are not what they seem - Twin Peaks papercut

I think owls were one of the very first papercuts I did way back in 2007 (?) - and I seem to come back to them every couple of years. 

This latest one I started months ago...and sort of lost the thread and put it aside for a bit, which then turned into a bit more than a bit. While I was doing a big paper tidy up and inventory today it turned up in a pad of paper and I was finally inspired to finish it up (also, it was super rainy so the garden was in no way tempting..).

So I had started the pair of owls, a big and little, framed with a circular branch in turquoise but I wasn't really sure what to do next...although I liked the dark blue background as it was a nice contrast to the owls and looked night-time-ish.

Technical side note for anyone who cares: Gluing down all this sort of piece, especially when it's origami paper rather than artist paper (which is thicker) is always the most tricky bit of the process. I have tried a bunch of different approaches - glue sticks, glue pens, and starch paste...I use all of these at some point but my preferred method is good old pva glue, a toothpick and a load of patience...

Anyway, back to the owls...the night-timishness of the dark blue (and my recent sorting and discovery of lots of grey paper) made me consider the addition of the moon which sort of left a gap in composition. I have been meaning, and avoiding, attempting lettering in papercut but this seemed like a good opportunity to try. 

Twin Peaks has been a long standing fixture in my life since uni...I've lost count of how many times I've watched it and quoted it and it was a definite plus (on both sides) when James and I were in the early stages of dating and realised the other was a fan.

So going down the 'owls are not what they seem' route was a bit of a no brainer. 

The lettering was not a walk in the park but I like the way it turned out so I am up for the challenge of having another go. 

In the meantime, this piece is now available for sale in my shop - don't miss a chance to have a bit of original Twin Peaks art! 

Busy, but not blogging

Oops. It's been a few months since my last post. I blame the halfway decent weather we have been having here in London - it's rare enough that staying in with a scalpel (or a computer) seems a massive shame. 

My sunglasses, kindle and garden have been getting good use though!

I haven't been totally idle... I have had a few map commissions which have been really great fun to do.

The first was of an engagement location - at the end of a pier in Singapore (aw). It was great to have the tension between the density of the city and the wide open ocean:

The next (finished today - phew!) was for a friend - a present for her sister, of the location of her up-coming wedding:

It's currently in the very technical 'squashing/flattening' phase. 

So, I've still been dabbling - in fact the piece above dusted off some cobwebs and I finally finished a long overdue work in progress...more on that next!

Peacock papercut - prints and cards now in shop...

This post has been a long time coming... and another thing that was on my fast-depleting list of things to do for the bank holiday...

A while ago I posted here and here about a papercut I was doing featuring a white peacock. 





I loved how this turned out, especially as it's a departure from the traditional black-on-white approach. 

I decided to have the image reproduced on greeting cards and art prints and I think they turned out great!





The cards are A6 and come with a brown craft envelope and cellophane sleeve:

They are blank on the inside and have a nice weight to them and matte finish which works really well with the design. 

I've already sent a few to friends and family and had a great response so I'm really happy with these.



Next up were the art prints. I had these done as giclee prints on hahnemuhle photo rag paper, which I have used for printing my art before. I think the quality of the print and paper are just lovely. 

I had these done in A5 and A4 and although I love both, the A4 is really striking and looks amazing with the fine detail of the image. 

I'm glad to finally get these out and into the shop.  

Link to the cards is here and the prints, A5 is here and A4, here. 

Thanks for looking!

Gannet diving for herring - papercut

James and I watched the BBC show 'Alaska: Earth's Frozen Kingdom' the other night. We don't often watch nature documentaries which is crazy as we always love them when we do. 

I have always been a bit of a nerd about the natural world, James less so so it's fun to see his reaction to some scenes. One that prompted a lot of commentary was the huge herring shoals that get plundered by birds (gannets in this case) from above and larger fish from below. (James: 'Why are they all in this big crowd?! Seems like a bad idea, if I was a herring I'd be hiding in the reeds').

Anyway, the camera work is always amazing and I had the images in my mind for the rest of the night. 

Then, as often happens, all plans for other projects got shifted when I decided I had to do a papercut of the gannets diving for herring. I was also keen to try out my new Hygloss silhouette paper which arrived a few days ago. 

So, this was a bit of a different style for me. And I will freely admit that on about the 400th fish I was questioning my sanity. But all in all I am really happy how it turned out. It feels like I am pushing myself a lot and it's good.


























Right, I'm off to sweep up a million little fish cut-outs that are all over the house. 

Finished Hamsa papercut

In what will hopefully be my longest ever work in progress (over 2 years!) I am massively relieved to have finally finished my Hamsa papercut. 

I had lots of other projects that I wanted to get on with but I made myself focus and get this done. Part of my hang up with this was that I had left all the fiddly little bits to the end and it just felt fussy and never ending!

I went back and forth over the borders. I finally settled on the tear drop shapes and I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. 

As I mentioned in my first post about this piece, it's a bit of a departure from the conventional papercut approach where the whole piece is a continuous piece from a single sheet of paper. My Hamsa is made up of lots of smaller pieces, and man, it was hard. I can't count the number of flowers, dots and tears I lost in the process. Says a lot for the traditional method!

On the flip side though, it was fun to try something new. I especially liked building up the layers in in 'eye' and I love the lotus flower... I may need to get that incorporated into more pieces in the future. 

Glad to have this work in progress finally done! It will be in my shop soon...

A foray into scrapbooking and non-linear time

I've been a bit under the weather this winter and combined with my hatred of cold, gloomy days it's meant I have spent a lot of time indoors which is why I have had so many craft and art ideas.

It's actually a little hectic in my head at the moment. I have works in progress that I want to finish, new ideas I want to work up, a commission I need to get cracking with...and that's in addition to normal work, life, feeding ourselves, being social etc. So it seemed slightly mad when I was catching up on blog reading yesterday lunch and came across A Beautiful Mess post about e-course: Capture Real Life in 52 Weeks and I immediately signed up for it. (Side note: if you don't already read A Beautiful Mess, you should, it's fab)

I have plenty to be getting on with already but I think this is going to be great. I have never been part of an active creative community - I mean, I have my Etsy shop and I work with customers and have been creative all my life but I have usually operated and worked in a pretty solitary way. I suppose this blog is me trying to change that...and I think this course and interacting with other participants and seeing what they do will be fun.

I think there is an element of scrapbooking? I have not really got involved with scrapbooking in the past, which is stupid as I am a hoarder of sentimental scraps of memorabilia which are have been tucked away in sketchbooks, bags and drawers for years. Last year I bought a scrapbook and organised all our menus, ticket stubs, cards etc into a chronological pile and proceeded to do nothing with them.

Last night James was out and I was all revved up at the thought of my new e-course challenge so I dragged out various glues, pens, washi tape and the pile o' stuff and attacked with enthusiasm and what turns out to be a not very linear sense of time! Anyway, after a glass of wine, a fair amount of swearing and sticking, peeling and re-sticking glue dots and photo corners I condensed some great memories into a dozen or so pages. This was in no way an artistic triumph, this was more of a get-it-done-already job.

But I do feel better that it's not looming over me any more and I can embark on the 52 week challenge without feeling a bit freer and like I have at least attempted some scrapbooking.

White peacock papercutting

It's been a while since my last post but I have been getting stuck into the new supplies and new projects...I haven't *quite* finished the Hamsa papercut, so more to follow on that soon.

I have gone back so some of my roots though in one of my recent projects. When I started papercutting, years ago, my main source of inspiration was the East African art movement, Tinga Tinga and peacocks were one of my preferred subjects. I haven't done any in a while and in this I wanted to do a very traditional papercutting piece, in white. 


I started out with a sketch in my sketchbook to plan it out. This was then transferred to white cartridge paper and then I started the cutting process. After a lot of the maps and more graphic work I have done recently this is one of the more organic and detailed pieces I have done in a while..which was a fun challenge.

This next bit was fun. I wanted to test out different options for the background for the final papercut - I didn't even want to wait until I was done with the cutting. 

I was torn about the choices. My boyfriend was really keen on the first one, the raspberry. Whereas I was keen on the one below, the dark purple, which I thought showed up the design better with contrast... 
It was a tough choice, and annoyingly, the wretched winter gloom hasn't done the pictures any favours - what would you vote for?  

Final choice to follow...I have further plans for the finished piece so stay tuned. In the meantime, here is the final, unmounted piece:

I'm pretty happy with the final result. 

When I told my Mum I was doing a white peacock she reminded me of an albino peacock we met on a family trip in the 1980's to Mt Kenya Safari Club. Apparently our family turned up with me, aged 3 or something only to find out that there was no kids allowed! 

We were hours away from home in Nairobi and my parents made a good enough case that I was such a well behaved child that no one would complain - which worked. 

I remember pictures of me and this white peacock that my parents took in the grounds of the hotel. 

It's nice to think that maybe that was a subconscious inspiration for this piece (Hi Mum!)

New supplies!

I'm the worst for holding out to change a blade on my knife. I always leave it too long and when I finally do change it it feels so awesome to cut with a new one I curse myself for not doing it sooner..

So excitingly, 100 blades have just arrived in the post, hopefully this will make it easier to change as soon as I need to. 

Also, I have got a pack of origami paper. I usually use artist quality paper like this, so I'm excited to try something new. It's much thinner than the paper I usually use so I'm guessing it will be easier on my hand and on the blades. 

I guess I just need to figure out what my first project with this will be...

Hamsa papercut

I had the idea for this and sketched it out over a year ago but work, moving and life in general got in the way and it was only when I was rummaging through my paper stash that I rediscovered it and decided to finish it up. 

The inspiration for this piece was actually from a key ring that my mum gave me a few years ago. The hamsa (or khamsa) is a symbol that has significance in Islam, Judaism and Christianity and is supposed to offer protection and ward off bad luck. More about it here.

Traditionally, papercuts are done from one single piece of paper and are all all parts of the image are connected. This one has lots of separate pieces so a bit of a departure from purist papercutting and my usual approach. 

There are a couple of bits that still need to be stuck down and then I need to cut out about a million dots for the border of the palm...which is daunting. I'll post the finished piece if and when I manage to get it done!

Roof foxes

A few weeks ago I was looking out the kitchen window and noticed that there was a fox on the roof of the garages behind our flat. It was just curled up in the sun having a nap. Then, a couple of days later there were a few more. I have no idea how they get up and down from there but it's nice to see them hanging out. 

 


















I've done a few fox papercuts in the past and these guys gave me a few ideas for a new piece, or maybe even a whole series...I'm pretty excited about this. 

I like Sunday afternoons that look like this....

























Thanks for the inspiration roof-foxes!