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!

Custom papercut map

A relatively new addition to my Etsy shop has been these custom papercut maps...These are great fun. I love the variation in each and getting a small glimpse into places that matter to people...family homes, places where you got married, places where you lived.

One of the things that I have had to wrestle with these is they often look massively hectic and messy halfway through. With most papercuts I think of them like carving a sculpture, chipping away the negative space to reveal the image. These are more like lino cuts, layering up the different colours, figuring out what layer needs to be cut away to expose the one below.




Once these are through the hectic phase it all falls into place. I love how these turn out, looking quite abstract to someone who doesn't know but make perfect sense  to the person that commissioned it. 

I think its such a neat way to commemorate a place that means something to you.

Available in my Etsy shop, or just drop me a message if you want to know more. 

Dragonfly papercut

I started working on papercuts in 2009 on a bit of a whim. A good friend of mine had heard me talking about wanting to quilt and bought me a rotary cutter and self healing mat. 

Five years on I am still thinking about quilting and have never got round to it but having the mat, paper and some time to kill started me on my papercutting journey. 

I always have plans for my next piece but recently I have been doing a lot of commissions, which is great, and always takes me in directions I wouldn't necessarily go. 

My friend Gareth wanted me to do a piece for his friends birthday. It was a pretty flexible brief, she likes dragonflies and Tenby and her name begins with the letter J. I have always fancied trying dragonflies but had never got round to it so this was great.

First, I did a preliminary sketch and selected the palette of colours. 

The three shades of green for the hills were taken from the colours in from the coastline at Tenby. These are the first pieces layers I fix in place. 

Next was the J - letters are tricky and any you can really tell if they are a bit wonky so I always print them off to use a template for cutting

For the grasses, and most things I cut in black, I sketched directly onto the paper with a white pen. The only tricky bit with this approach is you have to do it in reverse as the pen-side will be stuck down.

For the dragonflies I cut the initial shape out, 

 Then add the detail to on the reverse..

Cut away the detail in the wings,

and finally, assemble the final piece. I'm quite happy with it. The clouds were a last minute addition, they really helped lift it in terms of colour. 

It's a gloomy winter day here and the pictures have suffered as a result - but hopefully you get the general idea. 

More to come!