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?

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. 

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. 

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!

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...

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!

Winter skies

I am not a big fan of winter at all. Back home (Kenya) it was the warmest point of the year so Christmastime involved drinks on the verandah and going to to the horse races with a barbecue. 

Even after 4 years in the USA and 12 in the UK I still hate the cold and I hate the dark. 

Although the other night on the way home there was an awesome winter sunset. I'd love to work this sort of colour palette and cloud pattern into a new papercut. I haven't done any trees in a while so it would be a good challenge to try some new effects with the sky.

So maybe winter isn't all that bad. It does go hand in hand with mulled wine after all. 

Hand stitched Christmas tree ornaments

This Christmas has been a busy time - For the first time in a few years I feel settled. Having moved from Cardiff to London just shy of 3 years ago and moved 4 times in that period we now have a flat with a 2 year lease and for once I feel like the luxury of gathering up my sewing machine, reams of paper and material is actually worth the hassle of moving it in the end. 

As I mentioned in my first post, this year we had a larger Christmas tree than usual...and we found ourselves a little short on decorations. Having seen some lovely decorations on Etsy I thought I may as put my hand to some as we ploughed through the pre-christmas tv extravaganza of Masterchef and Strictly Come Dancing.

My first attempt was actually last year, and was the paper stars from this tutorial. I love how these turned out and I have a bunch of them on the tree. This year I turned to felt as I had a bunch left over from a previous project so a pudding was my first attempt, it received the all important stamp of approval so I did a few more. 

When I was growing up in Kenya, I always remember putting the first ornament on our family tree - it was always the same one, a little, red, glittery strawberry, so I knew I wanted something similar for my own tree...

Another hit were the robins - some of them ended up looking like Angry Birds but these were pretty popular as Christmas gifts.

I wish I'd started these earlier to get them into the post to folks. I'm hoping that next year I'll remember and maybe even have some extra to put in my shop.