Year: 2020

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Lockdown Papercutting Project: Day 1 – Tangly Rose

papercut 534 horizontal with scalpel - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Tangly rose papercutting design: #534

A couple of years ago I set myself a papercutting project, where I adapted 100 papercutting designs (from the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments“), and then cut them out with a scalpel and scissors over 100 days. Since then I’ve carried on with the project, cutting about one design per week, but since we’re currently in the “2020 Covid-19 Lockdown”, I need a bit of occupational therapy to keep me calm, so I’m starting another 100-day project. Today’s design #534 from the book, and I’ve called it “tangly rose”.

Papercut 534 with scalpel square watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

This design seems like a bit of a strange mixture, to me. Those definitely aren’t rose leaves that the rose is sitting in. They remind me of seaweed or snakes…

Papercut 534 close up square watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

But it was definitely a good exercise in terms of adapting and cutting the design. The rose was fairly straightforward to cut, but the tangly leaf/snake things were really tricky. The lines are very very fine. But my accidentally-bent scissors did a good job of helping me with a lot of the difficult bits.

Any comments about the design or the cutting? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

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Papercutting project (continued): leafy corner sprig

papercut leafy corner sprig 686 square watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Leafy corner sprig #686

This ‘leafy corner sprig’ papercut is part of my ongoing papercutting project, where I’m adapting lots of designs for papercutting from the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments“, and am then cutting them with a scalpel. This one is design #686 from the book.

(Some of the links in this article might be ‘affiliate links’. If you’d like to know more, please check out the small print page…)

papercut leafy corner sprig 686 vertical with scalpel - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

Are they leaves, or are they flowers? I’m not sure. But I like the overall effect of the swirly vine-y pattern. I think it would look really nice as a repeated decoration in the four corners of a larger design:

papercut leafy corner sprig 686 watermarked vertical - LaserSister - KayVincent

Now that I’m a couple of years into this project, I can definitely see that my cutting skills have improved. The cuts seem to look a lot cleaner and more accurate than they used to.

However, I must admit that the reason is due to a bit of a cheat, really. I cut each piece out … but then leave it aside for a few days or weeks. Then when I come back to it again I ‘edit’ it by snipping at it a bit more and smoothing and neatening lines. Each piece usually only needs a few tweaks, but those little tweaks really do make a big difference, overall.

Before, I used to just keep cutting until I either ran out of leisure time, or my eyes got tired, or I got frustrated with all of the mistakes that I was making. But now I’ve realised that if I’m making mistakes and ripping the designs then it’s either because I’m tired, or because the scalpel blade is getting dull. Both of those causes are easy to fix – I either need to stop and have a rest, or to change the blade.

I can’t remember exactly where I bought my replacement scalpel blades the last time, but it must have been either Ebay or Amazon. I bought a pack of 100 and I’m still using them, over two years later. These are the sort of blades that I searched for when I was looking at buying the replacements.

Any comments about the design or the cutting? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

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Papercutting project (continued): triangular flower and leaf sprig

papercut triangular flower and leaf sprig 722 - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Triangular flower and leaf sprig 722

My ongoing papercutting project continues, where I’m trying to adapt all 922 images from the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments“, to make them into papercutting designs, and then cut them out by hand. This one is design #722 in the book, and I’ve called it “triangular flower and leaf sprig”.

You might think that if I’ve got to #722 out of 922 designs that I might ‘only’ have 200 designs to go before I finish the project. But I’m not cutting them in any particular order. Maybe I should check how many I have cut, so far. I don’t even know if I’m halfway yet!

(Some of the links in this article might be ‘affiliate links’. If you’d like to know more, please check out the small print page…)

papercut triangular flower and leaf sprig 722 with scalpel - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

This design reminds me of 1960s Chinese papercuts. This Wikipedia page calls the style “chuāng huā (窗花), window flowers or window paper-cuts.”

papercut triangular flower and leaf sprig 722 close up watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

I like the way the elements of this triangular flower and leaf sprig join together. I’ve tried to make the joins between the pieces flow into each other and look fairly natural.

And the actual cutting of the piece is fairly ‘clean’ as well, with only a few lumps and bumps in it when you look at it up close.

While I was cutting it I was listening to “Blood’s Pride”, by Evie Manieri:

Any comments about the design or the cutting? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

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STEM PhD Research Project

jumping jack spider - polymerKay - Kay Vincent
jumping jack spider - polymerKay - Kay Vincent
jumping jack spider STEM project

Hi! I have recently started a PhD* course, and am hoping to carry out a STEM research project. My intended area of study is along the lines of “Encouraging more children – especially girls – to participate in STE(A)M subjects” (i.e. Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths…but via arts and creative media).

At the time of writing (March 2020) it looks like my PhD research project about STEM might be very relevant in the coming weeks. There are lots of children at home due to the Corona Virus school closures, and I suspect that they (and their parents) will be looking for tutorials and projects to keep their minds and hands active during the ‘lockdown’ period.

Over the next couple of years I’m hoping to:

  • Research and share a load of free STEM resources – especially for primary school teachers.
  • Gather information from UK primary school teachers about how they deliver the subject of Design & Technology.
  • Study existing links between primary schools and local ‘Maker Movement’ groups, museums, coding clubs etc…
  • Research and report ‘best practice’ models of delivering STE(A)M content via the current UK National Curriculum.

Go back

Your message has been sent

How can we help each other?

If you would be interested in being part of my study (and receiving /sharing information on STE(A)M delivery within primary schools – or even just to have a rant about STE(A)M and D&T in the UK National Curriculum) then please do get in touch via the brief form below, or via my Contact page:

I’m still putting together resources, but in the meantime, I recommend checking out websites such as RobIves.com (or my own PolymerKay.com for STEM and STEAM tutorials.

Thanks!

Kay

*It’s officially an EdD course (Doctorate in Educational Studies), but nobody has heard of those, so it’s easier to call it a PhD. I’ll still be “Dr Kay” at the end of it 🙂

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100+ Replacement scalpel blades for papercutting

papercut triangular flower and leaf sprig 722 - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Where can I buy replacement scalpel (x-acto) blades in the UK?

(Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you’d like to know more, please check out the small print page…)

My ongoing papercutting project continues, where I’m trying to adapt all 922 images from the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments“, to make them into papercutting designs, and then cut them out by hand. (Oh alright – for accuracy’s sake, I’m cutting them out with a scalpel, not my hand.) But in order to do that I need a constant supply of fresh, sharp scalpel blades. And if I’m going to cut 922 designs, then I will need 100+ replacement scalpel blades.

papercut triangular flower and leaf sprig 722 with scalpel - LaserSister - KayVincent

I haven’t found anywhere to buy them locally, so I need to buy them online. And it looks like the only way to buy blades economically is to order them in bulk. So I normally do a search on Amazon or Ebay.

But Amazon and Ebay sellers come and go all the time, and so do their products. Therefore I’ll try to keep updating this page whenever I find a supplier of 100+ replacement X-Acto / scalpel blades.

In the meantime, here are the latest links I’ve found:

As I mentioned above, suppliers keep changing, and so I don’t think these are the exact same replacement blades that I am currently using. But when I do run out of my current supply, this is the kind of search that I will be running, and these are the kind of blades that I will be buying.

Are you a supplier of replacement blades, or do you know of a good source? If so, please give me a shout! You can let me know via the comments section or Contact page, or Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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Papercutting project (continued): convolvulus flower

papercut convolvulus flower 525 with scalpel - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Convolvulus flower #525

My ongoing papercutting project continues (where I’m trying to adapt 922 images from the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments“, to make them into papercutting designs, and then cut them out by hand). This one is design #525 in the book, and it looks like a convolvulus flower, so that’s what I’ve called it.

(Some of the links in this article might be ‘affiliate links’. If you’d like to know more, please check out the small print page…)

papercut convolvulus flower 525 vertical with scalpel - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

This design reminds me of 1960s Chinese papercuts. (Wikipedia calls the style “chuāng huā (窗花), window flowers or window paper-cuts“, because the finished papercuts were often displayed in windows.)

papercut convolvulus flower 525 close up - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

It appeals to me because it’s sort-of-symmetrical-but-also-not-symmetrical.

The design was a fairly ‘forgiving’ piece to cut, because the cuts are mostly angular and jagged. And the lines that are curved tend to make nice sweeping lines rather than fiddly little shapes. So yes, overall it was very satisfying to cut, and even close-up I’m pretty happy with it.

While I was cutting it I was listening to “Blood’s Pride”, by Evie Manieri:

Any comments about the design or the cutting? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

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Latest laser cut family tree design

Family Tree

Laser cut family tree design

lasercut wooden family tree

I’ve been a bit busy with my PhD recently, so have put all of my online shops into ‘holiday mode’ in order to devote more time to studying. But I do still accept occasional word-of-mouth orders from friends and family and existing customers. This week I made a laser cut family tree design for a friend:

This is one of my favourites – I particularly like the pattern of the woodgrain on this one.

And it’s always a good sign when you can read the names even as a tiny thumbnail-sized image. It usually means that in the real-life version, the design will be readable from across any room where the piece is hanging or standing. For the more recent designs I’ve been getting into the habit of leaving a lot more space around the letters than before, and the ‘less is more’ approach means that the names do seem to stand out a lot better.

Despite being raaaather busy (or maybe because of it?!) I also accidentally got sucked into dabbling with Instagram this week, so have now properly activated my account and have put this ‘Doreen’ family tree image on my account (@LaserSister). So if Instagram is your thing, please do have a poke around my images and say hi over there (once I upload some more content onto it!)

Right, must go and do some more studying. But in the meantime if you have urgent need of a unique personalised family tree, feel free to contact me or to check on the ‘Shop‘ tab at the top of this page to see if any of my online stores are up and running at the moment.

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Papercutting Project (Continued): K116 – Compass Leaves Papercut

compass leaves papercut 116 - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Compass Leaves Papercut

My ongoing papercutting project continues. This design looks a bit like a compass, but with leaves instead of compass points. So I’ve called it “Compass Leaves” papercut. (It is design #116 in the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments“.)

(Some of the links in this article might be ‘affiliate links’. If you’d like to know more, please check out the small print page…)

Compass Leaves design – with scalpel for scale

compass leaves papercut 116 - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

Here it is much closer up:

papercut 116 closeup watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Although the outer circle might look a bit lumpy up close, I’m still quite please with it because that line is actually less than a millimetre wide.

While I was cutting it I was listening to the audiobook of Arthur C. Clarke’s A Fall of Moondust. It goes a bit like this:

“Oh no! We’re trapped in a tourist bus on the moon, under metres of moondust. Hey, all you lady passengers – go and help the stewardess to hand out food and drinks. That will stop you from getting hysterical while we intelligent men help the captain figure out what to do.”

Any comments about the design or the cutting? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

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Papercutting Project (Continued): K695 – New Leaf Papercut

new leaf K695 with pen for scale

New Leaf! Papercut (Design 695)

Happy New Year! My ongoing papercutting project is now stretching into another year. And because the new year is often associated with ‘turning over a new leaf’ (in other words, starting again), I chose a leaf design for today’s papercutting theme, and called it “New Leaf” papercut. (It is design #695 in the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments“.)

(Some of the links in this article might be ‘affiliate links’. If you’d like to know more, please check out the small print page…)

Leaf – with pen for scale

new leaf K695 with pen for scale

Closer up:

Here it is much closer up:

new leaf K695

I really like this ‘new leaf’ papercut design because it’s Art Nouveau-style, so it’s right up my street. And I managed to cut all of those teeny weeny curly lines without accidentally breaking any of them.

While I was cutting it I was listening to an audiobook. This time it was Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I must admit that the book has a very slow start, as far as I’m concerned. There doesn’t seem to be any clue about who the main character will be, yet, let alone an “inciting incident”. I’m guessing that at some point a man called Quasimodo might appear, but so far the story seems to be about a crowd of people waiting for a play to start.

Any comments about the design or the cutting? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.