Author: LaserSister

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 35: Leaf Border

papercut 693 horizontal with scalpel - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Leaf Border #693

Wow. A lot has happened since I last updated this blog thing. 2020 just keeps on giving. I managed to carry on the papercutting project through Lockdown and beyond – it was the only thing keeping me sane(ish)! But unfortunately a lot of life stuff then started happening at the same time. So updating the blog dropped a looooong way down my to-do list.

Some of the exciting events included:

  • Husband put on furlough from (travel-related) job
  • Husband losing his (travel-related) job of 18 years
  • Husband’s 87-year-old mother having major health problems but not being able to get help for her because the problems weren’t Covid-related. (Apparently it’s OK for people in the UK to die of cancer or infections or neglect or anything else, just as long as they don’t get Covid.)
  • Husband getting a new job
  • Having to move and sell our house
  • Having to find and buy a new house
  • Needing to find somewhere safer for mother-in-law to live
  • Needing to sell mother-in-law’s flat
  • Death of my lovely PhD supervisor
  • Replacement lovely PhD supervisor going on maternity leave
  • Me failing a crucial module of the PhD, so having to switch to part-time and start the whole module again
Five months later…

… and the world is still looking completely insane. But at least my own little corner of it is starting to calm down a tiny bit, this week. So in between filling in the paperwork for buying and selling houses and doing 500-mile round trips to visit the M-I-L, I’m going to try to carry on recording the results of the ongoing papercutting project. (I’m trying to work my way through all of the designs in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book by Dover Books. I love papercutting and it has provided me with much-needed occupational therapy this year, and has helped my mental health.)

But now because of the 5-month break since my last post I’m not sure if I should be on “Day 35” or if I should start again or even dump the whole numbering system. Maybe I’ll just carry on with the day-numbering system (because I was still cutting the pieces during those days, even though I wasn’t putting them on social media). And I’ll definitely carry on with the actual design numbers as they are mentioned in the book…

So. Today’s design is number 693 in the Decorative Vector Ornaments book.

Closer up:

Design

For the majority of these designs I think, “I enjoyed cutting this design, but I’m not sure I’d ever use it in another artwork”. But this one is different. I like the simple leafy design, and because it uses repeating elements it can be made as long or as short as necessary, just by adding or removing leaves from the design.

And again for most of the designs, I think “Aargh – the mistakes are jumping right out at me and taking my attention.” But I’m actually quite pleased with this one.

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 34: Flower and Leaf Border

Flower and Leaf Border

“Flower and Leaf Border” is from the papercutting project that I’ve been doing for the last few years (trying to work my way through all of the designs in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book by Dover Books.) But for the period of Covid19 Lockdown, I’ve put the project into overdrive and have decided to adapt and cut 100 designs in 100 days.

Today’s design is number #684 in the book.

It’s another ‘inverted’ design, where I’ve cut holes out of white paper, instead of cutting a silhouette shape out of black paper. So here the black parts of the design are just parts of a black notebook cover that are showing through the holes in the white paper. If I’d put the white paper on top of my hand, then the flowers and leaves would be showing through as hand-coloured.

Closer up:

Here is a close-up of the top section of the design…

…and here is a close-up of the bottom section:

I’m never really as keen on these negative papercuts as I am on the positive ones. Maybe I should work harder on adapting the designs so that they can be created in a positive silhouette form. However, I’m not sure how I could do that effectively with the flower parts of this design. The little circles would have to be much bigger, I think, and would definitely all need to be linked together somehow.

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 33: Tiny Flower

Tiny Flower Papercut

This “Tiny Flower” papercut is from an ongoing papercutting project that I’ve been doing (trying to adapt and cut 100 designs in 100 days, inspired by the images in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book by Dover Books.)

Day 33 – a third of the way through my 100-day project! Wow – those 33 days went quickly. This design is number #682 in the book. (The images don’t have titles in the book, so I have to come up with names for them myself.)

Closer up:

Only after I’d cut this one did I realise that it actually appears somewhere else in the book as part of a bigger design. So I’d already cut it at least once before, and therefore this was a waste of time!

Having a duplicate design was already annoying from another point of view, as well, because it means that there aren’t 922 designs in the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” after all. I feel a bit cheated! When I looked carefully through the designs in the book I also spotted this exact same flower in about FOUR of the images.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the ‘922’ designs are more like 900 designs. I’ll try to work it out properly one day…

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 32: Leafy Triangle

Leafy Triangle

This “Leafy triangle” cut is from a papercutting project that I’ve extended for the 2020 Covid19 Lockdown, where I’m trying to adapt and cut 100 designs in 100 days from the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments“, by Dover Books.)

Today’s design is number #681 in the book. It appears that I am definitely running out of inspiration with the titles of these designs, and so that’s why this one has ended up being called “Leafy triangle”

Closer up:

I like this design. It’s simple but effective. And it was also quite a challenge to cut, with its curvy shapes everywhere.

This one definitely ‘speaks’ to me, and I can see myself using it in a future project. Maybe I could adapt it even further, and hide some little initial letters (or even whole words) in the swirls. I think it would be really nice as part of a wedding papercut or standalone project. It would also make a lovely border for another ‘main’ papercut, if I repeated the design and made some linking sections between the triangles. It might also look good as a pattern cut out of a bigger silhouette shape – e.g. an animal.

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 31: Duck Flower

Duck Flower

This is from an ongoing papercutting project that I’ve been doing (working my way through designs from the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book by Dover Books.) Today’s design is number #677 in the book. OK, I know there’s no such thing (or at least I think there’s no such thing) as a ‘duck flower’, but I couldn’t think of anything else to call it, and to me it looks like it’s got a beak or a duck’s bill and is just about to eat something:

Closer up:

This is another ‘negative’ cutting, where instead of cutting the design from black paper, I’ve cut the shapes out of white paper and so the black is just the colour of the thing that the white piece of paper is resting on. If I’d rested the piece on some blue paper then it would be a blue ‘beak’ instead.”

It’s not too bad, in terms of skills. Considering how small it is, I’m quite pleased with the way the tiny rounded shapes turned out.

Would I use this design again in future in a ‘real’ project? Probably not. I can’t really see any circumstances under which I would need a flower with a beak.

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 30: Cornflower

Cornflower Papercut

This is from an ongoing papercutting project where I’ve been working my way through designs in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book by Dover Books. Today’s design is number #694 in the book. I know it’s not a cornflower! But it looks like a cross between a corn on the cob and a flower, so that’s why I’ve given it the title “Cornflower”.

Closer up:

See: corncob!

Can you come up with a better name for it? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 29: Daisy

Daisy Papercut

This “Daisy” design is from an ongoing papercutting project that I’ve been doing. (Basically I’m trying to work my way through all of the designs in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book by Dover Books.)

This one is number #690 in the book. The difference with this one is that it was cut from white paper. So the black bits of the flower are just the notebook cover that’s showing through the holes in the white paper.

Closer up:

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 28: Fan Flower

Fan Flower

This is from an ongoing papercutting project that I’ve been doing. (Basically I’m trying to work my way through all of the designs in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book by Dover Books.) This is number #676 in the book. None of the designs have titles so I have to come up with names for them myself, and I’ve decided that this one looks like a cross between a fan and a flower. Hence “Fan Flower”:

Closer up:

There were lots of long thin lines in this design, but I didn’t accidentally rip any of them, fortunately. I must admit that I rip fewer and fewer designs these days, but it’s still a possibility – all it takes is one slip.

I think I’ve cut at least five designs in a row now that are vaguely Art Nouveau-ish. Those are my favourite kinds of design (to adapt and cut and look at). I like almost everything about this design. The leaves, the vines, the flowers themselves.

This one will be especially useful for creating a fancy border around another image. I look forward to having another go at this picture, one day.

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 27: Wreath

Wreath Papercut

This wreath is from my ongoing papercutting project – where I’m trying to adapt and cut 100 designs in 100 days from the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” .

Today’s design is number #672 in the book.

And today we have heard on the news that the 2020 Covid19 Lockdown is being relaxed a bit in the UK. Hooray! But I’ll still keep going with my 100-day goal, even if life does return to ‘normal’.

Closer up:

This is another one of those designs that looks fairly basic but was challenging to cut. In fact, sometimes the simpler a design is, the more precise you have to be with the cutting, because you’ve really got nowhere to hide. All mistakes are really obvious.

As always, the Art Nouveau-ish designs are my favourite, so I’m quite drawn to this one already. However, wreaths do have some creepy connotations, because as well as being used at funerals and as general symbols for death/remembrance, I’ve got a vague feeling that laurel wreath also appear in some fascist artworks as well.

But let’s assume this one is a lovely wreath of victory and triumph over the Covid19 Lockdown thing.

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 26: Thistle Papercut

Thistle Papercut

“Thistle Papercut” is from an ongoing papercutting project that I’ve been doing. (Basically I’m trying to work my way through all of the designs in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book by Dover Books.)

Today’s design is number #671 in the book. It only vaguely looks like a thistle (maybe it looks more like a pomegranate?) but I had to come up with a title and it’s got spiky leaves and a sort of crown-like flower, so that’s why I went with “Thistle” as the title:

Closer up:

Woof – I love this design! It’s one of my favourites so far. It was difficult-but-rewarding, and had lots of interesting shapes and curves in it. I also managed to cut it out without making a giant mess of it.

I will definitely find a use for this design somewhere in a ‘real’ project. I seem to really go for designs that are almost-but-not-quite symmetrical. And of course, it’s an Art Nouveau style design, which I’m already particularly drawn to.

If you’ve got any comments or you’ve tried to adapt and cut any of the images in this book you can contact me via the comments section or contact page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.