Tag: flowers

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Chinese Flower (papercutting project design: 224)

papercut 224 - Chinese flower with horizontal scalpel - Kay Vincent LaserSister

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

I was doing pretty well with my papercutting during the Covid19 lockdowns, but then we had to:

  • sell our house
  • move to another part of the country
  • get new jobs
  • sell my husband’s flat
  • buy a bungalow for husband’s mother
  • rent out the bungalow because mother-in-law had a fall and couldn’t live in it
  • help m-i-l move to a care home
  • sell m-i-l’s flat
  • start renovating our new (old) house

I also had to pause my PhD. Bummer. But last I’m sort of getting on top of things, and can occasionally find time to relax and do some crafts again. So here we are with another design cut from the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book. This week’s design is number 224 in the book:

Closer up:

I’ve called this one “Chinese Flower” … because it looks like a traditional Chinese papercut, and features a flower.

This piece was reeeeally small, so overall I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. The cutting is mostly accurate and I didn’t cut off any crucial parts of the design. The only flaw that leaps out at me is the middle of the central stripe in the top leaf, where there is a little kink in the design:

…but that’s only if I’m being super-critical. If I were that bothered by it, I could get my scalpel out and tidy it up.

In terms of the actual design, I like this one. It does have that traditional Chinese papercut style, which is something that I enjoy looking at. I could see myself using this design as part of a papercut greetings card, or maybe on wedding stationery.

While I was cutting it I was listening to one of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books. I’ve listened to a lot of them recently and they tend to merge into each other in my memory, but I think it was One Shot. I never thought I’d get into Jack Reacher books, but then I ran out of my preferred audiobook genres in my library’s app so had to expand my repertoire. Turns out I really enjoy action/thriller type books.

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 70: Daffodil

Daffodil #692

This “Daffodil” papercut is from the ongoing papercutting challenge that I’ve been undertaking for aaaaages. (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 692 in the book. As usual I’m not 100% convinced that I’ve correctly identified the flower in the design, but I had to call it something. So on the basis that it’s got 6 outer petals and could potentially be seen as having a ‘trumpet’ shape thing coming out of it (if you’re looking at it straight on), I’m sticking with the idea that it’s a daffodil. Maybe it’s a passion flower though?

Closer up:

For this one, I sort of cheated when it came to cutting the small round holes in the centre. Because I’ve bought a tool that punches tiny holes in things. Perfect, lovely round holes. It does so much better than me just using a scalpel. But yes, it really does feel like cheating. On one hand it’s very satisfying to be able to cut small, perfect-looking circles from paper. But on the other hand, where is the skill in just punching out a circle with a tool? But on the other hand, scalpels and pairs of scissors are also cutting tools, aren’t they?

I seem to have left this papercut in a fairly rough state, apart from the nice circles. The bigger (white) circles outside the flower itself could definitely do with trimming and neatening a bit.

I don’t think I’ll be using this particular motif again in any papercutting projects, but as always, I’m pleased to have used this one as a practice piece.

Does that look like a daffodil to you, or could it be something else? Is it cheating to use a circle-punching tool, or is it OK? Feel free to use the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 68: Rose Border

Rose Border #679

“Rose Border” is from the 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 679 in the book. And it was easy to come up with a title.

Closer up:

Wow – I really like this one! I love the design, and I’m also pleased with the way the actual papercutting turned out, as well.

Despite that though, I’m not sure I would use this design again in a real project. I prefer to cut ‘positive’ objects from black paper, rather than cutting ‘negative’ shapes out of the white paper. It’s still a good skill to develop though, cutting negative shapes. I might come up with some stencils – e.g. for creating designs for cake icing.

This one took a couple of hours to cut. I used a fresh blade, and it made a lot of difference. The cutting was a lot easier and I made hardly any mistakes.

In the background I’ve been continuing to listen to the audiobook of Duskfall by Christopher Husberg. The story’s OK, but I find that the narration is really grating on my ears, because of the accent that the narrator uses for some of the characters. It’s like a fake-sounding “Oirish” accent.

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 67: Alien Plant

Alien Plant #536

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.) And as of today’s design I’m two thirds of the way through my Lockdown papercutting challenge, where I was cutting one design a day, for 100 days.

Today’s design is number 536 in the book. I have absolutely no idea what that plant is meant to be. I don’t even know if I’ve got it the right way round! It looks like it could be from another planet. So that’ s why I’ve called it Alien Plant.

Closer up:

The cutting itself was a challenge. Those long thin lines were difficult to cut without ripping. In fact I think I did accidentally tear it in a couple of places as I was cutting it.

In the background I’ve been listening to a bit more of Duskfall. I’m still pretty close to the beginning so still haven’t made my mind up yet. But I have noticed that because it’s an audiobook then the name “Knot” (who I guess will become one of the main characters) sounds exactly like the word “not”, and so some of the sentences sound confusing.

I think this is in my top ten least favourite from the 922 designs, which suprised me, because it’s generally a bit like an Art Nouveau design. It just seems a bit too abstract to me. But I don’t know much about plants, so for all I know it’s a very accurately rendered design. Any ideas what it is? Or do you agree that it is hideous? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 63: Lily of the Valley2

Lily of the Valley2 #630

This “Lily of the Valley2” design is from the ongoing papercutting challenge 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 630 in the book.

Closer up:

The strange thing about this one is that my eyes don’t find it anywhere near as offensive as Day 62’s Lily of the Valley design. And yet they share so many features. Theoretically this one should give me the same feeling, if it was the combination of the thick and thin elements that bothered me. But to my eye this version has more ‘balance’ to it, somehow.

In terms of cutting skills, this one was also more challenging. It was harder to adapt as a papercutting design, and had even more thin lines, and those little round buds were surprisingly difficult to cut.

Meanwhile…

In the background I’ve been listening to another audiobook; The Blacksmith Queen, by G.A. Aiken. I love a good fantasy book, me. But I’m having multiple problems with this one. It turns out that I have an issue with centaurs. One of my main problems is: What do they eat? If they eat grass, then why are their teeth configured like humans’ teeth and not horses’ teeth? And how the hecky peck do they reach the grass? But if they’re omnivores, then what do their digestive tracts look like, and what kind of poos do they do? And in either case, how much would they have to eat in order to keep those great big bodies fed?

Worse still…

But even worse for me in this case is that the ones in the book are shapeshifting centaurs. How can that possibly work? If they’re in human form and suddenly shift into centaur form, then where does all of that extra bulk of their bodies come from? Where do all of the bones and flesh and horsehair go while the centaurs are in their human form? OR, if their natural form is a centaur and they are just magically projecting some kind of glamour that makes people see them as human, then (1) how many of them could fit into a normal-sized room (because their invisible rest-of-body is presumably still there, but just can’t be seen because of the glamour), and (2) wouldn’t their heads still be 5-ish feet above normal human height, and so the glamour would have to not only take their shape into account but also their position? Oh yes, and (3) if they go through a door then they must have to duck their heads right down…so surely that means they have to maintain two completely different bodies at the same time – one is their real (centaur) body, and the other is their human-image body.

I’ve thought of another one as well. (4) If their real form is centaur and the human-form is a glamour image, what happens if someone expects the human to ride a horse?

(Etc…)

Can you give a plausible explanation of how shapeshifting centaurs work? If so, please chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 62: Lily of the Valley

Lily of the Valley #631

This “Lily of the Valley” papercut design is from an ongoing 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 631 in the book.

Closer up:

I’m not very keen on this design, and I’m not even sure why. Theoretically it should tick all of my boxes. I like all of the individual elements. It’s got nice curvy lines, enjoyable curly leaves, and some very thin lines in it. I think it’s the combination of the thick and thin elements that bothers me. They seem to fight with each other a bit.

On the other hand, I’m very pleased with the development of my papercutting skills in this piece. It’s quite an ambitious project, with all of the tiny thin lines and large sweeping curves. And the fact that it (literally) stems from a single point at the bottom means that the whole design is structurally very fragile. So I’m glad it’s all in one piece.

Any comments? (e.g. do your eyes also find the mixture of thick and thin elements in this design offensive?) You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 60: Triangle Swag

Triangle Swag #634

“Triangle Swag” is from my continuing papercutting challenge (where 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 634 in the book. And because it was cut on Day 60 of my 100-day papercutting challenge, that means I’m six tenths of the way through the challenge. On the other hand, I don’t think I’m even halfway through cutting all 922 of the total number of designs, yet. So I’ll still be cutting for another couple of years. Still – I should be pretty good at papercutting by then!

Closer up:

Technically speaking, I think the definition of a “swag” is that it’s a (decorative) piece of draped or folded fabric, like curtains. But I didn’t know what else to call this particular type of motif. It might not exactly be a swag, but it’s not really a “sprig” either. Maybe it’s a swig or a sprag?

Anway, not only do I love this design, but I particularly enjoyed cutting it and am very pleased with the way the shapes and thin lines turned out. It’s a bit fancy, but it’s also fairly small and simple. It didn’t take long to cut, either. I look forward to using it again in a ‘proper’ project. Maybe I could mirror the design and then use the two pieces as a kind of frame for something.

In the background today I’ve been listening a bit more to The Princess and the Orrery by F.D. Lee. It feels a lot slower than the previous two books. And the plight of one of the characters makes me feel a bit queasy. I’m still hoping it will start to perk up soon, though…

Any comments? (e.g. What would you call this type of design, if not a ‘swag’) You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 58: Vine Pot

Vine Pot #636

This “Vine Pot” papercut is from an ongoing project that I’ve been doing (where 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 636 in the book.

Closer up:

I think this is a lovely set of leaves and vines … but it feels like something is missing. It just seems a bit unusual to have a pot with a set of leaves and vines growing in it. So if I ever use this in a real project then I imagine I will add a flower or pumpkin to the scene. Maybe I’ll create a Halloween scene. Although that will still probably look a bit odd, to have a great big pumpkin coming out of a small pot. Maybe I can just leave it as a mystery: The Case of the Missing Pumpkin. Or maybe a fairy godmother has borrowed the pumpkin to use as a coach for Cinderella, and it will return back to its pot after midnight.

I did enjoy adapting and cutting this piece, though. I really like the shape of the leaves and the curling tendrils of the vines.

Oh – except that I’ve only just noticed that there is a line missing on the left side! Oops.

In the background today I’ve been continuing to listen to The Academy by F.D. Lee. It’s the sequel to The Fairy’s Tale, and I am really enjoying it. It’s clever and funny, with some very satisfying elements to the plot. (I wonder if that has been feeding my subconscious mind with the ideas about missing pumpkins and fairy godmothers? I hadn’t realised that until just now. )

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 54: Oval Flower

Oval Flower #643

This design is from an ongoing papercutting project that I’ve been doing. (I’m trying to work my way through all of the designs in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book by Dover Books.) Today’s “Oval Flower” design is number 643 in the book.

As always I’m running out of titles for all of the flowers and leaves that appear in the designs, so that’s how I’ve ended up with this title.

Closer up:

I particularly enjoyed cutting this one. it was a real challenge to cut the tiny thin slivers and lines from the paper. I’m reaching the stage in this project where I’m actually starting to feel way more confident in my papercutting skills. I hardly ever accidentally over-cut or tear bits of paper these days, no matter how intricate the design.

As for the design itself, it looks a bit ‘wavery’, but it’s all deliberate. So I don’t find it super-pleasing to the eye, but with a few tweaks I think I could use it in another project one day. It looks like it would go very nicely in a papercut alphabet – e.g. in a hole of a lower-case ‘g’.

In the meantime I’m still listening to the audiobook version of The Fairy’s Tale by FD Lee. In fact I’m enjoying it so much that I might buy the actual print version of it.

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 52: Scrawny Flower

Scrawny Flower #648

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.) Today’s design is number 648 in the book. And yes, I have officially run out of creative names for these designs. Hence “Scrawny flower”. This one in particular is a bit of a puzzle – it’s got a fairly pretty leaf with some nice tendrils around it, but the flower itself is a bit … myeh.

Closer up:

I’m not sure I’ll use this design again, but I must admit that I do like the curly vine-tendril element.

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