Tag: leaf

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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:

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

Closer up:

papercut 224 - Chinese flower close up - Kay Vincent LaserSister

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:

papercut 224 - Chinese flower close up - Kay Vincent LaserSister

…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.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 69: Leaf Heart

Leaf heart papercut with horizontal scalpel for scale - Kay Vincent - LaserSister

Leaf Heart #687

“Leaf Heart” 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 687 in the book. I wasn’t sure what to call this one, but because it’s got leaves in and a bit of a heart shape, that’s why I’ve given it the title “Leaf Heart”.

Leaf heart papercut with scalpel for scale - Kay Vincent - LaserSister

Closer up:

Leaf heart papercut closer up - Kay Vincent - LaserSister

Closer up there are some shapes that are like a cross between oak leaves and rubber gloves. It’s a good job I noticed the heart shape in this design, otherwise it might have ended up being called “rubber glove oak leaves”.

This one was fun to cut and didn’t take long. But as with yesterday’s cut, I prefer the ‘positive’ designs rather than the stencil-type shapes cut out of the paper.

There are a couple of the shapes where I could have trimmed them a bit better, but on the whole I think the cutting was pretty accurate.

In the background I’m still listening to the audio book of Duskfall, and the narration is still annoying.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 66: Leaf Wings

leaf wings papercut - horizontal with scalpel for scale - Kay Vincent - LaserSister

Leaf Wings #625

“Leaf Wings” is from an ongoing papercutting project that I’ve been doing. (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 625 in the book. For once I found it easy to give this design a name. It looks like leaves, and it also looks like wings.

leaf wings papercut with vertical scalpel for scale - Kay Vincent - LaserSister

Closer up:

leaf wings papercut close up - Kay Vincent - LaserSister

I like this Arts & Crafts style design. And the thin lines and curves in it were a good challenge for my developing papercutting skills. I can imagine using this motif as the bottom border for a larger papercut. I think this design is in my top 10 favourites so far, of all of the 400+ cuts that I’ve adapted and cut from that book of designs.

In the background I’ve been listening to yet another audiobook from the library. This one is Duskfall by Christopher Husberg. I’m only at the beginning so I haven’t decided yet whether I like the book or not. At least I’ve finished The Blacksmith Queen, now. I think the worst thing about that one was that the narrator sounded like she was gulping air between every sentence. Very offputting.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 59: Mini Nouveau Leaf

Mini art nouveau leaf papercut - horizontal with scalpel - Kay Vincent LaserSister

Mini Nouveau Leaf #635

This “Mini Nouveau Leaf” is from the ongoing papercutting project that I’ve been undertaking for aaaaages. (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 635 in the book. It’s yet another mini leaf design, and yet another Art Nouveau style motif, so that’s why I’ve given it that title. I really am going to run out of names for the mini leaf designs, soon.

Mini art nouveau leaf papercut - square with vertical scalpel - Kay Vincent LaserSister

Closer up:

Mini art nouveau leaf papercut - close up - Kay Vincent LaserSister

Because the leaf is so small, the imperfections look worse when the image is enlarged, but all the same I like this one. It was quick to cut and I’m partial to Art Nouveau type designs anyway.

I can definitely see myself using this motif in another project one day. Maybe it would work well as a border, with multiple copies of the leaf being used.

Today in the background I’ve been listening to another audiobook from the library. It’s the third book in the Pathways Tree series, “The Princess and the Orrery” by F.D. Lee. I’m not enjoying it as much as the previous two yet, but hopefully it will start to move all of the subplots forward soon.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 56: Spotted Leaf

spotted leaf papercut - horizontal with scalpel - Kay Vincent LaserSister

Spotted Leaf #638

This “Spotted Leaf” design 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.)

This week’s design is number 638 in the book.

spotted leaf papercut - square with scalpel - Kay Vincent LaserSister

Closer up:

spotted leaf papercut - close up - Kay Vincent LaserSister

This one looks a bit lumpy up close. I seem to have forgotten my recent-ish revelation that I can go back and neaten up the papercutting before I actually take the photo. Plus, the tiny size of the leaf makes any imperfections more obvious. All the same, I really like this one.

It was really really hard to cut out the teeny tiny holes. I needed to use a completely new blade so that there was less chance of ripping the paper. I also needed to wear some reading glasses. The leaf is so small that I can’t even focus on it properly most of the time anyway, so there is no chance that I’d be able to see it in enough detail to cut the holes out.

Now I’ve been listening to the audiobook of The Academy by FD Lee. It’s the sequel to The Fairy’s Tale, which I really enjoyed. Today I’ve also been watching a bit more of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 55: Shaded Leaf

shaded leaf papercut - horizontal with scalpel - Kay Vincent LaserSister

Shaded Leaf #640

This “Shaded Leaf” design is from my ongoing papercutting project (trying to work my way through all 922 designs in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book).

Today’s design is number 640 in the book.

shaded leaf papercut - square with scalpel - Kay Vincent LaserSister

Closer up:

shaded leaf papercut - close up - Kay Vincent LaserSister

This one is cute. I liked cutting it and I could definitely see myself using it in a ‘real’ project. Yet again it’s got a bit of an Art Nouveau them to it, which I find very attractive. And I liked cutting the teeny tiny shaded lines on the leaf, and the the curvy stalk bits of it. It also didn’t take too long to cut. I wonder if I’ve been ‘cherry picking’ the small designs though, and will end up with a disproportionate number of really big designs at the end of the project? Hope not!

In the background today I’ve been watching Marvel’s Agents of Shield on Amazon Prime. But oh dear, all six of the first six series will cease to be available on Amazon Prime in 6 days’ time. We’ll just have to get to the end of Series 3 and then wait for it to come back, one day.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 53: Curled Leaf

papercut 645 curled leaf - horizontal - LaserSister - KayVincent

Curled Leaf #645

This “Curled Leaf” design is from my ongoing papercutting challenge. (I’m trying to work my way through all of the designs in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book by Dover Books, but during the Covid19 Lockdown I’ve been adapting and cutting 100 papercuts in 100 days…)

Today’s design is number 645 in the book.

papercut 645 curled leaf - vertical pinterest - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

papercut 645 curled leaf - square - LaserSister - KayVincent

I like this one. It was fairly quick to cut because it’s so small, and I enjoy the way the end of the leaf curls around, and the swirly vine thing that it’s attached to.

I can definitely see myself using this motif in a future project. It looks like it would work very well in the border of a larger design.

While cutting this one I was listening to a library audiobook, The Fairy’s Tale, by F.D. Lee. I’m quite enjoying it, which is a nice surprise. This year I’ve already listened to all of the books that I actively wanted to listen to, and am now down to trawling through the remaining books and just hoping that they’re not going to be awful. And this one definitely isn’t awful.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 46: Tri-Leaf Trio

papercut 707 tri-leaf trio - horizontal scalpel - LaserSister - KayVincent

Tri-Leaf Trio #707

This “Tri-Leaf Trio” is from the ongoing papercutting project that I’ve been working on for ages. (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 707 in the book. It’s a bit of a tonguetwister – a trio of three leaves:

papercut 707 tri-leaf trio - vertical pinterest - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

papercut 707 tri-leaf trio - square close up - LaserSister - KayVincent

I enjoyed cutting this one. Thin tendrils combined in filigree-type elements. It makes for a delicate-looking design that looks a bit more complicated than it actually is.

When I first cut it I really liked it. But then I encountered a problem. The problem is that with a lot of floral or leafy designs, quite often my eyes spot little faces in the pattern that aren’t supposed to be there. In this case, the ivy-leaf designs look like Venetian carnival masks. The kind that just cover your eyes and nose. To me they always look a bit creepy – but the ones in this design look especially mean, with their slitty eyes and cruel leafy beaks.

papercut 707 tri-leaf trio - square close up - LaserSister - KayVincent

Is it just me, or does anyone else see creepy faces in wallpaper designs etc?!

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 41: Curly Leaf

papercut 702 curly leaf - horizontal - LaserSister - KayVincent

Curly Leaf #702

This “Curly Leaf” papercut is yet another design 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.)

This week’s design is number 702 in the book. I’m seriously running out of titles I can give these 922 designs! Yet another leaf design, and so how do I differentiate it from all of the other leaf designs? Welllll, it’s got a lot of curlicues in the vines, plus the leaf elements are rather curly. So “Curly Leaf” it is:

papercut 702 curly leaf - vertical pinterest - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

papercut 702 curly leaf - square - LaserSister - KayVincent

This is one of my favourites so far. A small, delicate design that presented a real challenge to cut accurately, and very satisfying to look at once it was finished.

I’m already trying to find ways to incorporate this one into a future design. Maybe a fancy wedding invitation card.

I’m still marvelling at how much better my cutting is, now that I’m a few hundred designs into this papercutting challenge. In fact, I’ve just realised that I’ve picked up so many little tips along the way that I’ve compiled a “Top 10 list of papercutting tips“.

In the meantime, while putting together this blog post I’ve been ignoring the ‘real world’ as usual, and have instead been listening to my favourite podcast, “No Such Thing As A Fish“.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 38: Leaf Papercut

papercut 698 leaf - horizontal - LaserSister - KayVincent

Leaf Papercut #698

This leaf 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 698 in the book. You would think this would be a very easy design to choose a name for, but there are so many variations of leaves in the book and I can’t call them all “Leaf” because that would get confusing! But as far as I know I haven’t actually called any of them “Leaf Papercut” yet. So this one wins.

papercut 698 leaf - vertical - LaserSister - KayVincent

And a very nice leaf it is, too. I enjoyed cutting this one. It was quite straightforward and yet provided some challenges in terms of cutting the fine veins.

Closer up:

papercut 698 leaf - square - LaserSister - KayVincent

Therefore this design falls into the 5-ish percent of designs in the book that I can immediately see myself using again in future projects.

Normally I would note here what audiobook or podcast I’ve been listening to today, but today’s background soundtrack has been Rob preparing a meal that may or may not turn out to be fatal when eaten. So this might be my epitaph. Good luck, future me!

He bought four reduced-price red mullet fish a couple of weeks ago on a whim, and put them straight in the freezer (they had already reached their sell-by date). And today he’s defrosted them only to discover that red mullet are usually sold whole, so they still had their guts inside them (I’ve been doing a bit of research here and here, just to double-check whether I’m likely to die of fish poisoning. Just in case you’re wondering, the very clear advice is that whole fish should NOT be frozen without gutting and cleaning them first.)

*** UPDATE ***

I’m not dead. The fish was OK, in the end. But it still doesn’t get past my long-held theory that “fish equals faff” (what with all of the gutting and de-scaling and then picking bones out while eating it). It was accompanied by shallots and bacon-that-Rob-had-accidentally-dropped-on-the-floor-while-it-was-raw, and he washed the meal down with a bottle of wine that we’ve had for at least eight years and neither of us knew where it came from. It was officially “white” wine but was actually browny-yellow. Yuuuum. Still, it made the perfect accompaniment to the equally dodgy food.

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