leaf Archives - Page 2 of 2

Posted on 23 October 202017 July 2022 by LaserSister — Leave a comment

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.

papercut 693 vertical with scalpel - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

papercut 693 square - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

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.

Posted on 18 May 202017 July 2022 by LaserSister — Leave a comment

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.

papercut 684 flower and leaf border vertical - LaserSister - KayVincent

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…

papercut 684 flower and leaf border top - LaserSister - KayVincent

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

papercut 684 flower and leaf border bottom - LaserSister - KayVincent

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.

Posted on 18 May 202017 July 2022 by LaserSister — Leave a comment

Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 32: Leafy Triangle

papercut 681 leaf triangle horizontal - LaserSister - KayVincent

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”

papercut 681 leaf triangle vertical - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

papercut 681 leaf triangle - close up - LaserSister - KayVincent

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.

Posted on 6 May 202017 July 2022 by LaserSister — Leave a comment

Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 23: Olive Leaves

papercut 121 olive leaves - horizontal - LaserSister - KayVincent

Olive Leaves Papercut #121

This “Olive Leaves” design is from an ongoing papercutting project that I’ve been doing, where I’m adapting and cutting designs from the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book by Dover Books. But because of the 2020 Covid19 lockdown, I’ve put my project into overdrive and am attempting 100 designs in 100 days.

Today’s design is number #121 in the book.

papercut 121 olive leaves with scalpel - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

papercut 121 olive leaves close up - LaserSister - KayVincent

Oops, spot the obvious mistake. I accidentally chopped one of the olives off. But the rest of the design is so pleasing to me that I think I’ll forgive myself and just promise to do better next time. And what the heck – sometimes nature isn’t symmetrical anyway. Or maybe somebody just picked it off and ate it 🙂

I really do like this design – it’s one of my favourites so far. Very simple but very elegant. It was enjoyable to cut, too. Therapeutic.

I fancy using it in a ‘real’ project, one day. Maybe with some other plants that do well in hot climates. Oh dear – that’s reminded me that I was supposed to be on holiday in Italy, this week.

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

Posted on 23 February 202017 July 2022 by LaserSister — Leave a comment

Papercutting Project (Continued): K116 – Compass Leaves Papercut

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

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.

Posted on 1 January 202017 July 2022 by LaserSister — Leave a comment

Papercutting Project (Continued): K695 – New Leaf Papercut

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

Closer up:

Here it is much closer up:

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.