Tag: leaves

Posted on by — Leave a comment

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”.

Closer up:

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.

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

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 66: Leaf Wings

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.

Closer up:

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.

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

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 65: Ornate Leaf Border

Ornate Leaf Border #626

“Ornate Leaf Border” is from my ongoing papercutting project (where 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 626 in the book.

Closer up:

As usual it was difficult to come up with a new name for yet another leafy design, but what the heck – the design looks pretty fancy and could be a border.

This one was very challenging to cut, what with all of the teeny tiny ‘shaded’ lines in it. It was also extremely difficult not to rip, because it’s so big and has such thin lines, and they all start from the same central point. At first glance it looks like I’ve done a pretty good job of the cutting, but if you look at it for long enough then you’ll see that some little bits have accidentally fallen off while I’ve been cutting it. Oops. It’s also not completely symmetrical, but I can’t remember if that was due to my inaccurate cutting or if the design was meant to be that way. I do still like it, though. It’s one of the longest and most difficult cuts that I’ve made.

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

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 61: Delicate Leaves

Delicate Leaves #632

This “Delicate Leaves” 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 632 in the book.

Closer up:

So – it’s yet another leaf design. Good job I like leaves and flowers and Art Nouveau-y motifs, since there are so many of them in the designs in this book.

For a change I can’t immediately see any disturbing faces in the piece (like I did in this cutting) – although I can see what looks suspiciously like a curly waxed moustache at the very bottom of the design. (Or again – it could just be me!)

I’m really chuffed with the way this one turned out. It’s got very delicate thin leaves and vines and berries in it, and they presented a good challenge for cutting.

Today’s audiobook has still been The Princess and the Orrery by F.D. Lee. It was definitely worth persevering with, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first two in the series.

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

Posted on by — Leave a comment

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.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

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.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

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.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 51: Oranges And Leaves

Oranges and Leaves #650

This “Oranges and Leaves” 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.)

Today’s design is number 650 in the book.

Now that I look at it, I think I should probably have rotated it 90 degrees anti-clockwise, (so that it would make the top right element of a design, rather than the bottom left as I’ve currently shown it). And I’m also thinking that the fruits might be apples instead of oranges. Double oops!

Closer up:

Anyway, this is another design motif that I find particularly pleasing, so I think I will almost certainly use it in a future project.

As for the actual cutting skills, I’m fairly happy with the outcome. It’s a very forgiving design anyway because there aren’t any thin straight lines and because it’s asymmetrical, but all the same I’m pleased with the curves that I managed to cut.

In the background I was listening to The Story Studio podcast. It’s one of my top 5 writing podcasts to listen to. Probably a bit sweary for some people, but has given me some great writing ‘mindset’ tips over the last few years.

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

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 48: Roses and Ribbons

Roses and Ribbons #689

“Roses and Ribbons” design is part of 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.)

Today’s design is number 689 in the book. For once I haven’t had to scratch my head too much thinking of a title/description for the design. It’s just got roses and ribbons in it (and leaves, I suppose). I don’t think any of the other motifs have had just those elements, so hooray – I’ve got a unique title for the piece.

Closer up:

Oh dear. That weird thing has happened again, where my eyes have spotted faces in the design that aren’t supposed to be there, and now I can’t un-see them. Where the two bits of ribbon meet in the middle at the top, I can see two faces touching each other. They look like those Greek tragedy masks, with the exaggerated lips and eyebrows:

…and so what started out as a perfectly lovely design of ribbons and roses has now become two Greek tragedy masks just on the verge of having a passionate kiss. Eeew.

Anyway, until I started to see it that way I had particularly liked this design. And I certainly enjoyed cutting it. I think I can see myself using it in another project in future, but I will definitely have to do something about those two kissing masks, first!

Any comments? (e.g. is it really just me who sees those masks?!) You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 46: Tri-Leaf Trio

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:

Closer up:

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.

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

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