Tag: leaves

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 45: Art Nouveau Corner Swag

papercut 720 art nouveau corner swag - square - LaserSister - KayVincent

Art Nouveau Corner Swag #720

“Art Nouveau Corner Swag” is from the ongoing papercutting challenge that I’ve been continuing during the 2020 Lockdown(s). 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 720 in the book. As always I had to come up with my own name/description for this design, but I didn’t know what the flowers were. (Are they forget-me-nots??) So “Art Nouveau Corner Swag” is what I ended up with:

papercut 720 art nouveau corner swag - vertical pinterest - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

papercut 720 art nouveau corner swag - square - LaserSister - KayVincent

It’s a fairly simple design, but that’s one of the reasons I like it. It also had some very satisfying curves to cut, as well. I can see this design on a birthday card, or as part of a backdrop for another more complex project. This one is obviously for the top right corner of a design, so the image can be flipped to create the corresponding top left corner of the design, and that will nicely frame a message or another motif.

As usual I’m particularly drawn to this one anyway because it’s got the Art Nouveau-type curves and swirls in 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 43: Climbing Leaves

papercut 715 climbing leaves - square - LaserSister - KayVincent

Climbing Leaves papercut #715

“Climbing Leaves” design is from the ongoing papercutting project I’ve been doing (where I’m trying to adapt all of the images in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book, and turn them into papercuts.)

Today’s design is number 715 in the book.

papercut 715 climbing leaves - vertical pinterest - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

papercut 715 climbing leaves - square - LaserSister - KayVincent

This was a really delicate design, but was surprisingly quick to cut. I would love to use it in a future project, like a very special birthday card or thank-you card or wedding invitation etc.

While cutting it I was listening to an audiobook from the library, Servant of the Crown by Paul J. Bennett. I’m at Chapter 14 so far, and am hoping for an ‘inciting incident’ to happen soon. It reminds me that I’ve got my own half-finished fantasy novel languishing somewhere. Mind you, I should really use my writing time to do my PhD, rather than writing my fantasy novel.

At least all of the above took my mind off bloody Covid19 bloody lockdown bloody measures for a while. I would never have imagined that I would live in a country where the Government banned going to work, going to school, smiling at people, singing, or people hugging their grandchildren or going to their family’s weddings or funerals. This is like some kind of sick nightmare.

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 36: Wildflower Meadow

papercut 697 wildflower meadow horizontal - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Wildflower Meadow Papercut #697

This “Wildflower Meadow” papercut is from an ongoing papercutting project that I’ve been doing (where I’m working my way through designs in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book by Dover Books.)

This week’s design is number 697 in the book. As I’ve mentioned before, the designs are just given numbers in the book and not names, so I’ve had to come up with my own names for them. I had no idea what to call this one. It’s got a sort of central stylised flower which isn’t immediately recognisable to me. I did try to get some clues from the other plants in the design, but they weren’t obvious either. Maybe they’re corn stalks? (Corn as in wheat, not as in sweetcorn. The definition of “corn” depends on whether you use UK/US English.)

So all I could think of was calling it “Wildflower Meadow”. As soon as I thought of that name, I noticed what a funny word “wildflower” is. It’s got four consonants in a row (LDFL). Surely there can’t be many words in English that have four consonants all mashed together? (I’m not counting words with “Y” in them, by the way (e.g. “hymn”, or “gypsy”)) Now I’m trying to think of other examples…

papercut 697 wildflower meadow vertical with scalpel - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

“Hatchback”. “Pitchfork”. Oh – maybe there are more than I thought!

Closer up:

papercut 697 wildflower meadow square - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Either I’m getting better at papercutting, or I’m getting better at forgiving myself for the little mistakes that I make – or maybe a bit of both. But for whatever reason, I find this design quite pleasing.

Having said that, I’m not sure I would use it as part of a ‘real life’ composition. All the same, I’m glad to have added it to my sketchbook full of papercuts. I’ve got a growing collection of these ‘samplers’ now, and I’m actually starting to see some improvement and progression overall. Which is a good thing, because that was the whole purpose of this “Cutting all 922 designs from the book” exercise in the first place.

I used to comment here about what I’d been watching or listening to in the background while I made the actual papercut. But because there’s been a big gap between cutting them and documenting them, I’ve forgotten what I was listening to when I cut most of them. Maybe I’ll carry on noting what I’m listening to, but from today instead of the date that I cut the design.

…In which case, today I’ve been listening to the “Writing Excuses” podcast. I deliberately didn’t listen to it for a few months this year, just so I could binge-listen to it later. And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing today. Series 14 has had some really useful writing advice in it.

Apart from that, I’ve been giving myself a bit of a day off. I’ve been so busy with paperwork and admin and life for the last few months that I’ve run out of steam. Catching up with my papercutting adventure has been very therapeutic.

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

papercut 672 wreath horizontal - LaserSister - KayVincent

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’.

papercut 672 wreath vertical - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

papercut 672 wreath close up - LaserSister - KayVincent

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 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.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 22: Ivy Leaf Border

papercut 512 ivy leaf border - horizontal - LaserSister - KayVincent

Ivy Leaf Border #512

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 #512 in the book, and for obvious reasons I’ve decided that its title should be “Ivy Leaf Border”.

papercut 512 ivy leaf border with scalpel - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

papercut 512 ivy leaf border close up - LaserSister - KayVincent

I’m not really sure why, but these leaves look happy and cheerful to me, somehow. Maybe it’s because they (especially that one furthest left) look like they’ve got little mouths that are open and smiling. Or maybe it’s because they’re all lined up like dancers in a row doing the can-can or something.

They’re definitely not all identical, but that’s another reason why I like this papercutting – it just shows that they were cut by hand (or scalpel and scissors, to be exact) and not with my laser cutter.

I might even be able to use this design in another project one day. The line of leaves will make a very nice border.

While I cut them out I was listening to Caroline Criado Perez’s audiobook “Do it like a woman”. I was hoping that the book would be full of inspiring and uplifting tales, but actually it’s a bit grim. So it’s just as well the little leaves look like they’re smiling and dancing – that cheered me up a bit.

Do the leaves look happy to you, or is it really just me? Feel free to let me know via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 10: Leafy Sprig

papercut leafy sprig 508 with scalpel - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Leafy Sprig Papercut #508

“Leafy Sprig” papercut is from an extended 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, but at the moment I’ve accelerated the process by trying to adapt/cut 100 designs in 100 days.

Today’s design is number #508 in the book.

papercut 508 leafy sprig with scalpel vertical - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

papercut leafy sprig 508 close up 90deg watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Funny how the really tiny ones look so chunky and lumpy when they’re magnified. Never mind – to the naked eye this one looks fine.

I don’t know where the designs come from in the book, but I suspect that this particular design comes from the same original reference source that the recent Bouquet design came from. They are very similar:

papercut 506 bouquet horizontal - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Now that I think about it, with the Bouquet design I was considering combining it with other similar-looking motifs to make a bigger design. This “Leafy Sprig” design would be perfect for that.

Again, it would go quite nicely in a Mother’s Day or birthday card, with the design done as a filigree papercutting, plus a personalised calligraphy message.

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 6: Berries and Leaves

papercut 511 horizontal with scalpel - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Berries and Leaves Papercut #511

I’ve called today’s project “Berries and Leaves” papercut, for obvious reasons. It’s Day 6 of my Lockdown Project (which is a continuation of the ongoing papercutting project that I’ve been doing, for the last couple of years), but day 27(ish) of the actual UK lockdown.

The “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book doesn’t have titles for any of the designs (which is why I’ve come up with my own names for them) but in the book it’s number #511:

papercut 511 - pinterest vertical - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

This was a really challenging piece to cut. The tiny berries were particularly difficult, because they were too small to cut with scissors, but cutting curves with a scalpel was tricky:

papercut 511 horizontal close up - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

This design ticks a lot of boxes for me – I like the Art Nouveau style and the mostly-symmetrical pattern, and the overall difficulty/challenge level of the cutting itself. I can definitely see myself using it in a ‘real’ project one day – even if it’s just part of a birthday card.

I was watching The Tick on Amazon Prime while I cut this one out. Why did they only make two seasons? Whyyyyyy? It was funny and clever, and watching it made a good antidote to the Coronavirus weirdness out in the ‘real’ world. Oh well, when everyone else runs out of stuff to watch on Netflix and Amazon maybe they’ll give the Tick a try and realise how good it was.

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

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 5: Cornucopia

papercut 519 horizontal cornucopia - watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

Cornucopia #519

This “Cornucopia” design is from my extended papercutting project, where I’m trying to adapt all 922 images from the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments“, to make them into papercutting designs, and then cut them out by hand. This one is design #519 in the book.

papercut 519 vertical with scalpel - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

This is another one that I really like – even up close:

papercut 519 close up square watermarked - LaserSister - KayVincent

There are only a few shaky lines, and the rest seem fairly competently executed – even the really thin ones. And the outside edges don’t look too ‘lumpy’.

As with so many of these designs though, I’m not sure whether I’ll ever find a ‘real’ project to use it in. Especially since the current Covid19 lockdown period doesn’t really make me think of overflowing cornucopias or abundance at the moment…

While I was cutting it I was still listening to Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. Ugh. Thank goodness it was an audiobook borrowed free via the library, instead of using credits or actual money – that would have made it even more disappointing to listen to.

Any comments about the design or the cutting? (or indeed, Mansfield Park?) You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

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Lockdown Papercutting Project Day 3: Art Nouveau Design Papercut

Papercut 530 square with scalpel - LaserSister - KayVincent

Art Nouveau Design #530

This ‘Art Nouveau Design’ papercut is part of my ongoing papercutting project, where I’m adapting designs from the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” to turn them into papercutting designs. This one is design #530 from the book.

Papercut 530 square with scalpel - LaserSister - KayVincent

Closer up:

I love this one! For a start the design is right up my street; it reminds me of William Morris and Arts & Crafts Movement designs:

Papercut 530 square with scalpel - LaserSister - KayVincent

But for this one in particular the thin lines turned out really well. I don’t think I accidentally ripped any of them, for a change, and even close up they seem OK.

This is a design that I can definitely see myself using in a ‘real’ project, one day.

While I was cutting I was listening to Tim Ferriss’s “4-Hour Work Week” audiobook. The world has changed a lot since it was released in 2008! Off the top of my head I can think of three things that have become extinct since then: faxes, Blackberries, and MySpace. The advice was still interesting and useful, but hopefully the companion website keeps readers/listeners up to date with new developments.

Any comments or advice about the ‘Art Nouveau design papercut’ or the cutting? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.