A couple of years ago I set myself a papercutting project, where I adapted 100 papercutting designs (from the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments“), and then cut them out with a scalpel and scissors over 100 days. Since then I’ve carried on with the project, cutting about one design per week, but since we’re currently in the “2020 Covid-19 Lockdown”, I need a bit of occupational therapy to keep me calm, so I’m starting another 100-day project. Today’s design #534 from the book, and I’ve called it “tangly rose”.
Closer up:
This design seems like a bit of a strange mixture, to me. Those definitely aren’t rose leaves that the rose is sitting in. They remind me of seaweed or snakes…
But it was definitely a good exercise in terms of adapting and cutting the design. The rose was fairly straightforward to cut, but the tangly leaf/snake things were really tricky. The lines are very very fine. But my accidentally-bent scissors did a good job of helping me with a lot of the difficult bits.
Any comments about the design or the cutting? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.
This ‘Fleurs de Lys Border’ papercut is from the continuing papercutting project that I’ve been doing. (I’m trying to adapt and cut my way through all of the designs in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book by Dover Books, and so have got 922 little papercutting projects to work on.)
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The design is number 126 in the book.
It was relatively straightforward to cut, and would make a nice border for a project, or even a suitable crown for a king in a fantasy image.
Closer up:
Close up it’s a bit more obvious that the little shapes aren’t symmetrical, but as I go along with these projects they really are teaching me things. (Like how not to hate that I’ve cut imperfect shapes and then let other people see them.) Instead I’m getting much more relaxed about enjoying them for the cutting process in itself, and then the very fact that they are slightly wonky.
What I especially like about this design is that I could cut the pointy tops of the fleur-de-lys shapes in just a single snip, thanks to my fantastic accidentally-damaged scissors.
A few years ago I bought a pair of scissors, with the intention of using them especially for papercutting. I got them from Ernest Wright & Son Ltd, because I wanted really good quality, and the city of Sheffield has been associated with producing cutlery and scissors for centuries. The scissors came with a protective case and a little certificate:
They were brilliant. So sharp, so precise, so capable of cutting tiny detailed shapes.
…and then in the first week of owning them, I managed to drop them. Onto a concrete floor. Point-downward.
I said a very rude swearword.
My poor, expensive scissors (if that’s not an oxymoron) were irretrievably bent:
But then I tried to use them. And discovered that I had invented The Best Pair of Papercutting Scissors Ever. They cut tiny little curved shapes!
I have now had them for several years and they’re still really sharp. But I’ve got no idea if I’ll ever be able to get them sharpened. I might ask the makers, actually, to see if they’re up for a challenge. In the meantime, I can cut the little curved tops of the fleur de lys shapes above in just one snip.
Have you had any serendipitous disasters-that-turned-out-to-be-triumphs? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.
