Thursday, June 12, 2014

The Amazing Art of Papercutting or Scherenschnitte...

I have become fascinated by the intricate art of paper cutting or Scherenschnitte (which means "scissor cuts" in German). The amazingly delicate work that is done by these artists is incredible, and the creativity that they show in taking something as simple as a piece of paper and turning it into art is nothing short of incredible talent.

Watching the intricate cutting work in progress is inspiring and Thomas Witte is just so talented, his Ancient Map of the World would have to be on the top of my 'If I could afford it Wish List'.

See his spectacular art here.

Of course, I would imagine it takes many years and many hours to get to this point, and more importantly, a great deal of patience. Not sure I am quite capable of feats such as this no matter how long I practice, but in the mean time, I am definitely considering having a go at some simpler items and found a great range of templates for the beginner and to give a starting point on Etsy this week.



And to help get me started I found a few how to tutorials on the basic techniques:

1. For a complete novice this simple tutorial is fantastic, in addition to showing how the paper cutting is done, it also outlines the basic tools and equipment needed.

2. This is another good basic tutorial with a great starter template with a fairy-tale theme, really cute and simple as a learning tool.

3. Want something a little more challenging, this paper cutting artist has tutorials, tips and tricks in her Frequently asked Friday. She also has a range of beautiful free templates on her blog, not to mention her spectacular work on an amazing array of materials in her shop for those who want a finished product.

So now hopefully I have all the inspiration and information needed to have a go at this great form of art, hopefully I will be able to share my results with you in the next few weeks. I thought I would start simple with something similar to the love image in the first tutorial but using my daughter’s name, nice and simple.


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