Papercut [art]
Dec. 28th, 2020 08:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
It's no creation by Nikki McClure, but it never was going to be, was it?
I pondered trees quite a bit this December. I have a hard time justifying the death of a tree for the sake of a wonderfully fragrant bright item in my living room, given my mixed feelings about religion. I have tried a range of stand-ins, the Brustmas tree being a favorite.
I suppose paper is made from dead trees, anyways.
This is the idea that eventually came to me. Too late to hang it up inside as a focal point for the aggregation of gifts. This is from a photograph in the Herland Forest very near where we buried my Dad.


I'm wondering whether I might just paint on the backside instead of attempting double-sided black paper in the future. Only thing is, the construction paper will quickly fade in the sunlight. The fade-resistant paper is much thinner.
It was hard to keep the paper from buckling as I glued the backside on, as you can see if you compare the image above to the image below.

But I'm satisfied with the results after I decided to just go ahead and lay it flat and iron it.


While I was getting into the business of making papercut images, I also designed and created a holiday card for a rowing teammate, as part of a club holiday card exchange:

You might be able to recognize the bridge. I hope the recipient does.

This seemed like an appropriate Nikki McClure calendar page to envelop the card.

I suspect she uses better paper than I did. If I continue I should try to track down some 65 lb black cardstock instead of using construction paper. But I had to start somewhere.
Eventually I want to make some papercut/stained glass insect designs for more of the porch windows. If our lease won't let us put up any political messaging, we'd better at least put up some insect images instead.
Before I do that, though, I think a couple other projects are next in line. We only have so much time.
I pondered trees quite a bit this December. I have a hard time justifying the death of a tree for the sake of a wonderfully fragrant bright item in my living room, given my mixed feelings about religion. I have tried a range of stand-ins, the Brustmas tree being a favorite.
I suppose paper is made from dead trees, anyways.
This is the idea that eventually came to me. Too late to hang it up inside as a focal point for the aggregation of gifts. This is from a photograph in the Herland Forest very near where we buried my Dad.


I'm wondering whether I might just paint on the backside instead of attempting double-sided black paper in the future. Only thing is, the construction paper will quickly fade in the sunlight. The fade-resistant paper is much thinner.
It was hard to keep the paper from buckling as I glued the backside on, as you can see if you compare the image above to the image below.

But I'm satisfied with the results after I decided to just go ahead and lay it flat and iron it.


While I was getting into the business of making papercut images, I also designed and created a holiday card for a rowing teammate, as part of a club holiday card exchange:

You might be able to recognize the bridge. I hope the recipient does.

This seemed like an appropriate Nikki McClure calendar page to envelop the card.

I suspect she uses better paper than I did. If I continue I should try to track down some 65 lb black cardstock instead of using construction paper. But I had to start somewhere.
Eventually I want to make some papercut/stained glass insect designs for more of the porch windows. If our lease won't let us put up any political messaging, we'd better at least put up some insect images instead.
Before I do that, though, I think a couple other projects are next in line. We only have so much time.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-29 09:48 am (UTC)An idea for you:
no subject
Date: 2020-12-29 02:12 pm (UTC)I will have to see about tracking down some better paper first!
no subject
Date: 2020-12-29 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-29 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-29 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-29 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-29 03:46 pm (UTC)Nothing too fancy aside from a bit of hand-eye coordination! I used an Xacto knife with a cutting mat. For the rowers and bridge, I drew out the design I wanted on a piece of paper, and then taped it on top of the piece of construction paper. Then I cut through both layers. You do have to pay some attention to cutting direction and to corners and small pieces.
For the trees, I drew freehand from a reference photograph on one of the pieces of construction paper with a white chalk pencil, and then followed my drawing lines while cutting through both layers of black paper (kept taped down so things didn't shift around too much while I worked).
no subject
Date: 2020-12-29 07:24 pm (UTC)