Scherenschnitte: paper cutting

After seeing the work of Cindy, Heather, and my cousin Ruth, I decided to try paper cutting myself. Paper cutting is a traditional art form in many countries. In Germany it is called scherenschnitte, scissor cutting, and the themes are traditionally scenes from folk tales. Apparently it was quite popular in the 1500's. In the US it cought on later, in the 1700's.

I started with a little leaf design, just to try it out and then went for a more complicated piece that I had brewing in my head. I got the original idea from a couple of portraits a friends of mine has of her boys. They are pure black and white, no gray, in a very graphic style. I loved them.

I started with a photo of Baby Girl. Then did a little photo editing to take out the color, increase brightness and contrast, and applied the "cartoon" filter. I then printed out a copy in the size I wanted the end product to be (6"x6"). I used one of the copies to pencil in the lines for the shadowed areas so that I had crisp lines. I then photocopied the picture with shadow contours drawn in and used this to draw in the black areas so that I could see where the shadows would be when I stacked the papers. I used these two pictures as templates for the paper cutting. I used card stock weight scrapbook paper. I liked the thickness of the paper even though it made it a little difficult to do the details like the eyelashes. If you want to try paper cutting yourself, Cindy has a tutorial video on her website.

I have plans for more. Buddy Boy is next... or maybe something with Jack-o-lanterns and spider webs. I think I need to buy more paper.