Archive
CrafTEA Gift Shop
Called in at the “CraftTEA Gift Shop” (www.facebook.com/thecraftteagiftshop) in Worthing this morning to drop off my latest batch of designs. It was also a good chance to try out my new laser-cut display frame thingy, with handy hooks on it to hang the jewellery from:
Rob pointed out that the elephant pendant would look nicer with a smile on its little face, so I will try to make the next batch look more smiley…
Laser-Cut Fairy
Yesterday I was practising my knife skills by cutting out a design based on a Cicely Mary Barker fairy. Today I had a go with the laser cutter:
flower fairy papercutting – cut with a knife
flower fairy – laser cut
I was doing some research on CMB, and I think she lived in Storrington, which is sort of down the road from me.
She died in 1973 and her work is still in copyright, so these pieces are for my own enjoyment and I won’t be developing any for sale. I might try to find where her ashes were scattered though, and leave a couple of fairies there…
Non-Laser-Cut Papercutting
I’ve joined the Guild of American Papercutters (I couldn’t find a British one). To practise my knifey skills I have temporarily eschewed the laser cutter and have had a go at making one of Cicely Mary Barker’s flower fairies:
flower fairy papercutting
I’ve accidentally torn quite a few of the delicate lines though, so it might be time to go back to the laser cutter!
If William Morris had had a Laser Cutter…
…I think he would have done something like this:
William Morris laser cut flower
I’ve been researching William Morris designs recently, and these are my attempts so far at creating designs suitable for the laser cutter. The papercutting is adapted from a detail of the “Kennet” design by Morris (1883), and the “S” wooden brooch is a design from 1886.
William Morris laser cut letter “S”
(Laser-Cut) Apple for the Teacher
My latest commission was to create something to give to a teacher as a leaving card.
The only shapes I could think of that were associated with teachers were a blackboard, a mortarboard hat thing, an owl, and an apple. They all seemed a bit inaccurate (and/or old-fashioned), but the apple won in the end because it was a nice simple shape.
Then I cut out the names of all of the children in the teacher’s class (being careful to make sure that the dots on the “i”s were all attached to something so they didn’t fall off when they were cut out):
Laser-cut apple for the teacher
Thank you!
A huge THANK YOU to everyone for their kind comments about the 7MSN scherenschnitt that Linda Carson featured on her blog on Tuesday. I am so glad she liked it, and am sending her the original.
I actually wanted to send it to her for Christmas, but I couldn’t think of a way of saying “Hi – I am a big fan of your blog and want to send you something” without sounding like a stalker, so I chickened out.
My husband thought (thinks) I was nuts for spending so many hours on making a picture about someone else’s blog, but it really did seem to almost create itself. And I loved the idea of creating traditional homestead art by using new technology. In fact, some of the design is so delicate that it would have been impossible to cut with scissors or a knife, e.g. the vine that is trailing out of the cow’s skull:
Over the last few days people have been asking if they can buy copies of the artwork, so I’ve been thinking about what to do. I don’t want to churn out lots of identical copies, because they wouldn’t feel special. I also don’t want to profit from them without giving Linda Carson something in return. So here is my suggestion:
Remember the giant egg story? Well, I think there is room (just about!) for that egg to appear in the artwork. So what I’m proposing to do is to make a limited number of copies of the “7MSN Laserschnitt”, and for the three eggs (medium, large, and mutant) to appear in a different place in each version. That way if anyone does decide to buy a copy, they will know that they are receiving their own unique piece, and nobody else will have one exactly the same.
egg-sample of how it will look
And of course I will arrange to donate half of any profits to Linda and the herd, because without them I would have just had a blank piece of paper.
18 Feb 2013 update: I have now put some copies on Etsy here
Laser-Cut Scherenschnitte
What have I been doing lately? Well, firstly I have been doing a lot of laser-etching/cutting work for Maria Allen. As well as through her own site, she also sells through NotOnTheHighStreet.com, and has been one of the featured artists this Christmas, so we have both been very busy.
However, in between that (and when I should have been doing other more important things), I’ve been working on my first-ever major ‘scherenschnitte’ project (which is basically just another term for paper cutting).
I’ve always loved papercrafts and have been making pop-up cards for years, but now that I’ve got my laser cutter I really really want to use it to create some complex scherenschnitte designs. I’ve done quite a lot of research into different artists and styles (including Cindy Ferguson, Rob Ryan), but wanted to find my own inspiration and style.
Then this October, I came across the 7MSN Ranch blog. Linda/Carson takes such great photos, and really makes me laugh. I am now officially hooked on reading about the ‘herd’. And so suddenly I knew exactly what my scherenschnitte project would involve – all of the animals at the 7MSN.
