the third cut

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”  —Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

I'd like to dedicate this papercut to Megan and Terence.

Since my last iteration, I've been working on making smoother cuts and integrating my illustrations with the quote! Instead of using 8.5x11 paper, I used two differently textured 11x17 papers to experiment cutting on a larger size.

Let's go through my process! 

Since I had cut from the front of my last iteration, I got jagged edges as a result. From this, I learned that I had to cut a mirrored version of my illustrations in order to get smooth lines on the front. So, instead of drawing the exact image of what I imagined, I drew a mirrored illustration. By the way, the reason why there's a crease in centre is because I needed to fold it in order to scan it with my tiny scanner. I will be vectorizing and lasercutting this before the fall so we can see the difference between hand and machine papercuts {super excited}!

That smooth line quality! 

After cutting for two hours! 

The illustrations flow well into the words.

These are the cutouts from the paper! The line quality and width make the design quite elegant. I was really pleased with the result.

 It's all cut out!

Injuries are normal...?

Outer stroke cutting

I wanted to bring my layering of different textured paper into this iteration, so I started cutting out the outer layer! This took about another two hours.

   

After I glued the light grey paper onto the black sheet, I started gluing the cutouts into the empty spaces.

Far and close up shots of final.

Some of the challenges I faced with this project was learning to draw in reverse, cutting smooth lines, and making sure the cutouts fitted nicely into the empty spaces. The process of learning how to draw in reverse and cutting taught me a lot about patience. And...hastily cutting out the outer strokes taught me a lot about the consequences of rushing your work. As a result, I had jagged edges and differences in the width of the spaces where each cut out lay...not happy about that. But, we have to learn and progress!

I found it fascinating and a bit discouraging that I was focused on perfecting the line quality of my cuts. A lot of papercuts today are made with laser cutting machines. I think I became obsessed with perfecting the line quality because I wanted to replicate the precision of these machines. I've also found it interesting how machines were made to create precisely measured replicas of handmade objects while I've been trying to replicate a machine by handcutting my paper as precisely as possible. Some things to think about?

Last thing, I think that while we build our skills to match the precision of machines, we are instilling the value of the creative process. Let me know what you think though.

Thanks for being a part of this process!

Victoria

the second cut

“Unless today is well lived, tomorrow is not important.” ―Alan Sakowitz

I've dedicated the second papercut to my good friends, Cheryl and Nick. I'm hoping this papercut brings each of you happiness =) !

Most of us linger somewhere in the future. We plan for tomorrow, but never embrace the present. When I feel like I'm rushing, I ask myself, "Why do I feel overwhelmed? There's a whole 60 seconds in a minute. Relax and breathe." So, I close my eyes and take a breath. Try it. You'll feel good.

Since my first papercut, I've been experimenting with different ways of cutting and piecing paper together. I've felt that the last papercut taught me a lot about patience. Every cut must be smooth and well controlled. If you rush it, you'll face countless unwanted bloody papercuts {hands & paper}, jagged edges, and tear-moistened papers {yes, tears}. Overall, my experience with papercutting has been quite relaxing {other than the tears and blood of course}; from sketching my ideas to cutting and gluing papers together. I'll be quite honest about my process though. In the beginning of my second iteration, I thought I had everything planned well. I was going to implement the feedback from Angus and Milene, and have a brilliant and well-planned papercut {at this point, I'd like to thank everyone who has influenced my crazy and artful imagination}. So, after I finished sketching, I began cutting on the fresh sheet of smooth cotton cover stock. Did I mention how beautiful the paper is? There are colourful splashes of dots everywhere!

Here's a close up, just to tempt you.

I realized one thing...I messed up connecting the letters to the paper. When you want the eyes, bowls, and counters of a letter to be a part of your papercut, you need to make sure the letter or whole word is attached onto the paper. I thought I had this planned, but I messed up by cutting both the stroke and the letters' filling. So, I had to improvise. 

Here's a close up of my mess up.

This is when the tears and tissues came out. Took me five minutes to recover, but I brought up my hands and started planning again. I played with different compositions and worked with what I had. I pieced two pieces of paper together. I then cut up the sides of one sheet to give off the effect of the type bleeding off the page. I ended up placing the pieces of the letters' fillings within the empty spaces of the words. I'm really happy with the result too!

Some of my trials and errors.

Having completed the first and second papercuts, I began thinking about the relationship between hand-made and machine made papercuts. I'll be honest again, I was almost tempted to laser cut my designs. My fingers were in pain. Blood leaked and shot out of almost every part of my hands {apologies for the graphic language}. But, I held my temptations and did my part. I felt very satisfied with my work and impressed with my ability to adapt to changes {proud and not afraid to flaunt it}!

Anyways, let's get back on track. During my process, I kept thinking about some of the values we have today: efficiency and effectiveness. These two words are what I hear all the time. I think that the papercuts produced before the industrial era {read my history section for reference} had exquisite line quality. Since machines provide efficiency, would people still have hand made their papercuts if technology such as the laser cut was invented? Would they rather value efficiency rather than effectiveness? How did artists who hand-made papercuts endure the pain in their fingers from cutting endlessly?

I've also been thinking about the roles of artist/designer and craftsman. The papercutters before the industrial era were both the artist/designer and craftsman because they thought up and crafted the papercut. Since the industrial era, there have been two groups of people with different roles in creating an object, the artist/designer and the factory workers. The artist/designer develops the idea for the artifact while the factory workers construct the object. There are two problems in today's production process. Although today's artist/designer has basic knowledge of the production process and tools needed to create the artifact, they don't have much technical skill to form the artifact. The factory workers are each taught one or few skills; once combined with the skills of other factory workers, the artifact is created {Koplos 2}. Although it is cheaper in production costs to have a factory worker with limited knowledge of the production process, they don't have enough skills to be identified as a craftsman. Therefore, the identity of the craftsman is lost.

During my experience with hand papercutting, I felt a bit disoriented at first, but I've become a bit more familiar with it. Alike many creative processes, I've encountered problems in this project and learned to adapt to them. I think that's one of the missing points in today's production process. There's a lack of value in the creative process. We're so accustomed to obtaining things so easily and quickly that we forget to embrace the processes we experience. So far, I think this project has helped me value not only my own creative process but also my peers. The creative process considers mind and body. We think and we do things to overcome problems. I've collaborated with four very valuable people in this project so far. In our creative process, we've talked about our problems and thought up solutions to overcome them. By sharing our experiences together, we've begun to develop stronger relationships and value in our creative processes.

That's all I have to say today. Thanks for being a part of my creative process thus far.
Stay tuned for the third papercut!

 Victoria

Here's my before and after!

 Sources:
Koplos, Janet and Bruce Metcalf. “The Roots of Studio Craft.” Makers: A History of American Studio Craft. Chapel Hill: University of Northern Carolina Press, 2010. 1-8.

"Papercut." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 5 Jun. 2014. <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T065206>.

the first cut

“Climb d'em mountains & Strut like Beyonce”

 

After endless hours of sketching and cutting {10+ hrs}, I've finished my first papercut. I've created and dedicated the quote "Climb d'em mountains & Strut like Beyonce"  to Daniel and Alex {rock it out!}. I chose to hand letter with sans-serif and cursive type to create a humanist feel. I think one of the most challenging things about papercutting was deciding on what to do first. Since this was my first time papercutting, I began sketching on a scrap piece of paper to map out my hand lettering and illustrations. I made refinements and then moved onto cutting. Feel free to take a look at my process below and stay tuned for more papercuts!

Images of my process

Tools I've been working with.

First sketch was a little busy and exaggerated
the quote too much.

From the first sketch, I simplified and spaced out my
illustrations for more negative space.

After I finalized my sketch, I taped it onto a shimmery black
cover stock. I felt that the shimmer effect resembled attitude and
confidence, out there and proud of it! While I was cutting, I realized
that I forgot to plan about the counter, bowls, eyes (holes within
letters like e, r, b), so I was forced to cut them out.Then I started
cutting away and...broke many blades in the process...haha.

Mind you, I've never papercut before, so I didn't realize how
challenging cover stock was to cut {painful too}. My first cuts involved
smooth slicing, but I found it a bit hard to control...

So, I tried a different cutting technique. Instead of smooth
slicing, I used the tip of my blade to jab at the fine
details which helped create clean lines.

I placed the papercut on the wall to create a shadow effect.
I became interested in how different backgrounds communicated
different experiences with the quote.

Close up

Close up

Here's the papercut on a marble texture.

Placed on a window to use outside imagery as background.

paper project ideas

“If I were stranded on a desert island, and could have only one person and three things with me, I’d want Nietzsche, a pen, paper, and a stick-on mustache.
” ―Jarod Kintz

Found some interesting paper projects out there! Thanks for the reference Natalie. Have a look. There's a ton of fun things you can do with paper! You should try it out too! Just be careful of paper cuts.

Kelli Anderson's Typographic Paper Works

Source:

 http://kellianderson.com/blog/2013/04/paper-type-experiments/

week one { history }

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation." —Robert F. Kennedy

In ancient China, paper cutting was considered an honoured folk art as the smooth cuts on paper resembled the “spirit of line.” The “spirit of line” resembled the artist’s value for the quality of their blades which reflected the "relation between material and line" {Cheng 15}. The Chinese concept was that every line has its own perspective and is an independent whole. Yet, every part is also a continuation of a whole {Cheng 16}. It is said that "through continuous creation of their own parts and wholes,” the artists achieve serenity and happiness {Cheng 16}. Before the invention of paper in 105 AD by Ts’ai Lun, a Chinese court official, craftsmen used papyrus and silk for calligraphy, the primary reason for the invention of paper. Ts’ai Lun’s paper consisted of old rags, hemp, tree bark, and fish nets {Papercut}. Chinese papercuts were also used as decorations for windows, walls, ceilings, lanterns, and as stencils for lacquerware, pottery, and porcelain. The tools engaged in papercutting consisted of “a pair of sharp scissors, razor-edged, quill-shaped knives or pen-knives with a hone and oil for sharpening, and good-quality paper” {Papercut}. 

Since the invention of paper, different cultures have become accustomed to papercutting. From c. AD 600, waxed-paper stencils were made in Japan. In 16^th century Mexico, silhouettes were cut and sewn from bark paper by the Otami Indians as “votive offerings to the gods” {Papercut}. In England “heraldic devices” and narrative pictures were cut in animal hides. By the 17^th century, the exchange of cut-paper greeting cards was established in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland {Papercut}. In the 18^th century, home-made and cut-paper valentines became a tradition among Dutch and German Pennsylvanians in the USA. Most of these papercuts were created by amateurs and preserved as keepsakes, “although by the 18^th century pin-pricked and lace-cut papers were produced by professional papercutters for use in early valentines, New Year cards and similar items” {Papercut}. By the mid-19^th century, handcut papers were largely outmoded as the Industrial era rose with machine production {Papercut}.

Papercut work credited to Chinese paper-cuts:

 

Sources:

 A Cheng, Barbara Shen and Richard Buchanan Design Issues, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Spring, 1991), pp. 5-16 <http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.eciad.ca:2048/stable/1511402>.

"Papercut." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 5 Jun. 2014. <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T065206>.