3D paper cut kirigami cityscape

I've just noticed that this is my 101st post! Good excuse for celebrating with a nice cup of tea I think, especially after a busy weekend of camping in Cornwall and going to the Boardmasters festival!

I finished this paper cut cityscape this week. It's made using a technique called 'kirigami', a japanese word describing the art of cutting and paper folding to make 3D sculptures. I had a go at it before, but my measurements were a bit off on my last attempt and it turned out wonky!

To my relief, this one came out fine! There's a yellow piece of paper behind, held up to the window to let the light through.

If I did it again, I would break the skyscraper down into sections, rather than long panels as it is now because they bow and bend too easily.

The forward facing steps (above) were really hard to fold! I did it by gently pressing along the edge of the knife from the back.

I quite like how it looks backed with white paper too.

But my favourite view of it is with a strong light shining directly behind, casting shadows from all the doorways and windows. It would make a great feature light!

Because it's paper, it can't really support itself and it was really tricky to hold it in the right place while taking a photo with the other hand!

This is how it started life. I measured out the buildings and cut out all the windows with a craft knife. Then came the fiddly business of folding!

Not sure I'll be attempting one of these again in a hurry!

Those of you who've popped over from my Facebook page will probably know that I've also been working on a doodle this week. I can now reveal that it is lined up to feature in Doodle Arts Magazine, which I am SO excited about!

 And that's all for today!

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs:  Handmade Harbour, Manon Popje's Illustrations, Nifty Thrifty Things, Be Different Act Normal and Tatertots and Jello.

3D paper cut buildings

We've had a very busy and enjoyable weekend down in South Devon seeing family and friends, but Sunday evening has, yet again, arrived too soon. It has a horrible habit of turning up when it's least wanted!

It's not been a quiet week craft-wise either.

I'm so happy to have finally framed this paper cut. From finding the perfect shade of olive green to tracking down a suitable-size frame, it took the whole of Saturday morning but I think it was worth it.

It turns out Sainsbury's is a good place for frame shopping! The raised layered mount really suits the paper cut.

I have a to-do list in my bedside table which is where I record ideas for art and crafts which fleetingly pop into my head. I write them down because I'm bound to forget about them if I don't, and when I have some spare time, I work on one.

This idea was for a paper cut resembling knitted fabric. Although I trawled the internet for knitted folds falling in just the right way, I couldn't find anything which matched the image in my head, so I grabbed a jumper, threw it down and took my own reference photo!

It's raised in places because it's not stuck down yet. I can never make up my mind about finishing touches and once an idea's been ticked off my list I move onto the next without spending time on boring bits like mounting and framing!

Another idea is this 3D architectural paper cut, inspired by the amazing creations of by Marc Hagan-Guirey of Paper Dandy. This style of paper cut involving folding is known as 'kirigami'. My first one was small and a little rough (you can see the lines from incorrect folds in the top two small buildings), but it left me full of ideas for more.

The next one I cut was a little more ambitious, but my measuring let me down, making it a bit wonky!

Can you see the cuts extending from the tops of the buildings on the right hand side? Well, they shouldn't be there!

They look lovely with light coming from behind them. Here's a photo including my mitt for scale.

 Below is how they start life, on a flat sheet of paper with lots of measuring involved!

I'm not finished with them yet though, watch this space for more!

While at Mum and Dad's this weekend I 'borrowed' their scanner and printer to prepare my next design ready for paper cutting. I drew it out by hand on a piece of white A4 paper, scanned it in, and printed it out on dark blue. I find it easier to draw designs out first on rough paper so that any rubbings out don't damage the good quality paper. If they're A4, it's then easy to copy them onto the chosen paper for cutting.

Finally, I'll leave you to ponder what I could possibly do with these tiles and glue! As an art and craft blogger I've been invited to take part in a mosaic competition by Topps Tiles who sent these materials out to me to play with. I'll be working on my entry this week and hopefully including it in next week's blog post!

I'm linking to today's post on the following blogs: Handmade Harbour, Weekend Doings, Be Different Act Normal and Manon Popje's Illustrations.