Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Menagerie-a-Trois

Today I completed what I think will probably be my most ambitious papercut of the set. It's of the Tower of London menagerie that had been in existence since roughly 1201 to about 1835 when they were removed to the London Zoo. Here I do a really rough history of animals that had been in the collection throughout the ages. The size is about 4' x 1.5'.


Can you see:
1. A flutist playing for a lion
2. An artist painting the first elephant that many people had ever seen in Europe
3. A polar bear being taken for a walk by the menagerie keeper so that it can fish in the River Thames
4. People lining up to go into the menagerie, the admission price a cat or dog to feed to the lions
5. A dog that gets thrown in with a lion, but the lion befriends it and it continues to live with the lion
6. An elephant that get fed wine every day
7. A lion that is poked with a hot iron at exactly the right time during Queen Elizabeth I's coronation speech
8. A pipe smoking baboon
9. A monkey that is holding onto a boy's leg that he just tore off
10. An ostrich that ate 80 nails
11. Lions that can tell if you're a virgin or not?

All this and more is found in this papercut. Quite the history!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, this is probably the coolest thing I've seen all day. Most likely, all month. AWESOME!

ruby-crowned kinglette said...

extraordinary.... your work is fantastic!

21stCenturyMom said...

Love it!

Rachael Hutchings said...

All I can saw is WOW!

Unknown said...

Wow. Just wow. I can't remember how I found this blog, but I've been reading for a couple of months and am totally blown away by your talent. This papercut is amazing (I particularly love the dog/lion friendship -- so sweet). Thank you for sharing it!

Billy said...

WOW!!!

I´m in pure awe and shock thinking that this wonderful papercut is so small (if I´m not confused with the "inch-thing", it´s about 10cm x 3,5cm).

It´s absolutely beautiful, precious like a piece of jewelry.

Great work! Please continue to surprise me!

Anonymous said...

Thanks guys! I hope to keep wowing you.

Billy, I wish I could have done something so intricate so small, but no. The tick mark is for feet and not inches. I think that's a bit over a meter wide for those of you on the metric system.

homemade by jill said...

you are AMAZING! This is a creative masterpiece. I really admire your work.

Billy said...

Well, it´s great anyway! :) It´s so intricate and beautiful. What are you going to do with it?

And sorry about the foot-inch confusion!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Jill!

Billy, it took forever to do! I wouldn't suggest trying this if you want to have a social life. The pieces on the Tower are going to go up in the Education room in the Tower of London.

claudia said...

I can't speak...what you did is too wonderful!
You are really a papercut queen ;)

Unknown said...

splendid!
what a great papercut picture...such funny and interesting details. thanks for letting us know them.
where did you get your ideas from? you seem to be interested in londons's history?!

truely a wonderful work!

bye, doro.

Things Hand Made said...

I really love the clarity in your work and the way you use stories is brilliant. You have found some good stories to illustrate.

Amanda said...

this is AMAZING! you are so talented