Reversibles!

I made this one from a template and didn't mess up the white, so now I have two scherenschnittes of birds!



This one is modeled after some taxidermied birds I saw last summer when I went to the Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.

Worship the Nut

It's been a while, sorry! I finally moved into my apartment and got everything put away and now I can make squirrel scherenschnitte to my heart's content. This was made in anticipation of an exciting video that I will be posting within the next week. Check back soon!

Learning How To Papercut

This post is nice because it also updates my Goose Girl blog. I haven't been able to do any papercuts because of various reasons—reading Harry Potter, getting ready for the garage sale, recovering from the garage sale—I think this will help me get back into the swing of things.

A little while ago, I got a disc of patterns for Scherenschnitte from a member of my scherenschnitte yahoo group that I haven't been very active in. I used these templates to help teach my Family Home Evening group how to papercut. They all did very well.

Here's Andy's. He did the 3 Blind Mice.


Terry did a good one of a kitten getting into a fish bowl.


Kristina made some pelicans.


Joseph won the award for skinniest cut with his Tom Sawyer papercut.


Meredith took to scherenschnitte like a fish takes to water.


Oh my gosh, I did some unicorns.


Stacy made some cute kitties.


I made the beginnings of a squirrel garland.


And Sharon, the newest member of our group, took on one of the toughest patterns and did an excellent job. She's going to take the rest of the templates to her second grade class for an activity.


After all that hard work, we needed some sustenance. Andy and I went to Burgermaster and ate some tasty burgers.


Burgers are so tasty!

Flowers for Claire

A long time ago Claire commissioned me to make some flowers for her and because I'm so on top of things, I've finally gotten around to it a year later. I don't know if this is what she had in mind, but they are scherenschnitte of flowers from her sister's garden. If you don't like them, Claire, no purchase necessary. I really like how the Columbines turned out.

32

I took a picture of some birds sitting on a wire outside of the Hilltop Service Station on Capitol Hill right across from Sonic Boom. It was my 32nd birthday (way back in March) and I thought what a great scherenschnitte this would make.

Harlequin Beetle

Acrocinus longimanus

Threadwing Ant Lion

Nemoptera sinuata

Corn Thrips

Frankliniella occidentalis

All I can say about this scherenschnitte is that Kristina Westbrook is a genius and don't try to cut those little wings in bad light. I would be interested in seeing one of these in real life someday.

Mayfly

Ephemera danica

Because You're One of My Favorites

Brigham turned 30 today and he has a nice friend, Sariah, who sent out little postcards to all his friends and asked them to create some art on them and send them to him. Without letting him know what it was for, I text messaged him asking what kind of papercut he would like. He replied that he would like a giant squid fighting the grim reaper and a shark, or just a giant squid. I opted to have the giant squid fight the shark. Happy Golden Birthday Brigham!

Crane Fly Scherenschnitte

I went to stake conference today and chose to sit in the back of the room on the stage so that I could hunker up and cut out some insects rather than stare at all the people as I am wont to do. It helps me listen, really, it does.

Tipula longicornis

Timberman Scherenschnitte

Acanthocinus aedilis

I'm Ready For the Drop, Joe

It's taken me forever to get around to it, but I've finally finished the Cherry tree scherenschnitte I had promised to create for Joe to trade for some of his art. I hope you guys like it!


Claire, yours is up next!

Kids Silhouette

I wanted to try my hand at the silhouette. This weekend I went to visit my old friend from home, Melanee, and her family. I did one of her 5- and 3-year olds. I think they turned out pretty good. I haven't done profiles of little kids and they are harder to draw because their proportions aren't the same as ours. This gave me a lot of respect for the guy who did my silhouette in Salzburg who just did it with scissors in five minutes.

Wild Swans

Hans Christian Andersen wrote one of my favorite stories called The Wild Swans. It's about a princess who has a wicked stepmother, as most princesses do. She also has 11 brothers who the wicked stepmother turns into swans. After doing that she banishes the princess to live with peasants in the forest. Somehow she finds out she's a princess and that the way to undo the curse on her brothers is to make them shirts of stinging nettle. If anyone has ever felt the sting of nettle, it's not fun. The catch is that she has to do this without speaking a word until she's done. Of course while she's making the shirts, a king falls in love with her and marries her. The townspeople think she's a witch and just as they're about to burn her, she finishes the shirts and frees her brothers and her tongue and proclaims herself innocent of witchery and everyone lives happily ever after. I love that story.

I cheated with the shirts and made a net and there are only 6 swans instead of 11, it's okay. Don't cry about it.

P.S. I fell on the bus and sprained my hand/wrist and it just now healed. I'm still worried I might have carpal tunnel syndrome, but not as much.

Birds on a Wire

I got this little vertical frame from the thrift store (6"x3.5") that I had no idea what to do with. I've been wanting to do some birds on wires for a while and thought this would be the perfect frame for them. I'm trying something new and using aged paper in the background. I know this isn't archival, but neither is the frame. I think, with my sophomoric knowledge of blade use, that doing the birds on a wire bigger would be better in the future.

40th & Corliss

7 a.m.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

I did this seahorse scherenschnitte a while ago but forgot to post it. I think the horse turned out really pretty. I love the fins.

Crows Scherenschnitte

I love to look at the shapes of trees in the winter, they are so intricate. They remind me of when my friend Kellie tried to teach me about the chaos theory.

Music & Lyrics

I'm going to go see a movie tonight with one of my top 5 friends. We're going to see Music and Lyrics. I made her a ballerina scherenschnitte. I hope she loves it!



I didn't concept this one myself though, I stole the idea from Threadless. It works so perfectly for Erin though.

Bear Murdering Puma Scherenschnitte

Here's one for my unrequited love ex-boyfriend Damian. The bear is not actually murdering the puma, but he's about to.

Bird Scherenschnitte

The school of law at SU is having an auction. I think it's to help out law students. I can't remember. My co-worker's partner is in charge of getting pieces to auction off. Natalie asked if anyone in the office would be able to pitch in some sort of talent. I thought birds would be something that people would like to bid on, so I made one!

Squirrel Scherenschnitte

My friend Suzanne came to visit and me, Nathaniel and Suzanne took a ferry ride over to Bremerton to visit Nathaniel's parent's. On the way there, I asked for some suggestions on things that I could cut and Suzanne said a squirrel and a city. So I made a squirrel village! Squirrels running around everywhere.

Biblical Scherenschnittes

I wanted to make something for the two families that inspire me most in my ward. This one I made for the Halls. It's of the Tree of Life.


The other one is of a shepherd. This one is for the Londons.


I modeled it after a statue I saw in the Vatican of Christ that I thought was just gorgeous.

Hummingbird Scherenschnitte

I asked my mom if she wanted me to make her a scherenschnitte for Christmas and she said yes. I asked her what of and she said she didn't know. I said, how about a hummingbird? She said that would be great! Here it is. I think it turned out a little bit Tord Boontje but that's okay because he's really awesome.

Octopus Scherenschnitte

My friend Jane wanted a scherenschnitte for her birthday of an octopus. I love how this turned out with all the bubbles and everything.

Swallow Papercut

I thought I'd try making a folded papercut. I love the feeling you get when you unfold the paper to see your creation. I also love how the swallows meet at the center.

Owl Scherenschnitte

So I had a competition on my regular blog wherein the 20,000th visitor would win a free papercutting. She wanted an owl, so I gave her two!

Chinese Paper Cuts

So I went into work today and found a little gift on my desk. One of my co-workers (and friends) Nani had been to a going out of business sale and found at the back of the store a little packet of Chinese papercuts. She was nice enough to give them to me. Here are two of my favorites:

Horny Penguins Papercut

Today is my friend Bev's birthday. I asked Bev what her favorite animal was and her favorite thing to do. She said her favorite animal was Animal from the Muppets or penguins. Her favorite thing to do is kissing, then music or snowboarding. I figured it would be easier to do kissing penguins than anything else. Happy Birthday Bev!

Spiderwort Papercut

A few weeks ago, my friend Sara Egbert did a huge favor for me and took a group of people on a tour of the Washington Arboretum. She was an excellent tour guide and I felt like giving her a nice thank you. I asked her what her favorite flower was and she said the Trillium or the Spiderwort and since the only one I could find that would lend itself to nice papercutting was the Spiderwort, I did the Spiderwort.

Papercuts at the Puyallup

I went down to the Puyallup Fair last weekend and saw this cool papercut at the Puyallup Fair in the papercraft section. It was done by a woman named Nancy Courtney. I like the 3D effect.


Then, in the collections section, someone had this displayed. It's not a papercut, more of a plastic mold, but it could easily be altered into a papercut.

Mosquito Life Cycle Papercut

Dear Kim,
You are turning 32 in 7 more days. This is what your birthday present looks like. I couldn't wait until next Friday to post it. Sorry if this brings you bad luck.
Love,
Cindy

For those that don't know her, Kim is an entomologist. This means she's not afraid to touch bugs ... spiders are a different story. She requested the life cycle of a mosquito for her Scherenschnitte. I don't know if she was serious or not, but she got it!

Sequim Periwinkle Papercut

Last August, Dan Heintz from the Heintz Berry Farm out in Sequim did a fireside for the Single Adults out here in the Seattle Washington North Stake. His topic was Bloom Where You're Planted, a fitting topic for a berry farmer. During the talk, he mentioned that if he were a flower that he thought he would be a periwinkle. He said it was a very useful plant, it's flower wasn't too showy, but it had a subtle beauty. I had never seen a periwinkle plant before so I researched it on the internet. Then, while walking the streets of Seattle, I saw them everywhere. The blue is very pretty. This was the frame I used originally to send it to him, but I opted to use a wooden one I got at the thrift store and I placed a bright olive green paper in the background.