Chicken bald back

[bluekarin]

I have just started getting into this craft. Well, I have admired it for a year or so now, but have finally bought a craft knife and had a go. It's rather addictive! I just want to keep cutting out pictures. I went out and bought Craftseller mag today as it had a load of free templates from one of my fave paper cutting artists, Paperpanda I wondered if anyone else was into it too.

[Plum]

Wow very intricate, I'm far too hamfisted but would love to see what anyone has done. Egluntyne likes paper and card

[Olly]

Forgive my ignorance, so this is cutting by hand rather than using a die?

It looks really pretty, but complicated, not sure I'd have the manual dexterity - do let us see what you make.

 

By the way, be careful with the craft knife ... they are rather sharp. Ask me how I know!

[Daphne]

Go on then, how do you know?

[Olly]

To be fair, I have only ever nicked myself with a craft knife. Rotary cutter blades are also quite sharp

 

I well remember my calligraphy teacher complaining that when he cut his hand with a scalpel and needed a surgical repair, the surgeon used an identical scalpel to the one that had inflicted the injury!

[bluekarin]

It's done by hand, with no cutting dies The first one I did I pressed to hard and have made my thumb a bit numb But I have done several now and am loving them. I need to get a glass cutting mat as the self healing one I have doesn't help with cutting curves. Apparently glass helps the paper move better and you get a smoother curve.

 

I used to work in a graphic designers doing paste up work so have used cutting knives before. I did an impressive wound back then when the knife I was using slipped over the metal rule I was using and sliced the top of my thumb off! It was only a little bit, about the size of my little finger nail, but I still have the scar.

 

Here is my first paper cut picture I have done. Designer - Paper Panda.

 

[Cat tails]

Very pretty!

 

I used to do that too, but then with scissors.

[Plum]

Wonderful. Could you print through it now if you wanted?

[bluekarin]

Must have been very tricky doing teeny spaces with scissors! It was hard enough with a sharp scalpel!

 

I guess you could print through if you wanted to, but I think you'd need to have thicker card otherwise it might disintegrate. The idea is you mount these with a different colour background, or do infills of different colours, whatever you like really. They look really impressive mounted in a floating mount (two sheets of glass so the picture 'floats' between them) with a bold background colour

[Daphne]

Love it

[Luvachicken]

Very pretty

[Valkyrie]

Ooh lovely. Er, could be adapted as applique - The Little Brown Bird quilt has Scherenschnitte blocks.

 

But yes, I've made templates with a craft knife - luckily not inflicted injury with the blade, but pressed so hard that my index finger got quite sore!

[Cat tails]

Try scissors! Much easier and kinder on your fingers.

The scissors I used looked like the small metal ones you use to clip threads when embroidering.