In 1992 when we were staying in Amsterdam for a couple of months, we stumbled upon a papercutting museum. In it I saw some of the most amazing sights I had ever laid eyes on. I can’t remember which cut document I spied first – it might have been the Declaration of Independence, or the Gettysburg Address – but it was one of the “biggies” of American History and it was completely cut out of paper. That is, the words existed inside a paper frame but every bit of paper that wasn’t a letter was gone.Let’s say you took a black marker and made a thin black edge around a sheet of 8-1/2” x 11” inch paper. Then in the middle of the page you drew a black line from one edge to the other, and then drew a large round ball in the center of that line. Your next step would be to cut away all the paper that wasn’t black and what is left would be called your “papercutting” design. Now that simple little thing wouldn’t be hard to do, but what you see at the top of this page is what papercutting really is all about! The design is cut out of a single paper and the design is in one piece. Nothing is glued together.
The Dutch museum we saw was filled with things that looked like old embroidered samplers, paper “documents” and beautiful floral drawings done with pen and ink, but were all cut out of paper. There were some of the most intricate designs I had ever seen – and they were all cut with either scissors or knives. I was totally fascinated. And dumbfounded, because I had never heard of the art of papercutting before.
Sometime after I returned from Amsterdam I found a craft book on papercutting. It seems that all cultures at one time or another have had papercutting as one of their art forms. I saw a couple of things in the book that I thought I might be able to do myself, so I kept the book on my shelf for when I could call my time my own.A year or so down the road I decided to make very simple papercuttings for the female office staff where I worked. We exchanged small gifts at Christmas and I always tried to give something home-made. I made my little gifts using my handy Exacto knife and some very sharp blades. I bought 7 small frames. I found the word NOEL in a nice Christmasy font, enlarged it a bit on a photocopier, and then purchased 4 rolls of shiny wrapping paper – one each of red, green, blue and gold. I cut the paper to fit into the frames I was going to use, then very carefully cut the letters of NOEL out of the red, blue and green. I put that paper on top a solid sheet of the gold. Some were green and gold, some red and gold, etc. All the NOEL’s appeared as gold. Once done, they were placed in frames and wrapped. They looked suitably Christmasy and I gave them to my friends at Christmas. Everyone was duly impressed, but what I did was merely a baby-try at what papercutting really entails. It sounds easy, but I had to work very slowly, very carefully and very intensely. It was not fun at all, even though I was pleased at the results. However, I knew that from then on I would have to be merely an appreciator instead of an artistic paper-cutter.
I kept that book for a long time, loathe to give it up and loathe to try anything more. I finally gave it to my daughter Kerry, thinking perhaps when her girls were raised and she had a bit of spare time, she might want to give it a try. (She’s artier than I am).
I have found a website where the pictures on it are every bit as amazing as what I saw in that Dutch museum. However, I need to warn you it also is the most confusing website I have ever stumbled upon. Most of the time I end up looking at pictures of “Wolverines” but with patience I was able to finally see all their cuttings. I am hoping that the link I’ve given you below will take you to the exact place of the cuttings, and that any of you who want to see these unbelievably intricate works of art and keep running into the “Wolverines” will persevere in finding and staying in the right place. It will be worth the hunt.
So don’t take my word for it. Take a look and I think you’ll be just as shocked as I was at what some artists are able to do. Good luck, and enjoy.
http://www.news-world.us/pics/2009/03/26/beautiful-and-creative-art-of-paper-cutting/
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