Scherenschnitte (...bless you!)

An hour merrily searching the web can yield more than knitted dinosaurs (hard to believe, but true!): look what beauties I’ve found! Cindy Ferguson creates the most wonderful art from a sharpened blade and a sheet of paper (her lacewing ant lion bug is on the left). And I LOVE her mosquito life-cycle cut out. Another wonderful blend of art and science!

There's the fabulous Kako Ueda too (right). And the wonderful work of Emma van Leest to drool over.

One of my childhood 'keep-yourself-out-of-trouble-for-days' play-activities was to make cards and pictures by cutting out shapes. I remember doing an enormous Tigger out of cutting card (his stripes were tricky!)...but I didn't realise that there's actually a name out there for us like-minded card-snippers (pronounced 'shair-en-shnit-teh' apparently)!

There doesn't seem to be that much information out there (epecially not in the U.K. - but the U.S. is throwing up more sites, but not many there either - incidently, there seems to be a big religious connection...). You can purchase patterns here. In an ideal world, perhaps I should learn to draw first so I don't need to buy a pattern, but - blimey - let's be serious?! I supposed, though, all you really need is a unbroken image/photocopy from a book/the web and away you go..! 

So now I'm hooked (as well as trapped in the blind-ending sock-tube of No Return). There's a plethora of paper-cutting information here for any other people who really should be finishing off the projects they've already started...but have eyes too big for their crafting-time-slots.

A-hem.

Comments

[Eirlys]

Hi Jess! Finally found my way to your blog!

Yes, I can shed a bit of light on this scherenschnitte phenomenon. By odd chance, I'm descended from the very Pennsylvania German religious migrants (known slightly erroneously as the Pennsylvania Dutch) who were time-rich/cash-poor enough to indulge in such crafts, and are credited with inventing this twirling of cut strips of paper into perdy shapes.

You can often see examples of this trad style of scherenschnitte at the American Museum in the run-up to Christmas - check out the Pennsylvania Dutch room and its Christmas tree decs. If anyone wants a Bath Crafting Cranny group outing this year, allow me to be your guide.

- E x

[SnippetyGibbet]

Thanks for sharing the links. I visit Cindy's blog, but hadn't visited the others before.

[SnippetyGibbet]

Thanks for sharing the links. I visit Cindy's blog, but hadn't visited the others before.