Before starting another 3D paper cut piece last week I decided to do a few small sketches to work out an idea I’ve had in my head for the last while. I wanted to make two half circles slightly offset at the centre, and cut these with 3D leaf shapes.

I drew outlines on a scrap piece of paper and did two different sketches, one working from the centre outwards and the other moving from one side to the other. I didn’t actually like the results (which made me so glad I’d decided to sketch this idea first), because it felt clunky and stiff.

I decided the outer shape needed to be curved and graceful to guide the flow of the cutting, so I roughed out a third sketch and only partially finished it because it felt right at last. I moved onto working with a large piece of paper, and will shared progress on it another time.

One of the things I’m hoping to do with the finished piece that has come out of this sketching is frame it with the 3D bits hidden. What is usually the back of these will be displayed as the front. It looks something like the backlit example I have included here (but it won’t have light within the frame).

I’m glad paper cut sketching is becoming an important part of my process once again.