I think I initially created this piece of work two years ago, and I’ve never been completely satisfied with it. I made it with two separate cut layers, and it didn’t quite work. I decided it was time to take it apart and do something more to it. I drew a third concentric circle (that my compass was almost not large enough to handle) and started cutting it more. You can see the original version of this on Flickr, photographed with the layers flat.

I always photograph pieces as I go along because it helps me realize how quickly I can work. I pushed myself at the end of last week to make it to the half-way point with the third circle.

Today I pushed myself to finish off the remaining second half, and I managed to do it. Pictured here is the point I reached just before taking a lunch break. It feels good to have made this piece larger. I think it makes it stronger than the original layered version.

I took a short Hyperlapse video of me working on this towards the end. It’s another interesting way to record and reflect on my process and progress.

A video posted by Paper artist (@rachael_ashe) on Aug 1, 2016 at 4:47pm PDT

Last week felt productive in the studio when I finally finished two of the three wearable art pieces. I cut the remaining blue flower bits and figured out how to bring it all together into a necklace using wire, beads, and a pre-made metal neck-sized ring that I found at DeSerres. I could have done a victory lap around the block because it felt so good to reach the end of some of this work.

The end, except for the nagging thought I just can’t seem to shake, that this needs a few more strands to REALLY make it awesome. I’m holding off on that for now until after I finish the third wearable.

The triangle piece is also finished, and I’m having similar thoughts about it – that it could use a few more strands of hand cut pieces (which probably means an additional forty).

This week I’ve switched projects again and I’m back working on paper wearable number two, or is it three?! There are definitely three of these on the go, but I think I originally started this second, and the red one first. I still need to go back to that first paper wearable and get it sorted out because it’s been sitting there unfinished for a couple of weeks.

These blue pieces are similar to the red ones as they are flower shapes cut from circles, but on a slightly smaller scale that is driving me a little nuts. It has to be this way in order for the wearable idea to work. I have about eight more of the above pieces to cut and then I can arrange and assemble them. I can hardly wait.

This pile of triangle pieces are the offcuts from the flowers, and they are incredibly tiny, around an eighth of an inch or so. They are adorable in person.

Up until recently I got a little sidetracked by working on my website rather than in the studio. But last week I made some major progress on the triangle wearable. The photo above is of the first version from a few weeks ago, and the second photo (positioned in a spiral) was after I added more material. I kept looking at this second version and felt it needed even more.

I cut an additional eighty triangles (twenty of each colour), and added them to the piece. There are six strands measuring roughly sixteenish inches long. I improvised a makeshift clasp so I could try it on and get a sense for how it should hang on a body. It’s working very well, but I still feel it needs a bit more material added to it because I want it to be denser.

My next steps are figuring out how to make a proper clasp and attachment from wire. I’m hoping to get this and two other pieces finished in time for the beginning of July because photos are due then of the work.