Category: Paper

Work in Progress: Cut Paper Double Triangles

Progress on my upcoming show this fall has been going extremely well. Yesterday I lay out all of the pieces I’ve created so far to take a look at how they will hang together, and I was surprised to realized I’ve completed so many.

Work in progress paper cut design
Work in progress paper cut design

I finished this double triangle piece late last week. Looking at it yesterday I decided it needs a little more “something” to the overall composition because it feels unfinished to me and a bit boring. I played around with different papers behind the design as I was working on this.

Work in progress paper cut design
Work in progress paper cut design

Work in progress paper cut design
Work in progress paper cut design

The finished piece is made with Strathmore Drawing paper, and is 14″ x 17″ in size.

Work in progress paper cut design
Work in progress paper cut design

One Self Portrait A Month: Cutting Away

This is the sixth photo in my series of one self portrait a month in 2014. I am so happy to be half-way through the project, even though it also means we’ve reached the middle of the year.

I shot this portrait quickly and did not spend much time on a pose or expression because I was banking on hiding any flaws with paper cutting. My process was to shoot it with the iPhone, clean it up in Photoshop, print in out on regular 8.5″ x 11″ paper, cut a design by hand, and then re-photograph it.

Cutting Away

The top one is an early version, which I thought was finished at the time. The more I looked at it, the more it felt unfinished, so I worked on it some more and kept cutting.

Cutting Away (version 2)

Neither version feels perfect, but it was an experiment. I’ve had this idea in mind for ages, to combine portraits (or self portraits) with my paper cutting. Next time I need to do it differently, and better.

Tiny Paper Cut Details

I’ve been working on a papercraft commission with ReThink Communications for the last week and a half. The finished pieces are intricate set pieces made from paper, and they look incredible. This work was shot by a photographer yesterday and will be part of an ad campaign coming out later this summer. I can’t yet share the finished work, so I thought I’d hint at things to come with a few two tiny details.

Tiny birds

Tiny Maple Leaf

The project has been terrific to work on, and has given me ideas to use towards my own work. It even has me rethinking the type of paper I typically use.

Work in Progress: Triangle Shaped Cut Paper

I was inspired by the concentric circles piece to explore other shapes within shapes. I really want to do squares within squares, but first I worked with a triangle.

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I decided from the start to focus on creating clean outer edges and corners because it makes the design stronger. I went with two triangles rather than three but I think it would look more interesting if there was a third shape surrounding these two.

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The finished piece is 14″ x 17″, cut from a piece of archival white drawing paper. I backed it with both blue and red paper for a quick photo, and to compare the two colours. I think the blue is actually stronger and more striking in this case.

Work in Progress: Kirigami

If you’ve been wondering what I’ll be working on at Vancouver Mini Maker Faire this weekend, here is a sneak preview. I’d been wracking my brain for a simple idea and I decided to try kirigami style paper cutting, which is essentially fancy schmancy snowflakes out of coloured paper.

Kirigami paper cuts

Kirigami paper cuts

I am completely obsessed with making these because they are so simple and beautiful. I use a knife as my cutting tool rather than scissors. It allows me to be more intricate with the designs. I have a pile of the cut off pieces and they look almost as interesting as the rest of the pieces.

Kirigami paper cuts

Kirigami paper cuts

I’m doing some of the preparation for this in advance but mostly I’ll be working on this throughout Maker Faire weekend. I’m curious to see how large an installation I can create over two days.

Etsy Shop Update: Meditative Drawings

Just a quick note about new work in my Etsy Shop. I decided to list for sale some of the many meditative geometric drawings I’ve been doing in recent months. At the moment there are only three, but by tomorrow I will add four more.

Each one is a unique abstract drawing using silver gel pen on a piece of 8.5″ x 11″ black cardstock.

Silver-pen-drawing1
Original Geometric Drawing in Silver Pen on Etsy »

Silver-pen-drawing2
Geometric Abstract Drawing in Silver on Black Paper »

Silver-pen-drawing3
Geometric Abstract Drawing in Silver on Black Paper »

Click the links below each photo to view the listing with additional detail images of each drawing.

Paper Cut Work: Concentric Circles

I’ve been working on this paper cut piece for the last week and just finished it today. I was inspired to make something with concentric circles after exploring ideas for a recent commission of a series of small pieces. This one is personal work for an upcoming show.

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I took a few photos as I made progress, and kept wishing I could’ve shot a timelapse of the entire process. I will do this with a future piece with a bit more planning.

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The finished paper cut design is backed here with red paper to better show off the line work. This is cut from a piece of 14″ x 17″ Strathmore drawing paper in medium weight, and the diameter of the circles is 12.25″.

More work from this series can be seen here and here.

Work in Progress: Circle Shaped Cut Paper

The two small circle shaped paper cut pieces I shared last week led to work on a larger one. I need to create new work for an upcoming show in the fall, and I want these to be larger than previous pieces.

I’ve been working with tyvek a bit lately (on something I haven’t yet shared on the blog) and it felt weird to be cutting paper. The texture felt rougher after the smooth and easy cutting tyvek.

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Work in progress paper cut

The full size of this work is 14″ x 17″ archival drawing paper. The paper cut design is about 11.5″ in diameter.

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I like this same idea at the larger size because the shapes and lines have become even more intricate. I can’t wait to get working on another one but perhaps end in a different overall form.

These are photos I took as I worked on this and shared on Instagram. Follow along there for daily updates of what I’m working on.

Etsy Shop Update: Paper Cut Circles

I was recently feeling my output of completed artwork has slowed down, mostly because I am focused on larger projects that will take a long time to complete. So last week I decided to put the big projects aside and do a few small quick pieces.

I wanted to take the idea I’d explored with the heart paper cuts of creating my freehand designs within a set final shape. I chose a circle, and used a compass to draw an outline on the page. I created one white version backed with black paper, and one black version backed with white paper.

Paper Cut Circles-5

Paper Cut Circles-8
Listing for this on Etsy »

Paper Cut Circles

Paper Cut Circles-4
Listing for this on Etsy »

Both pieces are made from 8.5″ x 11″ cardstock and hinged to a contrasting piece of paper for framing. I’ve made them available for purchase through my Etsy shop.

Published in Paper Play

I’m pretty thrilled to share that two of my paper cut vessels are amongst the amazing selection of work included in a new book of paper art. Paper Play is edited and published by Sandu Cultural Media.

Paper Play-Rachael Ashe-1

Paper Play-Rachael Ashe-2

Normally I would recommend buying it from a small independent book store, but we’re running out of those in Vancouver. You can of course always find it on Amazon.