The Great Thank You Giveaway

August 22, 20134 Comments

As a thank you to those who support my art and follow my progress on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr, I’ve decided to do a giveaway contest. I’ve put together a collection of some of the small items I sell on Etsy, and all you have to do to win it is leave a comment on this blog post.

The prize package includes:

A 5″ x 7″ portfolio of recent paper cut work.

Two postcard sets; one of the Imaginary Girl series, and one of the Collage postcards.

One 6″ x 6″ bird collage made from recycled paper.

If you’d like to win, please leave a comment and include your email address. That’s all you have to do.

The contest closes on Monday August 25th at 10am. I will do a random draw to choose the winner from amongst the comments. Good luck!

The Seeds of Sewing

August 20, 20132 Comments

Over the summer months I’ve gotten into sewing, purely out of a desire to spruce up our apartment. I’ve had a few little projects in mind for ages but until recently I didn’t have my own sewing machine.

For home improvement project number one I wanted to make new slip covers for the throw pillows that came with our couch. I’ve always disliked the fabric, but rather than buying new pillows I decided to sew covers and choose a fabric to add more colour to the room. Dressew was my source for the bold yellow fabric I came away with.

I sewed them without a pattern but found some ideas online to use as reference. Anne advised and assisted me with the sewing as it’s been a really long time since I’ve used a sewing machine. We finished them in about an hour and a half.

The slip covers were the gateway project that led me to buying a sewing machine of my own, because I knew I wanted to make more things. I went with the tiny and inexpensive SY sewing machine from Ikea because I’d read a review that recommended it as a good starter machine.

And the next thing I knew I was sewing curtains for the bedroom, once again using fabric sourced from Dressew. As with the pillow cases I did not use a pattern. I kept things simple with minimal detail, and sewed together the patterned fabric with a white backing to block out light. My hanging solution was to purchase curtain rings to clip to the top and not have to fuss about with something more complicated.

I still have so much to learn about sewing, but at least I am learning as I go. I have another project in mind, still sticking with simple straight lines, but eventually I hope to tackle making my own clothes.

Artist Trades in Paper

August 14, 2013

A few times a year I arrange to trade work with other artists. It goes something like this: they like my artwork, and I like their artwork and so we work out a deal and make an exchange of work.

My most recent trade is with origami artist, Joseph Wu. Over the last few years he’s very generously given me a few pieces, including the two lovebirds he made in memorial to Yuuki, and the lunar new year water dragon pictured below.

It was only after I commissioned Joseph to create an origami portrait of my friend’s dog for his fortieth birthday that we agreed to do an exchange for one of my paper cut pieces.

I took a short video on Instagram as I was working on the paper cut piece:

The finished size is 10″ x 10″, and is made up of two separate sections cut from a single piece of paper. The tricky part was mounting these into the cradle frame without destroying the work because there wasn’t a lot of room to maneuver.

It’s a lovely continuation of my Wind and Water paper cut series. Now I just need to get it into Joseph’s hands.

Circles and Animals: Koi

August 12, 2013

Not all animals seem to lend themselves to this series but koi certainly do. This is the fifth piece in the on-going Circles and Animals series, and I’ve yet to decide upon the next animal to include.

(Previous Circles and Animals: Fox, snail, owl, crow)

Unlike the other ones in the series I’ve included two creatures instead of one in the same piece. It made more sense to me in terms of composition. The Koi is 12″ x 12″ and is made with two pieces of archival drawing paper within a wood cradle panel.

I will have time to return to making more pieces in this series later this week. Let me know if you have a suggestion for the next animal.

Circles and Animals: The Fox

August 8, 2013

The Fox is the fourth piece in the Circles and Animals series. (Previous work in the series: snail, owl, crow). He’s a bit more wolfy looking than I’d intended, with a touch of coyote. Call this animal what you will, but I’m sticking with fox.

As with others in this series, this is cut from two pieces of archival white drawing paper and mounted within a cradle panel. The challenge as I continue to work on this series is to make each one unique while using the same circle cut layering technique.

I finished two of these last week, and will share the second one in another blog post. In case you’re wondering, these are for sale, so please do inquire.

Hot Talks @ Hot Art Wet City with Mark Busse

August 6, 2013

Our August speaker for Hot Talks @ Hot Art Wet City gallery is the lovely and opinionated, Mark Busse. He’s one of the principles of Industrial Brand, and is the community organizer behind events such as Creative Mornings, Likemind Vancouver, and Interesting Vancouver.

CREATIVITY IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT:
How engaging in creative leadership saved my career and life

Complaining about shit sometimes seems like a Vancouver pastime. I know I do it too. But I also try to invest my time, energy and creativity in as many causes as I can. And despite a fear of public speaking or being found out as a fraud, I force myself to say yes to nearly every scary opportunity that comes my way — like giving this Hot Talk for instance.

(Read the full talk description here).

Come hear Mark speak on August 29th at 7pm. Get your tickets online through eventbrite, and do it soon because they will sell out.

Hot Talks: Mark Busse
Hot Art Wet City
Date: August 29th, 2013
Time: Doors 6:30, talk 7pm
Address: 2206 Main Street, Vancouver

Circles and Animals: The Crow

August 1, 2013

The Crow is the third in my Circles and Animals paper cut series. I finished him last Tuesday and by the next day it was purchased by someone who follows me on Instagram. It makes my head spin a bit when things find a home so quickly.

It was a no-brainer to include a crow in this series because they are a fascinating bird (one of my favourites), and also an unofficial symbol of East Vancouver. I chose to keep the details minimal in the bird because a crow’s black body is a silhouette by default.

At some point soon I may make these available as prints and products on Society6. I would love a crow pillow, or maybe even a laptop cover. In the meantime the series has continued. I finished two more animals earlier this week, which you can see a preview of on Instagram.

Translating Paper Cut Work Into Laser Cut Designs

July 30, 20136 Comments

Last week I booked a time slot at the Laser Cutting Cafe to try out having some of my paper cut work fabricated into other materials. I took two files with me to experiment with and came away with some very lovely results.

Since my previous visit to the Cafe, Derek (the owner) had acquired an even larger laser cutter than the previous two he has on site. It has a larger bed and a more powerful laser, and this is the machine I worked with.

Here you can see the file of my artwork on-screen. To create it I scanned the original, cleaned it up in Photoshop and then converted it into an outline using Illustrator. The highlighted bit indicates the area where the laser is currently positioned as it cuts.

I created two version of this piece using different materials. One is cut into an 8″ x 8″ wood cradle panel, and the other is etched into the surface of a piece of white mat board. I sized the artwork smaller than the original and I think some of the pieces that make up the word were a bit too tiny for the laser so there is some fine detail missing. Overall though, it is amazing to see this work translated into other materials.

The second artwork file I brought with me was the one I most wanted to see. I scanned one of the repeating crescent paper cut designs I’d created last year for the culture crawl, and chose a piece of 20″ x 12″ bamboo board to cut it into.

Watching the laser cutter reproduce something I’d made by hand was pretty weird but exciting. It took about half an hour to complete because the design is so intricate, and the material is fairly thick.

The finished piece is fantastic and so very beautiful. It smells a lot like a campfire, even days later.

I am so pleased with this experiment because it confirms a few ideas I’ve had around translating much of my work into other more durable materials than paper. The possibilities are endless.

Circles and Animals Series: Paper Cut Grumpy Owl

July 25, 2013

The selection of animals I am choosing for this series is a bit random, but I’m okay with that. I’m basing my choices on animals I like, but also one ones I think will translate well into the medium of paper cutting.

When I first made this owl I didn’t really like him, but his grumpy little face grew on me. I think owls lend themselves nicely to a composition full of circles.

The finished size for this is 12″ x 12″. I decided to make two layers of circle cut paper instead of three because it gets trickier to fit the pieces together at this larger size. I’ve also started to collect the pieces of circular paper I cut away because I may use them for another idea.

The grumpy owl was joined yesterday by an elegant paper cut crow, and a as yet unfinished little fox. The list of circles and animals in the series is slowly growing.

Circles and Animals: Paper Cut Snail

July 23, 2013

I finished the snail paper cut artwork just before I went on vacation last week but I didn’t have enough time to share it. I am very pleased with this one. It has turned out so beautifully, and I adore the delicate little snail.

I have an affection for snails, and have become fascinated with them over the last few years. There are a few different snails that often hang out on the outside of the front window of our apartment because they’re attracted to the fallen seeds from the bird feeder. Not everyone thinks snails are cute, but I do. (Oh those expressive little eyestalks…)

There are three layers of circle cut paper within the wood cradle panel, and the finished size is 12″ x 9″. The snail itself is about three inches long.

I will be making more of these with snails eventually, but for now I’ve started working on other animals. I’ll share the completed owl paper cut later this week, and there is also a crow now in-progress.

Canvas to the Imagination

Rachael Ashe – Art | Craft | Life