Quarry books sent me this wonderful book and when I received it in the mail I was so excited to dig right in. I really love the author’s path in her life – from painter to paper cutting – which seems so similar to my own – from painting to fibers. I just really related to her. Her style is beautiful and draws on the cultural practices of paper cutting from around the world.
“Henya Michson began her career in art with sketching, drawing, and painting before she was inspired to begin papercutting. This path has led her to museum, solo and group exhibitions across the wolrd, and into the Guild of American Paper cutters. Her inspiration ranges from religion and tradition to nature and poetry. She has been a papercut artist for over 20 years.”
You can get The Art of Papercutting here, go to Quarry Book’s website to see and read about some of their other great publications.
The first few pages are actually dedicated to different traditions of paper cutting, types of paper cutting, techniques, and my favorite section – From Imagination to Image:
She shows how her sketches start in and the become more and more refined into a finished work.
The book then has a few basic projects with step by step instructions for each – the Tree and Rooster and The Heart of Love.
After that there are 35+ projects that show a full page finished project photo and have a supply list with basic instructions that are unique to that project’s construction. The back of the book is filled with wonderful templates that you can use to help make your own projects.
And here is the artist herself, at work. What a great way to frame a loved one.
I really enjoyed reading throught htis book and have already started to morph the cover from thumbing through it so much. The designs are exquised and technical skill of the artist perfected. I think my first project will be the Tree and Rooster (to get the hang of things) and then the Holiday Tree pictured on the front. I just can’t help but think what amazing book marks, greeting cards, and mini mounted wall art these would make. I have so many paper scraps and this will be just the perfect thing to use of some of them.
After working on collage last week with friends I sort of have it on the brain. Wouldn’t it be amazing to incorporate paper cutting of this detail with other mediums like water color, acrylics, and collage? I really like the way that she has used color in the above pieces. I just can’t wait to get started! Look out for some paper cutting project templates here on the blog in a few months, haha.
I know you enjoy this book as much as I do!
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I had started an Amazon Reading Room awhile ago and just never linked up to it! I had actually forgotten about it because I wasn’t all the way caught up with books I wanted to add to it – like all the books I’ve reviewed for one thing, but many other catagories to fill up too. Anyway, I’m going to add a link in the side bar called CL Reading Room and I’m going to make an active effort to update it once a week.
I’m actually back on schedule (finally!) and have slotted some time each week to update the archive and the reading room and that sort of thing.
Oh and I’m still not able to get into the mailing list back end, I am so sorry to the 450+ subscribers to it, I’m hoping to retreive all your emails and get a different service while Jason gets it figured out, but I’m not sure if I will be able to. I’ll keep you updated though, don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten.
Happy crafting!
Kristin
What a neat book! I can’t imagine drawing and cutting out so intricate.
Hi Kristin ~
For those who want to learn more, you can also search by the word “Scherenschnitte.” Did you know that Ames is home to a very talented and well-known scherenschnitte artist, Linda Emmerson? You can see her pieces on public display at Mary Greeley Medical Center, McFarland Clinic and the Ames Public Library.
Cheers!
Michelle
I always wanted to try this out. I am intimidated by the detail and the precise cut outs though. They must use a special knife, right?