Silhouettes from cut paper

By Heather on Thursday, February 9th, 2006

This could potentially be a bit cheesy. But I secretly like profile portraits made from black paper. I also like the idea of one of me and Ronan.
Here is a traditional style cut from black paper. Small scale. Delicate looking. http://www.cutarts.com/index.htm The artist, Karl Johnson, shows examples of how they are done from photos.
The artist Peter Callesen is making sculptural forms from paper. This is illustrative, image-making. And Chris Natrop is exploring the shadows with the cut paper. Very lacy, layered. Natural lines and forms. Look like twigs, trees, water and vines. I found that through ‘Paper Forest’.

At first I was just thinking something simple, like our portraits in profile. But I’d like to do something layered, perhaps with foam-core between the layers to mount them, and get shadows? I dunno. I need to play around!
The Seattle band ‘The Postal Service’ even have a nice song to sing along to while you make them: “We will become silhouettes” (page with video).
Supplies Needed:

  • - Self-healing cutting mat
  • - Small knife (got that)
  • - Stiff paper in black and white (i have white)
  • - Foamcore

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