Papercutting: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Learning the Craft
By Claudia Hopf
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Read more from Claudia Hopf
Papercutting Pattern Book: 275 Original Designs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Papercutting Through the Year: 275 Patterns for Holidays and Seasonal Celebrations Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
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Reviews for Papercutting
6 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The book does not talk much about tips, tools and techniques as you would imagine. However, for the craft, it is more of a self-learning thing so maybe that's what the author was going for: a brief intro to the craft. It is more for seeing the papercutting world.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Three sections -History and many examples from all cultures-How to with many cool patterns by the author. This section is not dumbed down. She offers reasonably challenging examples with a photo of her finished work using the pattern.-A gallery of the most interesting current and vintage work by various artists.These are not just silhouettes. Most are very colorful.Possibly the best book on the subject. Most informative.
Book preview
Papercutting - Claudia Hopf
indulgence.
INTRODUCTION
The papercutting above, a Pennsylvania Dutch birth and baptismal certificate with traditional motifs, was created in Dauphin County in 1810. THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, GIFT OF MRS. ROBERT W. DEFOREST, 1933 (34.100.69) PHOTOGRAPH © 2006 THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
Since the 1960s, I have been collecting examples of papercuttings and information on the craft. This research resulted in several magazine articles and books on patterns and the history of papercutting. While my husband was curator of collections at the Landis Valley Museum in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the mid-1960s, the museum acquired a Pennsylvania Dutch birth and baptismal certificate on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It had a lacey look about it, and was covered with vines, birds, flowers, and double-headed eagles surrounding a heart in which the information was written. I was inspired to try to copy the design. Dull scissors produced a crude cutting, but shortly after, a friend gave me his surgical scissors to try—and what a difference it made. By 1967, I was working full-time as a cutter, writer, and teacher of the art of scherenschnitte .
Claudia Hopf at work. PHOTO BY KYLE WEAVER
While it may not be apparent to the casual viewer, papercutting in one form or another has been or is being used in all cultures worldwide, particularly in the indigenous folk cultures. It expresses social, religious, or family traditions, particularly in Chinese, Jewish, Polish, and Mexican cuttings.
The types and variations of papercutting are endless. The papers today are unlimited in variety as well— colorful origami and shiny Polish papers, the many forms and textures of Japanese rice paper, wallpapers, fine tissue papers, German and Swiss glue-backed papers, black silhouette papers, wrapping and metallic papers, and even printed magazine and catalog papers. There are also many cutting tools to choose from and experiment with: surgical, pinking, contour, and edging scissors; sheepshears; craft knives; scalpels; and stamping tools, such as chisels and paper punches. There are books available on how to cut in the Chinese, Japanese, Polish, and Pennsylvania Dutch traditions.
A 1969 cutting by Claudia Hopf, inspired by a decorated redware plate by David Spinner (active 1800–11) of Melford, Pennsylvania.
In this book I will share my style and technique with you, drawing from a combination of Pennsylvania Dutch cutting with a single sheet of paper, Persian miniature style painting, and illuminated manuscript borders.
It is traditionally believed that true paper was invented in China around 105 A.D. For several hundred years, it remained precious and scarce. When the Muslims captured Samarkand, a territory of present-day Russia, in 712 A.D. , they learned from the Chinese living there how to make paper from flax and other