I have wanted to try papercutting for a long time. I bought an Exacto knife at Harrogate a couple of years ago. I bought a book, or maybe two. I have paper. But I never cut it. Why? No idea! I knew a class would give me the push though, so when I saw one advertised at Two Little Magpies, and on a weekend, I jumped at the chance. If you live near Nottingham, I definitely recommend these classes. They are such good value. It wasn't expensive, and not only did we get the expert tuition, coffee and biscuits, we also got to take away our knives, a spare blade, a pile of templates printed on lovely paper AND the cutting mat!
We started with a little practice. We worked from the back, and then turned over to see the results. I started with the easy shapes at the top and then moved on to some curved shapes and some letters. Can you guess Z's name? (as if it wasn't obvious anyway!!).
Please turn your screen upside down for this shot! This is the first go at a "proper" template. It was quite chunky and was numbered from 1, starting with the easier shapes and getting harder. After that we had free reign to try any of the templates we'd been given. There was a huge variety and some seemed very hard for a beginner, but we were assured we could do it. And we could!
Here's what I started with - remember you cut from the back. Apparently it varies from designer to designer, but on this one you cut out the lighter colour, leaving the dark colour as the finished product.
Like this! Yay! It was only a 2 hour class, but I had plenty of time to cut another.
This was a bit tricky because of the curves, but mainly because I was getting a little tired. The class actually ran over as the tutor is far too lovely to kick people out. I was the first one to leave as I had plans but others stayed there cutting. I have more templates to tackle and I will! I thoroughly enjoyed this craft and it's something I definitely want to do more of.
We started with a little practice. We worked from the back, and then turned over to see the results. I started with the easy shapes at the top and then moved on to some curved shapes and some letters. Can you guess Z's name? (as if it wasn't obvious anyway!!).
Please turn your screen upside down for this shot! This is the first go at a "proper" template. It was quite chunky and was numbered from 1, starting with the easier shapes and getting harder. After that we had free reign to try any of the templates we'd been given. There was a huge variety and some seemed very hard for a beginner, but we were assured we could do it. And we could!
Here's what I started with - remember you cut from the back. Apparently it varies from designer to designer, but on this one you cut out the lighter colour, leaving the dark colour as the finished product.
Like this! Yay! It was only a 2 hour class, but I had plenty of time to cut another.
This was a bit tricky because of the curves, but mainly because I was getting a little tired. The class actually ran over as the tutor is far too lovely to kick people out. I was the first one to leave as I had plans but others stayed there cutting. I have more templates to tackle and I will! I thoroughly enjoyed this craft and it's something I definitely want to do more of.
