Papercut...

This week's theme at IMT is Papercut and they have a link to some amazing examples by Elsa Mora. I looked at a couple of examples and knew I couldn't do anything quite like that but thought it might be fun to play with anyway. Well I started the first one with my trusty craft knife using a Tyvek envelope since I saw that someone else used that. It is definitely a good choice because it doesn't tear like paper.

I started with the border which I don't like at all now that it's done. For the leaves I used a mask by Heidi Swapp and modified it to just use the leaves and had to figure out how to keep parts of it so it wouldn't be a big empty whole. I like the center section but midway through I thought there has got to be better cutting tools for the professionals. My forefinger was numb for days. Silly me even did a second one of a big leaf which I like better. I actually drew that one all by myself and I cut through two layers but left the second layer so it gives it a little more dimension. I think I may even use these to make my own stamps which I've never tried. I'm sure that won't be easy either but at least I have some actual carving tools with a bigger handle.

So here are my very humble entries. I do not see more papercutting like this in my future. I'm also thinking of running amok with alcohol inks with these two to see what else I can do with them.