Cutting beautiful pieces out of paper
A little while back, we stumbled across a tweet by Sarah Denton (@PisazzCreations) when she shared one of her papercutting marvels. Born in England, Sarah spent eight years of her childhood in South Africa.
Naturally we love the medium she was using so we asked her to share a little more about the art of papercutting.
1. What brought you into the world of papercutting?
I enjoy being creative and like to try new things. I had been browsing the internet looking for new craft things to try when I came across a photograph of a papercut someone had done – so pretty and elegant. It looked really interesting and I decided to have a go myself. My first cut I did looked good but I knew I could make my lines cleaner and improve so decided to have another go. Before long I was hooked and soon began sketching more designs to try.
2. How have ‘sharpened’ your skills and developed your style?
As with anything you want to get better at, you have to practise. And practise. And practise. The more I cut, the more I enjoyed it. My cutting became smoother and cleaner, my lines became finer and my circles smoother, although I think there is still some room for improvement on those.Photo: PisazzCreations
I spent a number of years growing up in South Africa. I love the country and the wildlife and so I have been able to combine my love for nature and animals and papercutting and this makes up a large part of my subject matter.
3. The end results look quite intricate. How long does a piece take you on average?
It depends on the size of the cut and the amount of detail. A 10x 8 inch animal cut usually takes about half an hour to sketch and another one to two hours to cut. A larger piece like my recent woodland cut took just over six hours to cut.
4. Do you sell your pieces?
I do sell my work via etsy. I sell my own designs as well as taking commissions for customers’ own ideas.
5. What brings you the most joy?
The feeling I get when someone tells me how much they love a piece or when they tell me how the person reacted when they gave it to someone as a present.
Nature is inspiring so I rarely spend time trying to decide what I can cut. Sometimes I will see something or take a photo and think I can make that into a papercut. I also love the story of Alice in Wonderland so have cut a few Alice pieces and tried to capture a bit of the fantasy side of Alice.
7. Paper is obviously the core medium. What do you love about paper?
Paper can change the feeling of a cut. The thickness, the texture, the colour it adds to the mood and emotion you get when you look at a piece.
About Sarah:
She lives in Northampton, England with her husband Martyn, two sons Thomas and William, and two dogs.
