Chinese Paper Cutting

Chinese New Year is approaching soon! I am doing Chinese paper cutting to decorate my home. Entrances decorated with paper cut outs are supposed to bring good luck. The particular cut out above is a Chinese Word 春 (Spring) and a bat is incorporated as part of the design. Bat is a phonogram of good fortune.

There are 2 types of paper cutting, one is by cutting with scissors, the other is the cutting with the use of penknife. Penknife is usually used for very intricate designs.

I have not tried using pen knife yet but scissors cutting is simple enough to complete a few within 2 hours.

Material required:

Red paper

A pair of sharp scissors

stapler or blu tack (optional)

template (Optional if you could draw well, you can draw on the reversed side of the paper directly.)

Materials

If you are using template, it is relatively easy. Just a few tips to guide you along.

1. As the design with I am cutting are all symmetrical, Just be sure that you align the template to the edge of the folded part of the red paper. Otherwise, you would get 2 pieces of the same template.

2. Staple the template together with the folded red paper. Be sure not to staple on the design itself, otherwise there would be holes on the cut out design. Just remember to cut out the area with the staples last, so that your template is secure throughout the cutting. If you are using blu-tack, the same thing applies.

 3. To cut straight lines, try to minimise arm movement by keeping the arm holding the scissors close to your body, move the paper with the other hand instead.

4. To cut holes within the deigns, you have to snip a small line in the hole. Make sure that the line is within the hole by checking the both edges of your scissors before you snip.

5. Be creative!

This was the set that I completed while attending a library programme.

Have fun!

Linky to Creativity 521