Friday, February 6, 2015

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!



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Linky to Creativity 521



9 comments:

  1. this is beautiful paper cutting. I especially love the butterfly. :)
    I hope your NEW Year will be a great one. :)

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  2. The panda with the bamboo leaves is so intricate. Love that one. What a great idea to draw on the back of the paper first. :)

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  3. So beautiful!! May I know where I can get the templates from?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Angie, I got the above templates from Chinese paper cutting workshop. The library has a range of Chinese paper cutting books. Some of them has templates in it which you can make photocopy. Otherwise, you can google for Chinese Paper Cutting templates on Google for design and ideas. Then draw them on paper in pencil.

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  4. Very pretty! I love the templates! I only tried to make a pop up card with a craft knife before and I can understand how much time and effort goes into cutting! These make awesome CNY decor! Good job there! Thanks for linking up with Creativity 521 and inspiring others! =)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Making pop up card with craft knife is so cool!

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  5. Replies
    1. This was a gift, so I do not know what it was purchased.

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