Category Archives: papercuts

Seeking on the Working Proof

I’ve been an admirer of the work put out by The Working Proof for so long, enjoying both the prints they sell, and the socially responsible angle of the business too, where a portion of each sale is donated to a charity of the artist’s choice. That’s why I’m particularly thrilled to have released a limited edition silkscreen print called Seeking, available from The Working Proof.

Seeking started out as a cut paper illustration, repeated and reversed in this three-color silkscreen print on acid-free paper, sold in a signed and numbered edition of 30. I chose to pair my print with the Jane Goodall Foundation, both because this organisation works on the African continent, and because gorillas are adorable. So 15% of the sale of each print goes to the gorillas!

Seeking is only available for sale here, and you can read more about it in this interview too.

Flower Fields

Maybe I shouldn’t point it out, as I don’t know if anyone’s actually noticed, but so far every single one of my fabrics so far has been printed in just a single colour. However, that’s all changed now, with my brand new design called Flower Fields.

It’s got two (count them, TWO!) colours in each print. It’s a breakthrough moment! We’re all turning cartwheels at Skinny laMinx!

Flower Fields in (L-R): Goldenrod, Penny Black, Rosy

The inspiration for Flower Fields came from a vintage fabric cushion we’ve had at home for years. My design started out as a paper cutout of the same kind of flower shape (see below), which I made ages ago just for fun. Earlier this year, I turned it into a repeat, but never got around to putting it on fabric because I simply couldn’t decide which colours it should be printed in. It was only when I decided to use two colours that suddenly everything fell into place.

Now Flower Fields is available for sale online as cushions (here in US$, and here in ZAR)…

… and Flower Fields is also available in upholstery lengths. I covered our Ercol daybed at home in the Penny Black colourway, and it looks so fab! Email me for fabric orders and queries.


Cut out & iron on

Had heaps of fun over the weekend, playing with my roll of heat-adhesive vinyl that’s been lying around the studio for about 6 years. It’s really easy to use – just cut it out and iron it on (a lot). First I made the flower cushion on the left, then used the bits I’d cut out to make the other one.

Eep! abounding

There are little Eep! cutouts all over my studio right now. Some are garlanding the studio rafters – leftover decoration from my sale – and others are muddled in a box, waiting their turn to be added to the wrapping of orders sent out in the post from my online shops.

Downward-facing Cat

Our cats are usually pretty elegant beasts, arranging themselves picturesquely in  order for us to see them and go “ahhh”. But sometimes I catch them contorting themselves into shapes that would leave most yogis scratching their heads – all unlikely-directioned legs sticking out at ungainly angles. I made some sketches of Nanook in one of her most advanced Asanas, and then cut it from paper.

So often, it’s really hard to throw away the negative shape of a cutout, as it has a great feeling of its own. With the addition of a couple of lines, the original sketch and the cutout come back together briefly.

Papercutting

I can’t tell you how excited I was to get this new publication from Chronicle Books. Papercutting: Contemporary Artists, Timeless Craft is an absolute treasure if you are at all interested in mad papercutting skillz. It’s filled with beautiful pics of work familiar to me, like that of Rob Ryan, Peter Callesen, Helen Musselwhite, Elsa Mora (who did the cover) and also loads of new discoveries, like Justine Smith and Casey Ruble. Thrilling stuff.

Of course, what’s even more thrilling was to turn the book over and to see that one of my papercuts made it onto the back cover…

… and thrill upon thrill, when I opened the book, I discovered that the inside cover flaps had been die cut with my designs.

Just to have my work included on the same pages as all these brilliant folks has had me sharpening my knives once again, making sure to make time for cutting paper. Thanks so much to author Laura Heyenga and to Chronicle Books for thinking of my work when putting this awesome book together.

Buy yourself a copy right here.