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Search Press
Emily Hogarth
Search Press
14 September 2012/ ISBN 9781844488957
How-To Books/Papercraft
Amazon
US
|| UK
Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
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The
type of crafts I love best are the ones that give the crafter
the opportunity to do a lot with a little, and preferably to
recycle something that might otherwise be thrown away. Papercutting
fits the bill here: all you need is paper, scissors and a craft
knife to create magical works of art.
Papercutting hooked me into its web at an early age and has
lately been neglected in favor of the type of papercrafts that
involve spending a considerable amount of money. This book shows
you how to be your own die cutter, from a brief chapter about
its history around the world to what you need to get started.
This is not much, and it includes tips on handling your tools
and the best way to begin, including choosing papers, using
templates, finishing off your work, etc. Then it is on with
the projects, which constitute most of this book, but with a
difference. Instead of tracing, photocopying or scanning and
printing (although you can also do all of this) this is a book
with the actual printed sheets at the back, ready to use. There
are fifty sheets of good quality card to cut out and use complete
with colored fronts and backs (some of them patterned) and ranging
from simple beginners pieces to the more complex. The projects
tell you what you need to obtain and include some illustrated
stages as well as a photo of the finished piece. I particularly
liked the way it highlighted the most difficult places to cut
and why. This is so useful and not always obvious at first glance.
There are cards, a shadow puppet theater, mobile, cupcake cases,
bunting, window decorations, silhouettes and more. Most are
general purpose but a couple are for Christmas, although sadly
none of them are cards. Styles vary to the layered variety reminiscent
of Poland to the Swiss and German types associated with the
Pennsylvania Dutch traditions and classic silhouettes. This
is the sort of book that is a lot of fun and takes some time
to get through so an excellent value for your money, especially
as the end results are creations that are inexpensive to make
but show off your skill. Who needs a die cutting machine anyway. |
| UK Reviewer: Rachel Hyde's
work can be found in Sewing World, Sew Hip, Popular Crafts
and other magazines. Her craft blog is Green
Thoughts |
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