DIY: Customized Initial Papercut by Mr. Yen


Poppytalk invited Mr. Yen (a papercut artist out of the UK) to share a simple papercut tutorial for the blog a few weeks back and today we're thrilled to share it! It's a customized initial papercut, something that one could make and frame for a nursery, a Mother's Day gift, or maybe a powder room.  Check out the how-to below.

Equipment needed:
* Scalpel
* Cutting Mat
* x1 Scalpel blade
* x1 Piece of paper for the main design
* x1 Contrasting piece of paper for a backing to your papercut
•  Downloadable flower PDF file


Step 1: Choose a Font and your Initial
The first step in creating your customised initial papercut is to choose a font you like, or a font you think the person you are creating the papercut for will like. I always feel as though something like a serif font - which has the little edges sticking off the ends of the letters (such as the one I used for this tutorial) seems quite feminine and delicate. Once you have looked at a few fonts, it's time to choose your initial. I'm choosing "A" for Angela, as it's Mothers day soon here in the UK and that's my Mum's name!




Step 2. Draw your floral designs
The next step in creating your customised papercut is to think about the kind of flowers or botanical designs your intended would appreciate. I have included the botanical motif I used for my customised initial with this tutorial, so if you can't decide on any particular design, you can use mine. The best way to draw your designs would be to print out the initials you would like in the centre of a plain piece of paper and draw the botanical designs directly onto your initial. This is now your paper cutting template.






Step 3. Prepare to cut!
Place your template with your initial and your hand drawn (or printed) design onto the paper you would like to use for the main design. This could be a brightly coloured piece of paper


Step 5. 
Cut your design using a scalpel and keep blade sharp!



Step 6. 
Chose paper to go behind your initial and then spray mount into position.


Step 7. 
Frame or gift wrap for a thoughtful present!


About:
Mr Yen has over four years of experience as a paper cut artist. All Mr Yen papercuts are inspired by nature and cut by hand and he has created designs for OPRAH magazine and House & Garden Magazine.



Jan Halvarson

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very pretty, but I assume you mean serif, not sans serif?

Anonymous said...

Very pretty! Serif? Not sans?

Seaside Slut said...

erm, that's a serif font.