Sue Blackwell - An Inspiration!

The art of paper cutting or scherenschnitte was founded in Switzerland and Germany in the 16th century and brought to America in the 18th century. I personally became fascinated in this art form more than 20 years ago while designing custom stencils. I love the concept of positive and negative space and the basic principle was easily transferred to paper stencils creating a unique pattern to pass paint through. This art form has been around along time and has been re-interpreted over the years in unique and original paper cuttings by modern artists. The tools needed could not be simpler, a pair of scissors or exacto knife and paper. You can find beautiful paper cuttings through out the internet. Dover books offers numerous books that you can use for patterns to get you started. While scherenschnitte is a unique art form it is two dimensional so when I found Sue Blackwell's 3 dimensional paper cuttings I was inspired and delighted. Please watch the videos below to see a selection from her portfolio and how she creates her paper sculptures.

New Site Pinterest!

I run across so many wonderful paper art sites on the web, that I cannot possibly list them all here on my blog. I recently joined a Pin Board site that allows me to "Pin" great finds to a cyber Pin Board. These boards are not unlike the cork boards I tack up inspirational items on. This is great for designers, artists and collectors. Check out my pin boards at Hedgehog Studio on Pinterest!

Fun With Paper Toys and Animation

There are some incredible paper toys that you can download on the web. I just ran across this delightful video that you can watch below. You can also download and make the paper toy elephant yourself at The Curiosity Group
The Curious Dream– From Flat to Flight from Cre8tivegirl on Vimeo.




I enjoy adding information, videos and downloads hoping that it will inspire you in the world of paper arts. So many of these paper toys make wonderful animation videos. Watch the two below from Maricor/Maricar


Murder By Death - "White Noise" from MaricorMaricar on Vimeo.

If All The World Were Paper from MaricorMaricar on Vimeo.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and a Toy Theatre

A few days ago I was searching the web and came across this fantastic blog Tektonten Papercraft. If you enjoy paper crafts you will want to spend hours there. While browsing I came across a Toy Theatre that C. Jefferson O'Connor created. The Toy Theatre is based on the movie "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus". Having never seen the movie I was intrigued and downloaded the free printable. The very next evening I ran across the movie on television and watched it. This movie dates from 2009 and I am sure many of you have already seen it if you like fantasy films. It has a great cast and was directed by Terry Gilliam. The film follows a traveling theater troupe (designed like a large toy theatre) and escorts audience members through a magical mirror. I actually enjoyed the premise that was sent at the beginning of the movie, that stories must be read aloud or the world will cease to exist. Unfortunaely this was not the plot of the movie. The very beginning reminded me of "The Neverending Story" one of my all time favorites from 1984 all about a magical land created by imagination, threatened with destruction due to the loss of imagination in our world. Both movies stress the importance and power of imagination. Again that  probably explains why I like paper toys and toy theatres, it encourages imagination. Watch  "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" and create your own Imaginarium  from C. O'Connor's blog.