28h April Exploring How To Present My Paper-Cutting Work

On Thursday 28th of April, I continued to explore how I can present paper-cutting pieces through a technique called "suspension". This involved creating a wooden shelf with a number of layers that would allow a variety of paper cutting scenes to be placed together to create a 3D paper cut outcome. Whilst exploring how to present paper cutting pieces, I continued to explore initial ideas and designs that included photographs of my primary research that relate to my theme "structure of nature". Also, I continued to develop my ideas for my final piece by working into primary research but also generating ideas to place my paper cutting work effectively. The task allowed me to combine both elements of structure that I have explored throughout my project and to develop ideas for my final piece "Unit 8 Structures". Also, the task allowed me to gain inspiration from my primary research to develop my own ideas for my final piece and how to create an effective paper-cutting scene. By completing the task, it has allowed me to experiment in further detail how to present my final project piece and analyse which is the most effective outcome to develop further. Also, by completing this task, it has allowed me to gain inspiration from my primary research images to develop my own final ideas which will demonstrate my development throughout the project. The task has allowed me to continue to develop my paper craft skills in order to adapt to a new paper cutting technique. Overall, the task has allowed me to interpret research activity to develop ideas and creative proposals for “Unit 8 Structures”. Finally, the task has allowed me to demonstrate the ability to plan, organise and develop ideas for “Unit 8 Structures”.

To start the task, I collected my primary research photograph of a greenhouse which was taken from the Yorkshire Sculpture. I decided to use this image because I believe that the outcome would be effective as it has a variety of elements that build the image together. This includes a variety of plants grown within the greenhouse but also the architecture of the building which I believed would be effective to work into. Also, I decided to use this image because it relates to my theme “structure of nature” which will be combined together with “structure of paper” to create and develop my final piece.  Finally, I decided to use this image because I believe that it will inspire me to create my intimal ideas for my final piece which will be developed further in my project. To print my image I decided to enlarge the size to A3 as I believe that I will capture further detail when cutting into the surface and create a more effective paper-cutting piece. Also, I decided to enlarge the image as I believe that it would have a better outcome when suspended on the wooden shelf to create a 3D paper-cutting scene. To create the effect I was wanting to achieve, I printed the image 3 times in order to create a background and layers within my wooden shelf. Next, I placed my images onto white card which allowed the pieces to be more sustainable when suspended onto the wooden shelf. For my shelf, it was created from recycled wood and placed onto my wall space in the studio. For the measurements, I decided the length to be 60cm and include 3 separate sections of the shelf to suspend my work. The distance between each 3 different sections was 15cm because I wanted to work within a smaller scale but also allow me to explore the effect I am wanting to create. By creating this shelf, it has allowed me to explore measurements and also explore a unique method of presenting my work which will be developed further into my final project. After I placed my shelf into my studio practise workspace, I continued to work into my paper scene by cutting out elements to build up the layout. For the piece to have an effective outcome, I decided not to work into the background as it is my original photograph which will start to build up the scene towards the foreground within the shelf. For my first foreground layer, I decided to cut out the area which included plants and flowers as it would start to build up my paper-cutting piece. I found creating this piece difficult as I was unsure what elements to cut out for the first foreground layer as the scene was a whole image. To solve the problem, I collected a pencil and marked out the foreground area within the image which identified how I was going to create the scene. Next I focused on my second layer of the piece, which was the greenhouse architecture within the image. I decided to cut into the architecture shapes as I believe it related to how windows are transparent which will allow the person who is observing the piece to look further into my scene to analyse how it has been created. When working into my piece, I found cutting into card and photocopies of my work challenging as I would damage elements of the piece and surfaces when cutting out my design. To improve next time I would change how I placed my primary images onto the surface through exploring different paper printing techniques and methods. After creating my layouts for my piece, I placed them onto my shelf so that they would be ready to be displayed. A problem I faced when placing my work onto the material was that it was difficult to connect both materials together with string. However, to solve the problem, I collected thick pieces of string, which were similar to rope, to connect my work together. The material was effective as it was strong and easy to tie together within the piece. The string was not transparent which made the overall piece less effective as you could see how the elements are placed together to create the scene. To improve next time, I am going to explore further methods of placing my work onto the shelf in further detail and also experimenting with transparent materials such as fishing wire and fuse wire.

Once I placed the elements together, I filmed the appearance of the piece at different angles. I am really happy with my outcome because the piece looks unique at different angles but also giving the 3D appearance I was wanting to achieve. I found the overall outcome effective as it presented my research and combined both “structure of nature” and “paper structures” together. I found this element most effective and I will continue to develop this technique in further detail for my final project. Next I am going to develop initial ideas for my own paper-cutting piece that explores the “structure of nature”.
Video Link- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvsWS0X9cgw