It's my day off from Muji today and I'm using it to catch up with all things Mr Yen....starting with showing you the amazing book I have a few papercut pieces featured in!
The book is called "I Love Stationery" and it was created by Charlotte Rivers. I'm so excited and grateful to be included in such an amazing book alongside other great designers/makers. I was asked a while ago to contribute something to the book and I decided to send images of my paper cut notepads and paper cut map covered notebooks.
Charlotte has authored some amazing books, which you can see here, and I was recently featured in another one of them "Handmade Type Workshop" where I created a specific paper cut piece for the book (which you can see below)
Seeing my work published is a very exciting thing, and I would love to create more work for print - which reminds me, I better get started on putting together some plans for a book of all things Mr Yen!
You can see the papercut below, which is in the shop now!
As soon as I get my hands on the book I will be back to do a review on it as I know of a few other talented people who have contributed to it too. I created this papercut design as a tutorial for the book and I'm so excited to have my work published in an actual book - thanks so much Charlotte for asking me to take part!
I hope your all having a good weekend! I will finally getting back to a normal schedule with my own work as my overtime at Muji has finished, which means I will also be getting back to my regular features on the blog too!
For now I thought I would show the recent features I have had in magazines. It's so exciting to see my work in a real printed magazine! I finally have a copy of the book collaboration with Society6 & iDN, that has one of my papercut lampshades featured in it. (more info on that here) I also received a copy of the newest issue of Computer Arts magazine, which includes a tutorial I created for them, on how to create papercuts for a graphic use. I hope this is the first of lots to come!
Hello there! I have been quiet on the blog this week, as I have been busy catching up with orders after being featured on Decor8 & NOTCOT. I'm so pleased and grateful to be featured on both these websites as I have met some very nice customers from my recent orders!
I have been papercutting like crazy the last few days with the papercut whales & this quote being the favourites. I have also managed to squeeze in a few hand cut custom orders too, with two being made for customers anniversaries (the first two images) & one for a lovely customer just because! (the last image)
This week I have been catching up with all my orders that I have received since having my papercuts features on Design*Sponge. I was also told that my papercut whales were featured here on Remodelista, so that is all I have been making this week - whales, and lots of them!!
The first image is of the second lot of orders I have finally completed and the second image is of some of the whales I have been cutting - I decided to have a play around before I shipped them all out! (these are all the small whales with a large whale and a medium sized whale)
Good Morning! As usual, first thing on a Monday is a busy time, sorting what needs to be done for the day and the week ahead and I can see that this week will be particularly busy!
Some exciting news that I got last Thursday was that my papercut whales (and a few other designs) were featured on Design*Sponge! which has led to A LOT of papercut whales being sold! I have already posted out at least 10 of the orders last week and will be making a dent in the others today. I'm so grateful to Grace for featuring my work as I really admire Design*Sponge as I think it always shows great work, in a professional & complimentary way.
Some not so exciting news is that after my feature on Design*Sponge I came across a copycat artist who created a blog post describing how she blatantly copied my papercut whale design by tracing my images from my etsy listing off her computer screen! She then went on to encourage others to do the same as my prices were too high and she also thought that papercutting was extremely easy. The tone she used suggested I have no skill and she came across as boasting about how clever she was for figuring out how to copy my design - I have been contacted by the copycat with a formal apology now, and would just like to forget the whole thing.
I would really like to thank all the support from my followers on Twitter though, for spreading the word of the copycat design & commenting on her blog post (which has now been removed) - I don't usually pay attention to such negative things as this, but people should not get away with infringing copyright and stealing designs/ideas!
A while ago I took part in a collaboration with iDN & Society6 in the form of a book....that was about six months ago, but it has finally been released! It is called "The New Twenties" and it is filled with great illustrators, designers and creators, which I am very proud to be a part of! I included my papercut lampshade, which you can see below. Oh and you can buy your copy here!
This is how they describe the project:
The New Twenties: A scintillating survey of the work of today’s 20-somethings, who were all brought up in the technological boom years of the late 20th Century – and whose concepts of self-promotion and networking are radically different from those of their predecessors. In this third IdN Special Edition, we have collaborated with Society6, one of the largest online platforms for up-and-coming designers, to showcase the talent of 58 brilliant young artists with a contemporary outlook on creativity and communicating.
This is a list of participating artists:
ABOVE / Andrea Forgacs / Andreco / Andrew Groves / Anthony Zinonos / Ben Chlapek / Blaine Fontana / C86 - Matt Lyon / Cayetano G. Valenzuela / Charles Clary / Chow Martin / Chris Piascik / Chris Thornley / Clemens Behr / Colin Jenkinson - Jenkins / Craig Matchett / Crayon Dreamer / Daniel Lucas / Daryll Peirce / Dean West / Emory Allen / Famous When Dead / Gemma Correll / Geoffrey Agrons / Glenn Arthur / Heroes & Villains / Jacopo Rosati / Jacqueline Kari Bos / Jennifer Daniel / Jerzy Goliszewski / Jesse Draxler / Joe Van Wetering / Jon MacNair / Jonny Wan / Joshua Agerstrand / Julia Sonmi Heglund / Julian Callos / Keflione / Laura Gee / Laura McKellar / Lillianna Pereira / Lloyd Eugene Winter IV / Marco Puccini / Matt Scobey / Matt Taylor / Max-o-matic / Mete Yafet / mrYen / Natalie Nicklin / Nazario Graziano / Oh Yeah Studio / Onesidezero / Overture / Pascal Hoayek / Paul Octavious / Stephen Chan / Steven Bonner / Visual Narcotics:20mg
About a week ago I contacted Etsy to see if they wanted to feature my story of how I got to create the papercuts for the short stop motion film "Lost Things" and they did! Not only that...but I got to write the blog post, provide the pictures and find the related items too! You can see my guest blog post on Etsy here, (also below) which you should go and check out as you can see the related items and some extra resources of other papercut people.
Thanks Etsy!!
From Lost things to Found Things
When I was first asked by handsomepanda aka Angela Kohler, to be a part of a film project she was undertaking, I didn't believe it could be true, especially once I was told who would be involved. The people involved in the film were; Alison Sudol from 'A Fine Frenzy' who wrote a piece of music specifically for the film and who was also the woman in the film, the producers Gallant & Keen and last but by no means least the writers & directors, Angela Kohler & Ithyle Griffiths , who have also just finished a similar stop motion advert for Amazon.
Angela found my shop through Etsy and liked the style of what I created, and as she thought my style would fit with the theme of her film, she sent me a convo to see if I would be interested.
I was asked to create a few papercuts that would be used in her short stop motion film called "Lost things" The film is about a girl who falls through a hole, made of paper, and finds herself in strange wonderland, she then decides she prefers it there and stays. This theme is an obvious homage to Alice in Wonderland and this was the link to my work, as my papercuts have always leaned towards the curious, with fairytales and Alice in Wonderland being a focus of mine.
"Lost Things"
I was given a description of what was initially wanted for the film and then Angela asked me what was possible and what needed to be changed. This was all made easier with Etsy conversations, attaching images of rough ideas, mock papercuts that could be adapted and working with Angela to create something suitable.
For the film, I made the papercut whales in the sea scene, the papercut wings on the teacups, and the final piece of text in a frame that says "fin" This was a great project to work on as I got to experiment with paper plus I had the opportunity to speak with Angela, even if it was only by email.
I had to experiment with my designs to create a papercut whale that would look like it could move its tail and body, then create these in different sizes to suit the stop frame aspect of the film, so it could show the whale getting closer and moving further away from the girl. I am so amazed that something like this could be organised through Etsy and I never thought something I created in Leeds would be used in a short film in L.A!
To me, that is what makes Etsy special as it is more than just a place to find and sell great items, but it is a community where people help each other out and the result is usually great stuff!
From lost things to found things Etsy has them all!
My custom silhouettes and spirograph papercuts are featured on the great blog the bedlam of beefy. This blog is so stylish and always has something interesting to read, so head on over to have a little read!
I just thought I would let you all know that my small Alice papercut was featured on apartment therapy, on their ohdeedoh section, a few days ago! I can't believe it! Thanks Apartment Therapy!
I forget to let you know that I'm nominated under the "papergoods category" in the poppies! I would love it if you could vote for me here ...........or you could vote for someone else there too as there are loads of other great artists/designers!
An image of my studio was used for the Etsy storque blog feature yesterday! It is a great article about inspiring studios and im so grateful and excited that my image was used.
I recently got a custom order to re-create one of my papercut designs that had sold. It was my Alice in wonderland papercut that read - "Read the directions and directly you will be directed in the right direction" which you can see below. After uploading it to flickr so my customer could see if she would like to change anything, i got an unusually high number of views on. So I looked on my flickr stats to try and see where they were all coming from........it turned out that it had been put on the great website welovetypography.com !!
Thanks!
Also... thanks to the other people who have recently featured my papercuts. There is a little section on the left dedicated to you all!
My fairytale papercut postcards have been featured on a great blog all about......fairytales! Once upon a Blog has kindly featured my series of postcards from 'The Black Forest' here. They include a Hansel & Gretel postcard, a Sleeping Beauty postcard and a Little Red Riding Hood postcard. They are available as a set or individually and are my original hand cut papercuts printed onto a postcard. Also she has mentioned my lampshade designs that i have been playing around with, and I have been told by so many of you that i should be creating these for sale....at the moment i am in the process of playing with ideas and methods of production so you will have to wait and see what happens.
Also i have recently listed some hand cut Christmas card sets that feature a white deer design and white snowflakes on white card with a deep red thread accent on the side. I have made a limited number of these and once these are gone i will not be making more of the same design so get them while you still can!
A treasury i am in has made it to the front page of etsy! My papercut birds on paper wires in a frame was the lucky design and you can see the other treasury picks alongside mine. This is a great collection and really well put together, all the colours and tones work so well together, thanks baahar! (You can find baahar's shops here and here)
Oh and thanks to Helene Smith for being my 100th follower : D
(I will warn you now that this post is a little self indulgent but i am really proud and pleased!)
I made it to the front page of etsy yesterday and my "Why is a raven..." papercut quote got put into the Halloween gift guides for Tricks, Treats and Parties, while my birds on wires papercut illustration got put into the Halloween gift guide for Halloween decor! While im on the subject of etsy, i have two treasuries on the go too, one for typography and one for Halloween inspired birds, check them out and see what ya think : )
I got so many hearts and views on my papercuts from the front page feature (about 1000 views!!), a few messages and a sale to wake up to today, so im all happy. Plus I also recently posted the same papercuts on society6 and they got promoted by three people!
In other news, I have recently been tweeting to Heather Moore aka Skinny laMinx (a person who first inspired me with her papercutting) and Hannah Nunn ( who creates amazing papercut lamps here) and both complemented my work, which is such an achievement for me as both of them create such great things! and today i picked up my printed books of my A-Z birds. Once i get them all hand bound and trimmed i will be giving one away right here on my blog (more another time)
This has all happened so fast and i definitely wasn't prepared for it, but lets hope this is the start that my etsy shop needed to get going with regular sales and i am pleased to have made some new internet friends with similar interests!
(phew, self indulgence over.....thanks for reading all this, if you did!)
I managed to snag myself my very first treasury! I used the poster sketch tool before hand and had a little dry run, i also used tips and advice from owlonthesill. She has a great little guide on how to create your treasury and this is what i used to help me get mine! I based it on triangular patterns/illustrations and im quite pleased with the outcome. (a small screen shot below)
this is the interview that i did while doing work experience for the Leeds Guide....its on sale now, so if your in the Leeds area, go buy yourself a copy and have a good read! (this is just a small section of the interview from their website, there is more text and photos in the magazine)
