Heather Moore
1.What methods do you use to produce a papercut design?
I use a steeply-pointed NT cutter blade to cut through a layer of white paper laid over the paper I want to cut.
2. What is it about paper that drives you to use it as a medium?
I like to draw, but enjoy the way that cutting often results in lines I would never have made with a pen. So despite it being a very controlled technique of mark making, there's a bit of a letting go and seeing what happens, which I enjoy.
3. When creating a paper design, do you first illustrate/layout the composition using traditional illustrative material or go straight to paper and why do you do so?
I usually sketch my idea on thin white paper, firm up the sketch in pen, then lay this over the black paper as a guide, cutting through both layers at once. Whilst doing this I'm trying to think about how the paper needs to remain connected to some extent
4. What is it about paper cutting that you enjoy most?
I get completely wrapped up in it, and time flies by. It's exciting to get to the end and "weed" all the bits out to see what I've ended up with.
5. How do you feel paper cutting is viewed as an illustrative method? Do you think it is viewed as an art, as design, a craft etc..
I think it's viewed as a particularly unusual illustrative skill, partly because it is so slow and there's so much room for disaster (random slices and possibility of blood!). I think it's viewed in different ways, depending on its application.
6. Do you feel traditional layout & typography have an influence on your designs? If so, in what way?
I don't feel particularly influenced by these things.
7. Do you find hand drawn illustration of importance to development of your papercut work?
Not really. I feel they are quite separate skills, and in my case, they seem to have quite different feelings.
8. What do you find influences your designs?
I like to set myself a challenge - like seeing just how much I can cut away without losing the paper's ability to hold together.
9. Which of your projects do you feel most proud of and why?
Probably my Flower Net paper cut. It took a long time, and I felt pleased that I took the time to start and finish a big undertaking like this well. My intention was to remove a lot of the paper while still retaining a very firm and solid piece of material, and this worked out well.
10. As papercutting is becoming quite popular, how do you see its progression in the future?
People are becoming more familiar with it, and I find they tend to assume that it is all laser cut. However, they do seem to value the fact that mine are handcut, so seem to understand that it's a bit trickier (if less technologically complex). I think that as it is used more often, it will become less astonishing, and paper cutters will have to do increasingly dramatic things - ie: more complex, larger scale, etc.
11. Do you have any current interesting projects coming up that you can talk about?
I've been enjoying working on little 3D paper cut animals and scenes that I hope to start selling as products very soon.
1.What methods do you use to produce a papercut design?
I use a steeply-pointed NT cutter blade to cut through a layer of white paper laid over the paper I want to cut.
2. What is it about paper that drives you to use it as a medium?
I like to draw, but enjoy the way that cutting often results in lines I would never have made with a pen. So despite it being a very controlled technique of mark making, there's a bit of a letting go and seeing what happens, which I enjoy.
3. When creating a paper design, do you first illustrate/layout the composition using traditional illustrative material or go straight to paper and why do you do so?
I usually sketch my idea on thin white paper, firm up the sketch in pen, then lay this over the black paper as a guide, cutting through both layers at once. Whilst doing this I'm trying to think about how the paper needs to remain connected to some extent
4. What is it about paper cutting that you enjoy most?
I get completely wrapped up in it, and time flies by. It's exciting to get to the end and "weed" all the bits out to see what I've ended up with.
5. How do you feel paper cutting is viewed as an illustrative method? Do you think it is viewed as an art, as design, a craft etc..
I think it's viewed as a particularly unusual illustrative skill, partly because it is so slow and there's so much room for disaster (random slices and possibility of blood!). I think it's viewed in different ways, depending on its application.
6. Do you feel traditional layout & typography have an influence on your designs? If so, in what way?
I don't feel particularly influenced by these things.
7. Do you find hand drawn illustration of importance to development of your papercut work?
Not really. I feel they are quite separate skills, and in my case, they seem to have quite different feelings.
8. What do you find influences your designs?
I like to set myself a challenge - like seeing just how much I can cut away without losing the paper's ability to hold together.
9. Which of your projects do you feel most proud of and why?
Probably my Flower Net paper cut. It took a long time, and I felt pleased that I took the time to start and finish a big undertaking like this well. My intention was to remove a lot of the paper while still retaining a very firm and solid piece of material, and this worked out well.
10. As papercutting is becoming quite popular, how do you see its progression in the future?
People are becoming more familiar with it, and I find they tend to assume that it is all laser cut. However, they do seem to value the fact that mine are handcut, so seem to understand that it's a bit trickier (if less technologically complex). I think that as it is used more often, it will become less astonishing, and paper cutters will have to do increasingly dramatic things - ie: more complex, larger scale, etc.
11. Do you have any current interesting projects coming up that you can talk about?
I've been enjoying working on little 3D paper cut animals and scenes that I hope to start selling as products very soon.