"A hungry mouse notices a tree full of fruit
and attempts to reach the fruit by climbing up a big rock, but to his
surprise, the rock is actually a sleeping lion. The angry lion forgives
the little mouse and helps him to reach the fruit. The lion laughs at
the mouse when he promises to one day return the favor. However, when
the lion gets caught in a thicket of vines and the mouse comes to his
rescue, the lion realizes that even the small can be a big help."
"The process of cording and weaving hanji (Korean handmade paper) by a
master weaver, Na Seo Hwan. He is a 3rd-generation master who learned
from his father, who learned from his grandfather. He has also developed
a more effective and efficient way of cording paper, which is different
from the way most paper weavers work. This ancient paper craft, known
formally as noyeokgae, still exists in Korea today but the intense
labor, time, and strength required for it means that very few masters
remain, and even fewer serious disciples."
Special thanks to my teacher, Na Seo Hwan.
Thanks to the U.S. Fulbright program for the time and funding to make this research possible.
The customary tradition of cutting paper angels has been around since I was a tot in Sunday school. I will keep an up-to-date listing of links to a variety of paper angels for those of my students who may wish to add a few new versions of these Christmas visitors to their mantle or tree.
Pleated Christmas hearts (Danish: Julehjerte) are a Danish and north German Christmas tree ornament.
The exact age and origin of the tradition of making paper hearts is
unknown, but the oldest known pleated Christmas hearts were made by the
Danish author Hans Christian Andersen
in 1860. However, as Andersen's heart has no handle, it seems unlikely
it could have been used as a Christmas tree ornament. That pleated heart
is today located in the Hans Christian Andersen House in the city of Odense
in Denmark. We know, however, that Andersen did make decorations for
Christmas trees, and that the predecessors of the pleated Christmas
hearts were made from wicker baskets.
The oldest known guide to making pleated Christmas hearts is found in the Official Nordic handicraft Journal
from 1871, and the oldest pleated Christmas heart (from 1873) is
preserved at the National Museum in Copenhagen. But it was still some 40
years before the pleated Christmas hearts became more widespread.
It is believed that kindergartens
from around 1910 started spreading the use of the pleated Christmas
hearts which were made from glossy paper in order to enhance the
children's creative abilities, patience and fine motor skills.
The first pleated Christmas book, called Julehjerter, was released by the Lottrup Knudsen brothers in 1975.
A more recent book, which includes a big variety of pleated Christmas heart templates, is Francis Jordt's Flettede julehjerter.
Étienne de Silhouette (July 8, 1709 – 1767) was a French Controller-General of Finances under Louis XV.
Sometimes said to be the next Niccolò Machiavelli, he was born in Limoges where his father Arnaud de Silhouette (from Biarritz, the modern Standard Basque form of the name would be Zuloeta) was sent. He studied finances and economics and spent a year in London learning from the economy of Britain.
Children learning to draw silhouettes in the 1800s
He translated into French several works by Alexander Pope, Henry Bolingbroke, William Warburton's The Alliance between Church and State, (1736) as Dissertations sur l'Union de la Religion, de la Morale, et de la Politique (1742) and Baltasar Gracián's El político. The party of the Prince of Condé used his translations from English authors to criticize him but the protection of Madame Pompadour
awarded him the position of Controller-General in 4 March 1759, the
most extensive of all the administrative positions and a very unstable
one. His task was to curb the running deficit and strengthen the
finances for the Seven Years' War against Britain (1754–1763). Public opinion preferred his 72-million-livres public loan to the ferme générale, an outsourced tax collection system. He also reduced spending by the royal house and revised pensions. To favour free trade, he eliminated some taxes and established new ones operating on a unified French market.
De Silhouette forecasted a bleak budget for 1760: income of 286 million livres compared to expenses of 503 million livres, including at least 94 million in debt
service. In an attempt to restore the kingdom's finances by the English
method of taxing the rich and privileged (nobility and church were
exempt from taxes in the Ancien Régime).
de Silhouette devised the "general subvention," i.e., taxes on external
signs of wealth (doors and windows, farms, luxury goods, servants,
profits). On 26 October, he took the war measure of ordering the melting down of goldware and silverware. He was criticized by the nobility including Voltaire, who thought his measures, though theoretically beneficial, were not suitable for war time and the French political situation.
On 20 November 1759, after eight months in the position, he left the court and retired to a chateau at Bry-sur-Marne, where he set about improving it. After his death in 1767, his nephew and heir Clément de Laage completed that work.
Étienne de Silhouette's short tenure as finance chief caused him to become an object of ridicule and his penny-pinching manner led the term à la Silhouette to be applied to things perceived as cheap.
During this period an art form of growing popularity was a shadow
profile cut from black paper. It provided a simple and inexpensive
alternative for those who could not afford more decorative and expensive
forms of portraiture, such as painting or sculpture. Those who
considered it cheap attached the word "silhouette" to it. The name stuck
and so today we know it as a silhouette.
The German scientist, Johann Kaspar Lavater, (1741-1801) developed a "scientific" method for taking accurate silhouette portraits. He was also known as a poet and
physiognomist and was born at Zürich on the 15th of November 1741. He was
educated at the gymnasium of his native town, where J. J. Bodmer and J.
J. Breitinger were among his teachers. When barely one-and-twenty he
greatly distinguished himself by denouncing, in conjunction with his
friend, the painter H. Fuseli, an iniquitous magistrate, who was
compelled to make restitution of his ill-gotten gains. In 1769 Lavater
took orders, and officiated till his death as deacon or pastor in
various churches in his native city. His oratorical fervour and genuine
depth of conviction gave him great personal influence; he was
extensively consulted as a casuist, and was welcomed with demonstrative
enthusiasm in his numerous journeys through Germany. His mystical
writings were also widely popular. Scarcely a trace of this influence
has remained, and Lavater's name would be forgotten but for his work on
physiognomy, PhysiognomischeFragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe
(1775-1778). The fame even of this book, which found enthusiastic
admirers in France and England, as well as in Germany, rests to a great
extent upon the handsome style of publication and the accompanying
illustrations. It left, however, the study of physiognomy (q.v.), as desultory and unscientific as it found it. As a poet, Lavater published Christliche Lieder (1776-1780) and two epics, Jesus Messias (1780) and Joseph vonArimathia
(1794), in the style of Klopstock. More important and characteristic of
the religious temperament of Lavater's age are his introspective Aussichten in die Ewigkeit (4 vols., 1768-1778); Geheimes Tagebuch von einem Beobachter seinerselbst (2 vols., 1772-1773) and Pontius Pilatus, oder der Menschin allen Gestalten
(4 vols., 1782-1785). From 1774 on, Goethe was intimately acquainted
with Lavater, but at a later period he became estranged from him,
somewhat abruptly accusing him of superstition and hypocrisy. Lavater
had a mystic's indifference to historical Christianity, and, although
esteemed by himself and others a champion of orthodoxy, was in fact only
an antagonist of rationalism. During the later years of his life his
influence waned, and he incurred ridicule by some exhibitions of vanity.
He redeemed himself by his patriotic conduct during the French
occupation of Switzerland, which brought about his tragical death. On
the taking of Zürich by the French in 1799, Lavater, while endeavouring
to appease the soldiery, was shot through the body by an infuriated
grenadier; he died after long sufferings borne with great fortitude, on
the 2nd of January 1801.
Lavater himself published two collections of his writings, Vermischte Schriften (2 vols., 1774-1781), and Kleinere prosaischeSchriften (3 vols., 1784-1785). His Nachgelassene Schriften were edited by G. Gessner (5 vols., 1801-1802); Sämtliche Werke (but only poems) (6 vols., 1836-1838); Ausgewählte Schriften (8 vols., 1841-1844). See G. Gessner, Lavaters Lebensbeschreibung (3 vols., 1802-1803); U. Hegner, Beiträge zur Kenntnis Lavaters (1836); F. W. Bodemann, Lavater nach seinem Leben, Lehren und Wirken (1856; 2nd ed., 1877); F. Muncker, J. K. Lavater (1883); H. Waser, J. K. Lavater nach Hegners Aufzeichnungen (1894); J. K.Lavater, Denkschrift zum 100. Todestag (1902).
This old paper cut was designed by illustrator Jessie Gillespie. The faint writing describes the paper cut as originally measuring seven inches across. She named her piece "Hark The Harold Angels Sing" and cut it in 1911.
Christmas vendors in the city streets of American cities are not the most common subjects found in paper cuts of the 1900s. Below I have uploaded a video discussing the origins of Christmas vendors in New York City.
With scissors and paper, artist Béatrice Coron creates intricate
worlds, cities and countries, heavens and hells. Striding onstage in a
glorious cape cut from Tyvek, she describes her creative process and the
way her stories develop from snips and slices."
"TEDTalks is a
daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED
Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk
of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on
climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on
observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child,
Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes,
Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ
Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology,
Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as
science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and
translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on
TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate."
This ad ran in the "El Paso Herald" in El Paso, Texas, Friday, December 1, 1916.
Baron Scotford - late of 129 Regent Street, London W. and who made such a decided hit at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, will be with us Saturday, in Toy City (Basement), where he will make a Free Bust Portrait of every child accompanied by an adult.
Baron Scotford is "The Greatest Silhouettist of the Age," and the press in all countries have paid him glowing tributes.
He has executed Scissor Portraits of almost every king and queen of Europe, presidents of America, famous actresses and other distinguished persons.
These Portraiture are executed in two minutes with scissors and black paper only.
The illustrations above are taken from Baron Scotford's Gallery of Celebrities. The names from left to righat are:
Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria, Lady Waterford. The Late Arch Duke Ferdinand of Austria, Mrs Winston Churchill and Her Royal Highness Princess Marie Louise Schleswig Holstein.
Dallas Anderson as Gavin Dishart and Maude Adams
as Lady Babbie
Maude Adams has so far successfully
withstood the fabulous offers made her
to act before the motion picture camera.
She has always declared that she will not belittle her art by appearing on the screen despite
the large financial remuneration. In order to
find a satisfactory substitute for the film drama,
however, Miss Adams has hit upon a novel compromise something which she believes will answer the same purpose.
It Is nothing less than a series of shadow pictures of herself and her companies in the plays of
J. M. Barrie, In which she has made her greatest
reputation. It will not be many years before
Miss Adams will retire from the speaking stage
altogether and she has already set about making silhouettes of herself. The first of these, reproduced here to-day, are taken from "The Little
Minister," In which she Is now appearing with
great success at the Empire Theatre. The play
was first seen on the New York stage over ten
years ago, but it's charm has never grown old.
The shadow pictures are extraordinarily life
like reproductions of the stage characters. In
many respects they surpass actual photographs.
Miss Adams plans to have them taken of every
scene in which she has appeared and to file them
away for future reference and comparison.
Heretofore managers have believed that the
best way to carry down their productions to posterity was to have motion pictures taken of the
plays. Besides the additional financial revenue
that accrues to them by this method a certain additional publicity is secured by means of the
plays on the screen, especially as they reach a
much larger public than the spoken drama. Of
course there is always the possibility that the
movies may ultimately Interfere with the popularity of the spoken play but the managers have
been willing to take this chance.
The characters portrayed in the present series
of silhouettes of "The Little Minister" include
Miss Adams as lady Babbie; Dallas Anderson as Gavin Dishart, Elsie Carens as Felive, Gladys Gillen as Micah Doir. Ada Boshelll as Nannie
Webster, and Angela Ogden as Jean.
To any one who has seen the present production of "The Little Mlnister" the silhouettes will immediately recall not only the scene of the play
but the particular facial characteristics of the persons therein if not the very conversation or
dialogue that is taking place.
When Miss Adams was questioned about this
novel idea of hers she said that it was the nearest substitute for the "movies" that she could
think of at the time and besides that in many
respects the silhouettes were much more artistic
than photographs.
Scenes from Barrie's famous play preserved
in shadow pictures.
The manner of taking them is quite simple.
The actors stand in front of a large white sheet,
curtain or other smooth material while a bright
light from the front Is directed upon them, throwing the shadows out in bold relief on the light
background. After that, the process is that of
any other ordinary photograph or portrait. One
convenience of the silhouette photograph is that each character can be carefully cut out with a
pair of shears and packed away in a small space.
If Miss Adams carries out her intention to
have silhouettes taken of her other plays, she will
have a particularly delightful field of endeavor
in "Peter Pan," the boy who never grew up in
the play that never grows old. It Is doubtful,
however, if Tinker Bell would ever consent to
have a silhouette made of her. But the Lost Children, Wendy, Captain Hook: and the scores and scores of other delightful and charming people pictured in Mr. Barrie's plays would form
excellent subjects.
It Is not at all unlikely that other managers
will follow Miss Adams's example in the same
direction by having similar pictures taken of
their various productions. It would undoubtedly
make for a higher artistic appreciation of the art
of the theater and would carry down to future
generations something of the spirit of the plays
which their fathers and grandfathers saw before them. (The Sun, Sunday, February 20, 1916.)
"The Little Minister" tells his love.
Lady Babbie goes away.
Lady Babbie serves tea.
The two at the well.
Now the little minister has to explain.
Now the little minister sees Babbie as a fine lady.
Later, a film was made of J. M. Barrie's 1897 play.
Theatrical release poster
"The Little Minister" is a 1934 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace. The screenplay by Jane Murfin, Sarah Y. Mason, and Victor Heerman is based on the 1891 novel and subsequent 1897 play of the same title by J. M. Barrie. It was the fifth feature film adaptation of the works, following four silent film versions. The original novel was the third of the three "Thrums" novels (a town based on his home of Kirriemuir), which first brought Barrie to fame.
Set in rural 1840s Scotland, the plot focuses on labor and class issues while telling the story of Gavin Dishart, a staid cleric newly assigned to Thrums' Auld Licht church, and Babbie, a member of the nobility who disguises herself as a gypsy
girl in order to interact freely with the local villagers and protect
them from her guardian, Lord Rintoul, who wants to keep them under his
control. Initially the conservative Dishart is appalled by the feisty
girl, but he soon comes to appreciate her inner goodness. Their romantic
liaison scandalizes the townspeople, and the minister's position is jeopardized until Babbie's true identity is revealed.
Katharine Hepburn initially rejected the role of Babbie, then reconsidered, against the advice of her agent Leland Hayward, when Margaret Sullavan
was offered the role. The film was budgeted at $650,000, which at the
time was considered a high amount, and much of it was spent on exterior
shooting in California's Sherwood Forest and Laurel Canyon and on the elaborate village set constructed on the RKO back lot. (It later was used in a number of films, including Laurel and Hardy's Bonnie Scotland). It was RKO's most expensive film of the year and the most expensive film in which Hepburn had appeared.
The soundtrack
includes the traditional Scottish tunes "The Bonnie Banks O' Loch
Lomond," "Comin' Thro' the Rye," and "House of Argyle." The 3-CD set Max Steiner: The RKO Years 1929-1936 includes ten tracks of incidental music Steiner composed for the film.
The film had its world premiere at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. (Wikipedia)
"The Snow Queen" (Danish: Snedronningen) is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen
(1805–1875). The tale was first published in 1845, and centers on the
struggle between good and evil as experienced by a little boy and girl,
Kai and Gerda.
The story is one of Andersen's longest and is considered by scholars, critics, and readers alike as one of his best.
It is regularly included in selected tales and collections of his work
and is frequently reprinted in illustrated storybook editions for
children. The tale has been adapted in various media including animated film and television drama.
An evil "troll" ("actually the devil himself")
makes a magic mirror that has the power to distort the appearance of
things reflected in it. It fails to reflect all the good and beautiful
aspects of people and things while it magnifies all the bad and ugly
aspects so that they look even worse than they really are. The devil
teaches a "devil school," and the devil and his pupils delight in taking
the mirror throughout the world to distort everyone and everything.
They enjoy how the mirror makes the loveliest landscapes look like
"boiled spinach". They then want to carry the mirror into heaven with
the idea of making fools of the angels and God,
but the higher they lift it, the more the mirror grins and shakes with
delight. It shakes so much that it slips from their grasp and falls back
to earth where it shatters into billions of pieces — some no larger
than a grain of sand. These splinters are blown around and get into
people's hearts and eyes, making their hearts frozen like blocks of ice
and their eyes like the troll-mirror itself, only seeing the bad and
ugly in people and things.
Years later, a little boy, Kai, and a little girl, Gerda, live next
door to each other in the garrets of buildings with adjoining roofs in a
large city. One could get from Kai's to Gerda's home just by stepping
over the gutters of each building. The two families grow vegetables and
roses in window boxes placed on the gutters. Kai and Gerda have a
window-box garden to play in, and they become devoted in love to each
other as playmates.
Kai's grandmother tells the children about the Snow Queen, who is
ruler over the snowflakes, that look like bees — that is why they are
called "snow bees". As bees have a queen, so do the snow bees, and she
is seen where the snowflakes cluster the most. Looking out of his
frosted window, Kai, one winter, sees the Snow Queen, who beckons him to
come with her. Kai draws back in fear from the window.
By the following spring, Gerda has learned a song that she sings to Kai: Where the roses deck the flowery vale, there, infant Jesus thee we hail! Because roses adorn the window box garden, Gerda is always reminded of her love for Kai by the sight of roses.
It was on a pleasant summer's day that splinters of the troll-mirror
get into Kai's heart and eyes while he and Gerda are looking at a
picture book in their window-box garden. Kai's personality changes: he
becomes cruel and aggressive. He destroys their window-box garden, he
makes fun of his grandmother, and he no longer cares about Gerda, since
all of them now appear bad and ugly to him. The only beautiful and
perfect things to him now are the tiny snowflakes that he sees through a
magnifying glass.
The following winter he goes out with his sled to the market square
and hitches it—as was the custom of those playing in the snowy square—to
a curious white sleigh carriage, driven by the Snow Queen, who appears
as a woman in a white fur-coat. Outside the city she shows herself to
Kai and takes him into her sleigh. She kisses him only twice: once to
numb him from the cold, and the second time to cause him to forget about
Gerda and his family. She does not kiss him a third time as that would
kill him. Kai is then taken to the Snow Queen's palace on Spitsbergen, near the North Pole where he is contented to live due to the splinters of the troll-mirror in his heart and eyes.
The people of the city, once they realize Kai is nowhere to be seen
or found, get the idea that Kai drowned in the river nearby, but Gerda,
who is heartbroken at Kai's disappearance, goes out to look for him. She
questions everyone and everything about Kai's whereabouts. Gerda offers
her new red shoes to the river in exchange for Kai; by not taking the
gift at first, the river seems to let her know that Kai did not actually
drown after all. Gerda next visits an old sorceress, who wants Gerda to
stay with her forever. She causes Gerda to forget all about her friend
and, knowing that the sight of roses will remind Gerda of Kai, the
sorceress causes all the roses in her garden to sink beneath the earth.
At the home of the old sorceress, a rosebush raised from below the
ground by Gerda's warm tears tells her that Kai is not among the dead,
all of whom it could see while it was under the earth. Gerda flees from
the old woman's beautiful garden of eternal summer and meets a crow, who
tells her that Kai was in the princess's palace. She subsequently goes
to the palace and meets the princess and her prince, who appears very
similar to Kai. Gerda tells them her story and they help by providing
warm clothes and a beautiful coach. While traveling in the coach Gerda
is captured by robbers and brought to their castle, where she is
befriended by a little robber girl, whose pet doves tell her that they
had seen Kai when he was carried away by the Snow Queen in the direction
of Lapland. The captive reindeer Bae tells her that he knows how to get to Lapland since it is his home.
The robber girl, then, frees Gerda and the reindeer to travel north
to the Snow Queen's palace. They make two stops: first at the Lapp
woman's home and then at the Finn woman's home. The Finn woman tells the
reindeer that the secret of Gerda's unique power to save Kai is in her
sweet and innocent child's heart:
"I can give her
no greater power than she has already," said the woman; "don't you see
how strong that is? How men and animals are obliged to serve her, and
how well she has got through the world, barefooted as she is. She cannot
receive any power from me greater than she now has, which consists in
her own purity and innocence of heart. If she cannot herself obtain
access to the Snow Queen, and remove the glass fragments from little
Kai, we can do nothing to help her..."
When Gerda gets to the Snow Queen's palace, she is first halted by
the snowflakes which guard it. The only thing that overcomes them is
Gerda's praying the Lord's Prayer,
which causes her breath to take the shape of angels, who resist the
snowflakes and allow Gerda to enter the palace. Gerda finds Kai alone
and almost immobile on the frozen lake, which the Snow Queen calls the
"Mirror of Reason" on which her throne sits. Gerda finds Kai engaged in
the task that the Snow Queen gave him: he must use pieces of ice as
components of a Chinese puzzle to form characters and words. If he is
able to form the word "eternity" (Danish: Evigheden) the Snow
Queen will release him from her power and give him a pair of skates.
Gerda finds him, runs up to him, and weeps warm tears on him, which melt
his heart, burning away the troll-mirror splinter in it. Kai bursts
into tears, dislodging the splinter from his eye. Gerda kisses Kai a few
times, and he becomes cheerful and healthy again, with sparkling eyes
and rosy cheeks: he is saved by the power of Gerda's love. He and Gerda
dance around on the lake of ice so joyously that the splinters of ice
Kai has been playing with are caught up into the dance. When the
splinters tire of dancing they fall down to spell the very word Kai was
trying to spell, "eternity." Even if the Snow Queen were to return, she
would be obliged to free Kai. Kai and Gerda then leave the Snow Queen's
domain with the help of the reindeer, the Finn woman, and the Lapp
woman. They meet the robber girl after they have crossed the line of
vegetation, and from there they walk back to their home, "the big city."
They find that all is the same at home, but they have changed!
They are now grown up, and they are delighted to see that it is
summertime. At the end, the grandmother reads a passage from the Bible:
"Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as
little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven"
(Matthew 18:3).
Characters in the Fairy Tale:
The Snow Queen, queen of the snowflakes or "snow bees", who travels
throughout the world with the snow. Her palace and gardens are in the
lands of permafrost, specifically Spitsbergen.
She is successful in abducting Kai after he has fallen victim to the
splinters of the troll-mirror. She promises to free Kai if he can spell
"eternity" with the pieces of ice in her palace.
The troll or the devil Satan,
who makes an evil mirror that distorts reality and later shatters to
infect people with its splinters that distort sight and freeze hearts.
Some English translations of The Snow Queen denote this character as a hobgoblin.
Kai (or Kay), a little boy who lives in a large city, in the garret
of a building across the street from the home of Gerda, his playmate,
whom he loves dearly. He falls victim to the splinters of the
troll-mirror and the blandishments of the Snow Queen.
Gerda, the heroine of this tale, who succeeds in finding and saving Kai from the Snow Queen.
Grandmother of Kai, who tells him and Gerda the legend of the Snow
Queen. Some of Grandmother's actions are essential points of the story.
An old sorceress, who maintains a cottage on the river, with a
garden that is permanently in summer. She seeks to keep Gerda with her,
but Gerda's thought of roses (the flower most favored by herself and
Kai) awakens her from the old woman's enchantment.
A field crow or raven, who thinks that the new prince of his land is Kai.
A tame crow or raven, who is the mate of the field crow/raven and
has the run of the princess's palace. She lets Gerda into the royal
bedchamber in her search for Kai.
A princess, who desires a prince-consort as intelligent as she, and
who finds Gerda in her palace. She helps Gerda in her search for Kai by
giving her warm, rich clothing, servants, and a golden coach.
Her prince, formerly a poor young man, who comes to the palace and passes the test set by the princess to become prince.
A robber hag, the only woman among the robbers who capture Gerda as she travels through their region in a golden coach.
The robber girl, daughter of the robber hag. She takes Gerda as a
playmate, whereupon her captive doves and reindeer Bae tell Gerda that
Kai is with the Snow Queen. The robber girl then helps Gerda continue
her journey to find Kai.
Bae, the reindeer, who carries Gerda to the Snow Queen's palace.
A Lapp woman, who provides shelter to Gerda and Bae, and writes a message on a dried cod fish to the Finn woman further on the way to the Snow Queen's gardens.
A Finn woman (also known as the "Witch of Finland"), who lives just 2 miles away from the Snow Queen's gardens and palace. She knows the secret of Gerda's power to save Kai.
"It is a warm sunny summer day and the bunnies are out hanging laundry. This is an image from my papercut designs, Please go to http://www.cafepress.com/gocarrgo to see more images and purchase images on t-shirts and totes and more ... Thanks"
"More than 20 hours of meticulous paper-cutting squashed into a
little more than 2 minutes of film. This I hope shows the real skill and
dedication involved in creating just one map by artist/illustrator
Julie Marabelle. Hope you enjoy the film. You can buy prints of this map
(and others) at http://www.famillesummerbelle.com. "
"Mary Olive Jones, a beloved kindergarten teacher in Fairmont, W.Va., in
the 1950s and 60s, created these intricately detailed framed
Scherenschnitte paper cuttings. Each piece was painstakingly handcrafted
and yet each retains a very modern feel."
Scherenschnitte (German pronunciation: [ˈʃeːʁənˌʃnɪtə]), which means "scissor cuts" in German, is the art of papercutting design. The art work often has symmetry within the design, and common forms include silhouettes, valentines, and love letters. The art tradition was founded in Switzerland and Germany in the 16th century, and was brought to Colonial America in the 18th century by immigrants who settled primarily in Pennsylvania.
Below are links to those who apply scherenschnitte to Easter eggs. These lovely crafts would be just as impressive on either a Christmas tree or displayed in a cabinet or bowl for Valentines Day. In the near future I will be including a few of my own scherenschnitte patterns for Easter eggs below.
"A short film of Swiss papercutting artists' work, including Beatrice Straubhaar, Ernst Oppliger, Ueli Hofer, and Elisabeth Bottesi-Fischer.
Shows the artists' hands cutting paper, regional scenes from
Switzerland, and examples of Scherenschnitt work. The materials for
this short film were collected during my research expedition to
Switzerland in the summer of 2007."
