Showing posts with label papercuts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label papercuts. Show all posts

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Housekeeping & Getting to the Red Heart of Papercuts

Queen of Hearts & Card Army - out of real cards by Rei_Areaaaaaaa
I've been doing a little blog-housekeeping, checking links (the Pinterest one is now fixed!) and trying to catch up on archiving the stories on the Pinterest Fairy Tale News Headline boards. Although I'm not there yet, I'm getting close to completing the archiving for last year and the plan is to get to the rest as soon as possible so I can post fairy tale headlines there again on a daily basis.

In the meantime, since there's a whole heap of stuff happening here that doesn't result in any reading for you, and I'm resisting the urge to play rather than work, here's The Queen of Hearts, made out of cards. (Sorry -the only info on the artist is the identity above that I linked to.)

(Let the puns begin!)

I particularly like a brief exchange on Reddit regarding them:
Human_Sandwich: Very nice. How did you learn how to do that? Are you into origami? 
Superplayah: As an origami artist, you are refering to our much hated brethren, the kirigami artists. For centuries we have battled with them, and to our dismay, their scissors and x-acto knifes cut through our creations too well. Eventually the origami artists figured out how to turn the tides of the ever raging war by making modular origami that could have any damaged pieces replaced by an equally capable piece. People that disagreed with the conflict left their respective warring nations and founded their own bastard of a nation where origami artists place minor cuts into creations to achieve greater detail and kirigami artists make strangely shaped papers to create even stranger pieces. We called them abominations, disliked and rejected by purists of both sides. They preach that greater detail and freedom results from their style of art but it is only a ruse to corrupt purists and gain support. Only one side can win and it is only a matter of time before the war ends and we see who the real gods of paper are! 
LegacyCrono: But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked 
MrPaperchips: I'm going to bet on the side that has the knives.
Wow - beware the paper cut! This scenario sounds like it would fit right in the book actually.

More news very soon. :)

Friday, January 17, 2014

Other Theatrical Snow Queen Productions (Pt 4): Rose Theater (with Su Blackwell's Lovely Sets)

Next up: the production you've probably heard about (especially if you've been a regular reader of the blog for a few years and saw this post HERE): Rose Theater's The Snow Queen production, using designs by the amazing fairy tale paper artist Su Blackwell.

I heard a lot of great things about the design, less so about the production itself unfortunately. I wish I could find some better sources to cite some different views from but here's the best I found:

A brief excerpt from an atypically brief review in The Guardian (who's reviews and articles I generally respect a lot):
There is a great deal to charm here, especially in Su Blackwell's cutout paper designs, which conjure fairytale forests and winking houses. The comedy is good, too, particularly in a scene in which Gerda encounters a Hooray Henry wedding party. But the show is often at its best when it sticks closely to Andersen's original rather than veering off into a story of the changing seasons at war with each other; and although Natascha Metherell's production has its moments of frosty magic, it doesn't quite generate the emotional power that it should.
An excerpt from British Theater Guide:
Here, the story of a young girl, Gerda, and her quest to save her friend Cei from the clutches of the evil Snow Queen, who plans to cloak the world in a perpetual winter, plays out on an attractive set by Su Blackwell, an artist making a first, distinguished foray into theatre design with this production. Each stage of Gerda’s journey through the seasons has a very particular look and tone, the mood enhanced by excellent music composed by Alex Silverman, with fiddle, accordion and guitar giving the production a beguiling folk spirit.
A standout sequence transports Gerda through the ice to arrive at the cottage of the sorceress Mrs D, the first of the transformative encounters on her quest. The most surprising episode moves us into a world of gap-year toffs and teen-speak: it breaks the mood, but features a very funny performance from Sian Robins-Grace as a decidedly modern teen princess.
...Overall, The Snow Queen skirts deep enchantment in this incarnation. But it’s a classy and enjoyable production that offers many delights.
And finally excerpts of additional information about the production, along with review opinion from Exeunt Magazine:
The set alone is a source of wonder. Paper artist, Su Blackwell, in her first design project for the stage has created a delicate, wintry world of trees, cottages and lampposts that appear to have been snipped from the pages of a paperback. Black lettering nests against white, making an apt and charming backdrop for Charles Way’s adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy story.Young Gerda is a nervy girl, prone to panic attacks and terrified of her bad-tempered schoolmaster father, Mr Overskou. When her classmates take turns to dance in front of one another, she can’t bring herself to join in and her best friend Cei has to calm her down. Though Cei and Gerda have been friends and playmates all their lives, Mr Overskou disapproves of the boy’s dreamy ways and forbids them to see one another; it is then that Cei falls under the Snow Queen’s spell. A shard of mirror pierces his heart and he becomes cold and cruel before being whisked off to the Queen’s winter palace and forced to piece together the shattered fragments of her magic mirror. But though the townspeople believe Cei to have drowned, Gerda refuses to accept this and sets off to find him.
If anything Natascha Metherell’s production is too gentle and sedate....What’s missing, despite all its considerable polish, is any real emotional tug or genuine sense of peril; it’s all a little too neat and tidy and lacks the wild fringes of the best children’s theatre.
I'm not quite sure what to think of this one, apart from the lovely set design (which I insta-love). Did anyone know anyone who actually saw this?

More Snow Queen theatrics coming so stay tuned!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Cheshire Cat Papercraft

Too cute not to share!

As part of the promotional fun for the upcoming "Alice In Wonderland" (Burton and Disney), the fan blog site released a gorgeous little papercraft toy download for the Cheshire Cat (via Super Punch).

You can download your own HERE with some construction tips (although I'm afraid that book does not come with it).
I have a feeling there will be more than one of these smiles appearing at my place soon... ;)

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Fairy Tale News New Year's Bumper Edition: Fun fairy tale finds

  • ADOPTABOT - The World's first robot orphanage! (Very cute characters created from found objects and looking for new homes... Just like a modern fairy tale, complete with Gepetto-type character, a,k,a, Brian Marshall, who makes unique creations, each with their own distinct personality. Also see more characters at Mr. Marshall's Flickr account HERE.)

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Su Blackwell Creates Oz Papercuts for Harrods

The amazing papercut artist Su Blackwell was asked to create some Wizard of Oz landscapes for Harrod's and graciously posted the three page spread on her blog for us to see.
I love seeing how the worlds she creates emerge from their respective books.

About this project, she writes:
The December Issue of Harrods Magazine is out already, for which I was asked to create three double-page spreads based on 'The Wizard of Oz'. The kids and cuddly toys were photoshopped in afterwards.
It isn't the first time Ms. Blackwell has created Oz out of paper. Here's a lovely silhouette piece from 2007.About her chosen medium she says:
"I employ this delicate, accessible medium and use irreversible, destructive processes to reflect on the precariousness of the world we inhabit and the fragility of our life, dreams and ambitions. It is the delicacy, the slight feeling of claustrophobia, as if these characters and the landscape have been trapped inside the book all this time and are now suddenly released."
You can see more of her incredible work HERE on her blog and HERE on her website.

Monday, November 2, 2009

'Dark Woods' Fairy Tale Papercuts Postcards by mrYen

Friend of Once Upon A Blog, mrYen (a.k.a. Jonathan Chapman), is a graphic artist/typography artist who is now creating his own wonderful pieces and papercuts, including a lovely set of fairy tale themed postcards. If you like seeing papercuts online, you'll love seeing them in person.You can see and purchase this fairy tale 'Dark Woods' set HERE at his Etsy shop. Be sure to check out his other pieces too. I believe there's a Red Riding Hood lampshade in the works too...If these appeal to you be sure to let him know so he'll create more!

Check out his blog HERE for news and work-in-progress glimpses like the one above.

You can also follow him on Twitter for the latest updates and links to other beautiful things HERE.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Silhouette MasterpieceTheater

Silhouette Masterpiece Theater is a delightfully fresh and funny collection of old fashioned, hand-cut silhouettes.

The wonderfully eccentric artist, Wilhelm Staehle (you'll know what I mean if you read his tweets), places his paper-cuts over traditional, painted landscapes - giving the viewer a different perspective - then tops off his scene by adding a little phrase, just to give your thinking a bit of a jolt.

Here are some fairy tale themed ones.I just love these!

There's much more at his website, including these below - yes, I couldn't resist, even though they're not exactly fairy tale related... :From his Twitter bio:
Wilhelm is a horribly disfigured gentleman who often frightens small children when passing. In his free time he hand-cuts silhouettes.
You can see his gallery HERE and follow him on TWITTER. He'll also be at Comic Con this year, which I hope means we'll be seeing a lot more from this creative artist very soon. Good luck at Comic Con Wilhelm!