Dragon Derby

Welcome! 

Statue in Slovenia

It’s Dragon time!

Really, I had no choice. Doing a blog on castles it just naturally leads in to a blog on dragons, don’t you think?

Bere Island, County Cork, Ireland

What is a dragon after all?

Are they real?

Were they real?

Do they still exist?

Pinterest

I’d like to mention a little pet peeve of mine here. Pinterest changed awhile back the way people post and give credit to photos. Once you post a photo, and someone looks at it, the original accompanying info is then lost. At least, I can’t find it. No credit, no background, nothing. Verrryy frustrating for someone like me who likes to give credit where it is due. If I post something without due credit, and you know who it ‘belongs’ to, please let me know so I can be more accurate and give credit where it is due. I’d really appreciate it.

Rant over.

Back to dragons!

Pinterest

“a mythical monster resembling a giant reptile, sometimes shown as having wings. In European tradition the dragon is typically fire-breathing and tends to symbolize chaos or evil.”

- Oxford Language

“It simply isn’t an adventure worth telling

if there aren’t any dragons.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien

Artistry Apex

Wikipedia says ‘a magical, legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably throughout regions. Dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages often are winged, horned and fire-breathing.

Eastern cultures are usually wingless, four-legged serpentine shaped, with above average intelligence.’

A Chinese dragon, possibly embroidered. Pinterest.

‘Dragon’ in English comes from early 13th century, derived from Old French ‘dragon’, which comes from Latin ‘Draco’, meaning ‘huge serpent’ or ‘dragon’, most likely from Ancient Greek.

Follow all that? Let’s just say there’s been some form of the word for a very long time, across cultures.

Chinese dragon parade

Earliest writings say these creatures resemble giant snakes. They have appeared in Near East and Ancient Mesopotamia art and literature. We find dragon-like creatures around the globe and across most cultures such as Egyptian, the Hebrew Bible, Norse mythology, Aztec, Greek, Albanian, Persian and Lakota Native American.

A Celtic stylized dragon 

“When you banish the dragons

you banish the heroes.”

- Andrew Solomon

Pinterest

There are many different theories about dragons, some of which remind me of the reality of mermaids. Were live mermaids seen by exhausted, homesick sailors? Or were the mermaids really manatees frolicking among the waves of a weary man’s dreams?

TINKERTAILOR ART

Were dragons seen as size humongous by malaria-fevered explorers from snakes, birds of prey and large cats? Dragons were said to live in dark caves, deep pools and haunted forests, and at the bottom of the wild sea - all very scary places to a simple hunter looking for dinner on the way home. Nothing to bring home? Why it was because of an encounter with a dragon!

Pinterest

Dragons could be the explaination when large dinosaur bones were found and dug up in China and the Mediterranean regions.

But then there’s Scandinavia.

Paper artist Jeff Nishinaka

Scandinavia is not known for large dinosaur fossils found there. Perhaps these dragon bones are exaggerated Komodo dragons, Gila monsters and iguanas?

Thorny Dragon; Australia

But then, Scandinavia is not really known to have those either!

ALLPE Medio Ambent

In Eastern cultures dragons can have a more positive influence, such as rain for the Chinese, creation & life for the Vietnamese and wisdom & power for the Koreans.

Exclusive Craft

Today dragons are generally shown as living underground, in caves or a river. They are greedy with endless appetites. They are often identified with Satan due to references from the Book of Revelation, the Bible, written by the Apostle John. Revelations is about the end times and Satan.

Found in Barcelona, Spain with various assorted photographers.

From the 11th - 15th century there were many popular stories that included dragons - a time when everyone was ruled by the Catholic Church. Frequently the dragons were defeated by the sign of the cross.

Cool2BKids.com

ArtProjectsForKids.org

By the 18th century dragons had entered the world of Fantasy in literature. An example is Lewis Carrol’s classic Through the Looking Glass from 1871. In it there is a dragon like creature full of magic, yet benign and harmless - a source of comedy in a waistcoat. Rather than frightening, dragons were harmless and inferior to humans. 

Artist: Sheena Holm

By the 1960’s dragons had faded from their height of popularity, as children’s stories became more serious and factual.

Barbara a Smoki, Pinterest 

“Happiness is like those palaces in fairytales

whose gates are guarded by dragons:

We must fight in order to conquer it.”

- Alexandre Dumas

Fortunately writers like Dr. Seuss and songs like ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ made a comeback and brought fun back to children’s lives.

Posted on Pinterest, artist Draco

(And yes, I believe Peter, Paul and Mary that the song “Puff” really is what it says it is, a charming story about a boy and his dragon.)

posted on Pinterest by Andy Karow 

Beware the darkness of dragons,

Beware the stalker of dreams,

Beware the talons of power and fire,

Beware one who is not what she seems.

Something is coming to shake the earth,

Something is coming to scorch the ground.

Jade mountain will fall beneath thunder and ice

Unless the lost city of night can be found.

- Tui T. Sutherland

A dragon made from recycled car parts

In today’s world we can find dragons, real or imagined, anywhere from our fantasy literature to our office attire to our home decor to sand sculptures on the beach. Just as unicorns have captured popular sentiment, we have incorporated dragons in to all walks of our lives. While there are some who choose to see evil and deeper purpose, I choose to see humor, historical and cultural beauty and a large dose of whimsy.

‘Til next time,

inkspired

A few websites I visited while researching this blog, in no particular order:

good reads.com

Pinterest

Brainyquote.com

AZQuotes.com

Wikipedia.org
Oxford language dictionary 

Tea is always nice

Welcome!

Eclectically Mine To Share, Pinterest

‘There is nothing quite like
a freshly brewed pot of tea
to get you going in the morning.’

- Phyllis Logan

Vintage advertisement, High Society Tea, Pinterest

“Rainy days should be spent at home
with a cup of tea and a good book.”

- Bill Watterson

Unknown artist, Pinterest

Vintage Japanese teacup


“There is something in the nature
of tea that leads us into a world
of quiet contemplation of life.”

- Lin Yutang

Vintage Japanese teacup with Lithopane geisha


‘Wouldn’t it be dreadful
to live in a country
where they didn’t have tea?’

- Noel Coward

Well, I did have more to share, but
blogspot just got all weird and won’t post my photos...so...

‘Til next time,inkspired 

Some places I found tea quotes:goodreads.comwiseoldsayings.comtealovers.com

Scherensnitte Paper Cuttings Tutorial

WELCOME!

original ooak Collage Art Doll by inkspired

www.inkspired.etsy.com

I'm glad to be back after a day or so of not.

We received our new (replacement) scanner/printer - Yippee!

Our dryer went out.

The repairman just left.

We have to decide now if it is worth it to get the necessary repairs,

or just buy a new one.

Sigh.

I like the old dryers that were meant to last. If they broke, you fixed them.

This one is only at the most 9 years old.

I guess that is old in dryer years, nowadays.

Our last one lasted 25 years and then we sold it (our new house already had one) and it is still going today, as far as I know.

Same thing with the washer.

Oooo, speaking of wash, I have a ton of laundry to do today!!

With the 'new' scanner, I have been scanning pictures of my current cut art.

Pretty much all of these would fall under the title:

scherensnitte
(sheer-en-SNIT-tuh)

The dragon might fall under Chinese Cut Art.

(no, I don't remember the name of it right now!)

I will mount it most likely on a deep red.

This will be a gift for my son.

This next one is of the black paper that I cut the dragon out of:

The dragon is placed over a piece of purple cardstock.

I will probably detail the teeth a bit more, and it is also a piece ready for display.

I cut mostly with a blade.

I like the Fiskars one with a scoop place for your finger to rest.

It is only about 4 - 5" long.
I purchased it at a craft type store.

All my handles use a #11 xacto type blade.

This next example shows the (recycled) scratch paper that the design was printed on. Since it had already been used, there is a black mark by his tail.

I will most likely cover this with a cloud cutting, or perhaps sun rays.

So you see, you can get actually 3 frameable cut pieces if you cut carefully.

To cut with scissors, there are a couple of ways to cut.

The first is what I usually do if I am cutting with scissors:

Take your knife find a long line on the pattern. Cut it.

Now you have room to insert the tips of your scissors and cut out the pattern with scissors. Doing it this way, you will still have 3 frameable pieces.

In this mother and child picture I have cut,

I would probably start with the long cut of her skirt on the right.

The second way is to use hand held paper hole punches.

Find the largest area of your design to be cut out.

Punch one or several holes with the largest size paper punch that will fit inside.

This should give you just barely enough room to fit in the tip of your scissors.

I use this technique with my kirigami more than scherensnitte:

kirigami, with an added stamped, colored and cut out butterfly and fairy.

I accented with glitter glue (Stickles is great).

The third way, that will destroy the outside paper being cut,

is to find the pattern area that is closest to the edge. Cut as short of a line as you can directly to the pattern, and start cutting. As you see, this will leave the outer, left over paper unusable for framing. You will only have the cut out silhouette.

Examples of smaller cuttings with lots of inner details:

This is a photo of the leftover outer paper from a parasol cutting.

This is what you would get if you started cutting the design from the side of the paper. This one I used a blade with, so you don't see the slash from the outer edge to the pattern design as you would with a scissor cutting.

Since I never use this third scissor technique, I don't have any samples!

The Lacy Boot is in the process of being cut.

You can see where I have carefully taped the pattern to the desired paper.

Here is the actual parasol cutting, along with a lacy fan:

I still need to do some paper pricking and small hole punching to finish these.

You can see the small paper punch I used in the design on the fan.

HELPFUL HINT:

When using tape to fix your pattern to your paper -

tear very small pieces of scotch-type tape.

Place piece on a piece of clothing (I usually use my jeans). Rub.

Remove tape, and then tape your pattern down with it.

The 'fuzz' or lint on clothing will make the tape less sticky.

The less sticky tape will not tear your finished paper when you remove it carefully.

cat and fishbowl, cutting by inkspired

Leftover black paper that design was cut from. The inner fishbowl and the sea grass with the fish need to be re-assembled and mounted. When scanning this picture, the pieces were slightly moved from where they will be when I finish it.

I may also add some small black pieces to define the cat's body and paws on the bowl, and add another black 'rim' to the fishbowl.

Here is the back of the design pattern. I printed it on scrap light blue paper.

I like it on this pale yellow cardstock!

Just to make things clear,

I put my chosen paper down first, wrong side facing me.

Then I put my (usually printed) pattern piece on top.

I fix the pattern to the chosen paper with modified scotch tape.

I use a knife blade to cut

so that I may have more than one piece to work with after I am finished cutting.

Here I used two pieces of parchment paper plus the pattern to cut all at once.

I was trying to save time by cutting 2 at one time.

I had to do touch up cutting to the faces, so I probably won't do this again,

unless the pattern is much more simple.

Refer to the other cutting from earlier in this blog.

I simply placed one with the 'back' as front side up.

This next example has too many inner cuts to really use the 'outside' frame.

My pattern was on a very thin piece of tissue paper,

so it also will not look good if I wanted to frame it.

Two lovebirds in hexagonal frame

This is a pattern that I tweaked from a stained glass pattern.

To mount, I will need to use a larger piece of mat board, to do it properly.

I cut it from a pastel white parchment paper.

It would look lovely with touches of light watercolor to tint it.

With these next two examples I have folded the paper in half, and then cut with a pattern together. In other words, the pattern is only half a page.

You can see the fold lines as I have not yet ironed them.

Sometimes a very dry iron will get the line out.

Sometimes placing under a stack of heavy books will get the line out.

Mostly, I don't worry about it!

to a friend's house, cut by inkspired

a Pennsylvania dutch style heart cutting, by inkspired

I'm not sure I am happy with the way the heart looks inside,

so I will probably 'tweak' the pattern and do it again.

This one did have a nice tri-tulip design from the inside however.

These smaller cuttings are very pretty pasted onto a handmade greeting card.

You can also easily use them with your decoupage.

(see decoupage plate tutorial, previous blog)

Copier printed vintage violets clip,

scherensnitte cut fairy.

The fairy moved slightly while I was scanning it.

Her wand tip will actually be placed on the top Left leaf.

Here is the paper that I cut the design from:

I will probably add some dried flowers,

or perhaps some doily bits, to enhance her.

She is a nice, simple design and I will most likely make more cuttings of her

from different colors.

I also want to do a watercolor background to mount one of them on.

Plans....plans...plans!

Oh, okay, not soooo simple. Her hands and profile were a pain to cut!

:0)

Here is a photo I took above Estes Park (Rocky Mountains), Colorado, USA.

Feel free to use it as a background for a cutting.

I plan on using it for a scherensnitte design of a flying eagle.

Wouldn't colorful butterflies also look pretty?

A few more cuttings of mine:

Horse on Peach, styled more like Chinese cut-art, cut by inkspired

Nativity scene, pattern found in a vintage magazine, cut by inkspired

This last one is to inspire you.

This wonderful pilgrim design is by Papercuttings by Alison.

https://www.papercuttingsbyalison.com/index.cfm

She has the most fantastic patterns, reasonably priced, and rated

Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.

Don't let that stop you however, if you see a pattern you really like.

Jump in (but of course, never run with scissors) and try it!

I have cut several of her 3-D cuttings, and each one has turned out perfectly.

She gives very good instructions so you can complete each cutting.

I really cannot say enough good things about her and her business.

I would highly recommend you check her website out.

She also offers a free catalog which I also would highly recommend.

It can be difficult to see what the design is on a computer screen, sometimes.

Besides, I just like browsing when I am in my Living Room chair!

Remember, you are just using paper.

If you seriously screw up, throw it away and start a new one!

I find most all "oopsies" can still be 'saved' and used.

I will explore more papercutting at another time.

There are the lovely papel picado banners...

many Pennsylvania Dutch styled ornaments....

cut paper garlands for any occasion....

and more!

inkspired

www.inkspired.etsy.com - to buy things I have made, almost all are one-of-a-kind

dominoes@myinkspired.com - to send me questions, suggestions, patterns, and photos of your work

please use the comments section on this blog too!