Every year, designing my 3D scherenschnitte (paper cutting) Christmas cards takes FOREVER! I cut designs that I love but they take too long to produce en masse. Here's the one I have settled on to send this year.
I started far away from that design though. After contemplating cutting a fancy covid molecule, my first real attempt was at a Celtic knot, thinking it would be quick and easy. Nope. Not quick and not easy.
Then I went for a beloved image; the matryoshka or babushka.
I took pictures of myself dressed as a babushka to have a model to work from. I liked the design but just could not seem to cut them very quickly. That, plus the fact that when I asked people to tell me what the image was, they called it a Santa. Instead of adding more details to make it look more grandma like, I went to other designs that I just never loved. My Christmas cards are 3D and I was going to sew together the babushka and bunny side with the boy, tree, and house side.
Russian stacking dolls followed that. The face took too long and easily fell apart because it is so delicate. Again, for multiples, it just would take too long. There were multiple iterations of that as I was determined that this was going to be the theme.
Next, we move to birds. This is a delicate and small design. Once again, the intricacy was just too much.
The birds inspired the final design though. Actually, I bought a dishcloth at a Norwegian festival that had a similar bird on it and that is the image that inspired the final designs.
Now I am in production mode. Each Christmas card takes a minimum of an hour to produce....but all made with love and care. All a little bit different than each other.
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