We recently came across a papercutting I had made some time ago, of an exotic figure with great hoop earrings, pointy shoes and wide pantaloons—a genie perhaps (I was reading The Arabian Nights when I made it). It was one of the first cuttings I had made, aside from the hearts, snowflakes and paper dolls of childhood, and my eldest son was inspired to try his hand at this craft. He made a very fair imitation of my figure, though without the earrings.

I can hardly say that my own work was original, however. I had also been reading The Amazing Paper Cuttings of Hans Christian Andersen, and the figure I cut bears a marked resemblance to many cut by Andersen. He is, of course, chiefly remembered for his “Ugly Duckling” and “Steadfast Tin Soldier”, but knowledge of Andersen’s papercutting skills has increased in recent years, in part due to this biography for children, which is brief but filled with wonderful examples of that storyteller’s work in paper.

Andersen often snipped away at these figures while regaling an audience with a story, an amazing feat when you see the intricacy of many of his cuttings, and learn that what he cut frequently bore no resemblance to the story he told. When he had finished his tale, he would reveal his other work, offering a second delight to astonish those who attended him.

Since our first forays into the craft, we have made other cuttings, usually on rainy days or time off from school. The Andersen book continues to inspire me (though I don’t talk much while cutting), and my sons love to make long chains of gnomes or knights. I only hope that the old storyteller was better at cleaning up his scraps than my children are!

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 10th, 2005 at 11:09 am and is filed under Books, Games & Activities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.