The exhibiton

The place where the exhibition will be held is full of strong strings, on the walls and blue boards they have, to hold many artworks.
I put my final piece on a mannequin, and I would like to be presented that way on the exhibition as well. Maybe on a table or something similar. If that's not possible, I think another good idea is for my final piece to be hanged from on of the strings.

The necklace I made is a bit fragile, so it should be carried carefully in the exhibition, and placed somewhere high enough for kids to not have access on it.  

Craft paper and wire

Properties:
- You can cut it like a normal paper
- You can draw on it
- You can paint on it
- It comes out in many different colours
- Its texture is like tin foil, but not as thin, and it can't be ripped as easy
 

     

Properties: 
 - It's hard to cut it with normal scissors, but still achievable
- It comes out in many different colours 
- It's easy to bend it 
- Difficult to make detailed small patterns with it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                             

Sample

I made this sample by putting a coin I've made, in the intaglio printing pressing machine. Underneath the coin I placed some golden craft paper, so the patterns of the coin came out on the paper.

I like how the pattern seems like it's carved on the paper, Also, it has kept all the details from the original coin. 

Coins samples

  My first attempt of making a coin for my necklace. I cut a circle out of cardboard and glued on it wire and threads. I used the wire to create the cross and the thread for the small circles. When I made sure the materials wouldn't come off, I covered the coin with gold craft paper.
I like the ending result, as the coin looks also old, like it's been through many hands. The only thing I would change is that instead of threads for the circles I would use wire again, because threads are not that solid, and the texture is not as good as with the wire.


The back of the coin in the small picture. I cut a circle of the gold craft paper and glued it on the back.

I tried to make another coin using paper as an alternative material for the details, but it didn't work very good. The paper is not solid enough, so the texture of the coin is not bold enough, and you can't understand what the details are exactly.

Coin necklaces

     What I like in this necklace, is that the coins are the same, so the end result is not overwhelming. The coins also look homemade, with no details on them, which I find beautiful. Plain and nice looking.    

This one is different and simpler. I like the contrast of the different colours the coins have, and also their texture. Again, there are no details on the coins, and still, I think it's  great how they look, since it can be overwhelming if every coin has different imagery on it. 

Final idea

For my final piece I wanted to stick to the idea of greed. So, I was thinking of valuable things, and the idea of creating a jewelry came in mind.

A greedy woman that wants more and more. A necklace made of coins, coins from all over the world, because greed is an international phenomenon. 

Also, except from the necklace, if I have enough time and like the end result, I could make it a set, and create a pair of earrings too.  

 

Papercut artist- Peter Callesen

Another artist who's work I could relate to The Hobbit.

Some of his papercuts remind me of fairytales, like the next ones for example.

Cut from a single sheet of a very large paper.

                                                                                 




 His work has a great variety of paper crafts both 3D and 2D. He uses negative negative and positive space in all of his artworks, never wasting the paper he cut the shapes out of.





His official website:

http://www.petercallesen.com/














                                                                                        

Papercut artist- Bovey Lee

What I adore in Lee's work is how delicate and detailed is, and also, that most of her pieces look like she's narrating a story. Since The Hobbit is a story, I found the last one related to my theme. 

 

Still, all detailed, but not that much delicate, she achieves to combine imagery from nature and industrial scene, with a great balance.

As, she has stated herself, ''My narrative-based cut paper explores the tension between man and the environment in the context of power, sacrifice, and survival''.

Here, is her official webpage

http://www.boveylee.com/

Sample

Greed makes us grab and want more and more things. That was the idea behind the sample that inspired me.
I used my palm to make a hand shape, and I glued on it images of coins from all over the world, because greed is a worldwide phenomenon, with no exceptions.

When I got in the fingers, it took time to collage the coins in the right way to cover the paper, but I really liked the result. I find the colour combination interesting, and how the hand looks like it's made of iron.

In order  to make that in a 3D way, I could stick images of coins on metal bottle lids, and attach them on a glove.

Coin papercuts

I only cut the figure on this one, leaving the
string of leaves. 

In this one, I started cutting also the letters.

Overall, I think I prefer the coin with only the silhouette being cut out. 

Idea 2

The Hobbit except from a fantasy fairytale for kids, has many messages and meanings. The one I wanted to focus on is greed. Especially towards the end of the book, greed is obvious in many of the main characters.

• The leader of the dwarfs gets blind by his desire for his one precious stone, and forgets everyone else's needs.
• The dragon lays on his treasures, the most important things he has, guarding them.
• The lord of Laketown in the finale battle cares only about himself and his valuable objects, without caring to save his people. 

So, regarding these, I decided to focus the theme of my project on greed. To combine many coins from all over the world.

I like all the different patterns on the coins. 

I used tracing paper to copy the imagery and text from an old english coin.

Idea 1

Since the The Hobbit is basically a fairytale and Tokien is one of the greatest storytellers, I got the idea to create papercuts of the most important scenes of the book. I would put them in chronological order, like I'm telling the story wih papercuts.

My initial idea was to put the images in a small book and maybe add some text.

Maybe a series with papercuts that look like that put all together

Although I liked the idea, I realized that this would take a great amount of time to be made, and that I could also take the story of The Hobbit a step further.

Mindmap

The Hobbit, as it's written by great storyteller Tolkien, it belongs to a world with a great mythology. I can get many ideas out of it, and have a big amount of options to associate my final piece with. 

Papercut artist- Sharon Arnold

Sharon Arnold writes about art, runs a gallery and an art subscription company, and is an artist in her own right. She is currently 38 years old and based in Seattle.

Many of her paper art is inspired by feathers and their movement. They look ethereal, and most of them are made by white paper.
                                                                                             

Feathers usually reminds people of angels or anything heavenly, and that's why I find her work pure and innocent. 

                                                                                             

When she's not creating art pieces with feathers, her paper art still looks ethereal and again pure in my eyes.  

       

Papercuts

I wanted to look at 2D papercuts too, since I'm interested to make one or a collection of some myself.


 If you look closely at the image, you can see the many layers of paper. The artist has added depth, which I find exciting and inspiring, while the figures are really simply drawn. The black paper in the background adds even more depth, but I would prefer some more colours, since some details get lost within the white paper.

The artist, Kate Weekes, has create many similar artworks, inspired by other famous fairy tales, such as Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan and the Wizard of Oz.

 

                         I love how the artist has played with black and white, and negative and positive space. It's a simple image, with no many details, but still beautiful. Also, there is depth in this one too.









    
This papercut excites me for many reasons. It looks delicate and fragile, all the different parts of it are connected very subtly and there is also depth. The contrast of black and this olive green is great and the dragon figure interesting.








                                                                                         
     

Paper crafts

Since I would like to work with paper for this project, I thought of take a look in paper crafts associated with The Hobbit.
                                                                   
 

This papercut made by Devian artist ''FarTooManyIdeas'', is a beautifully crated copy of the dragon Smaug from the book. It's made to look like it's coming out of the book, which happens to be The Hobbit.
If you look closely at the left image, you can see a small Bilbo staring at Smaug. A detail that I loved.
In general, I found the idea amazing, to mix a 3D piece of art with the book it's coming from.

A 2D papercut, made with a combination of black and white paper. I love how simple it looks and not overwhelming at all, when in reality it has many details.
Also, the artist, chose to picture in a A3 sheet of paper, many different and important scenes from the book, choice that I find really smart.
Bilbo leaves behind his early adventures, spiders and Gollum, to meet his final one, the great dragon Smaug.

The ring of power

The letters carved on the ring of power, the most famous object from ''Lord of the rings'' and ''The Hobbit'', translate as: ''One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them'' .

Many got inspired from it, and created many unique pieces of art.

This one is a paper-chain, made by many copies of the ring. I like the idea, but I would prefer to paint the paper rings gold before put them all together.

           
                                                               I really love the details of                                                                    the letters in this cake. Also,                                                                the combination of colours  
                                                              is great.

Here is an example of the letters on the ring in a tattoo, combined with other symbols from Tolkien's world. Again, the detail is amazing.

What is The Hobbit?

The book is about Bilbo Baggins, a peaceful Hobbit, living a a quite life in his hole-house in Bag End. Like every other Hobbit, he's small, with furry toes and a great love of foods and drinks.
One day, a wizard with the name Gandalf, comes to into his isolated life, to take him in an adventure, with a group of dwarfs. They were in need for a burglar, and they thought a Hobbit would be perfect for that role. Their quest was to go in the Lonely Mountain and take an ancient treasure that firstly belonged to dwarfs, from a dragon. They go through many adventures on their way, meeting many different species around Middle Earth, and Bilbo, after a meeting with a weird creature with the name Gollum, comes to possess a golden ring. A ring that will play a define role in the history of Middle Earth.