The Art of Paper Cutting

Twin Bicycles

Today the art form continues to be popular with artists like Annie Howe. Annie graduated with a degree in fiber arts, but it was her experience creating shadow puppets for a non-profit that led to paper cutting. “There I discovered my love of X-acto knives and cutting tiny details,” she says. Annie began experimenting and giving samples away as gifts. With encouragement from friends it wasn’t long before she began selling her “experiments” at local shops and craft shows.

Lovely Trees

The tools needed for her art are few: a cutting board, paper, lots and lots of knife blades, and maybe a few Band-Aids. And when asked where she finds inspiration for her designs, she credits Mother Nature and the architecture in her city of Baltimore, Maryland. But she claims the biggest source of inspiration comes from her clients. Many of her works are commissioned and therefore designed for a specific person or occasion. “I love working one-on-one with someone to take an idea from a simple sketch on a piece of paper to the finished project.”