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My obsession began when I was flicking through the children's book section in the local charity shop
After I knocked a teddy off the shelf into a box of photo frames.
As I bent to pick the teddy up, something bright green in a glass frame caught my eye.
As I picked it up to look closer, I saw it was a piece of card with shapes cut out, the remaining pieces made up a picture of a couple on a swing surrounded by flowers, I fell in love with the picture.
I bought the frame for £1.00 and decided to have a look online as to what it was.......my obsession was born.
After digging a little deeper I found more information on my charity shop treasure.
I realised I had found a papercut.
I found this to be an art form dating back thousands of years.
For centuries our ancestors from all over the world had been taking sheets of paper and transforming them into beautiful designs by cutting a series of holes into the paper for the remaining paper to make a design.
I eventually found a picture online of the papercut I had found.
It was designed and cut by the world famous artist Rob Ryan. I'd love to say I found an original,
but I wasn’t that lucky.
I began to follow his work, and developed a bit of a secret crush on him....sssshhhhhh don’t tell anyone!
Unknown to me, my ex-husband had arranged for a signed birthday from Mr Ryan himself to get sent to me, its one of my most prized possessions....
After receiving this I decided to have a go at papercutting myself. I started by downloading a free template from a well known browser and purchased a craft knife from the local pound shop. I admit my first few attempts included decapitating a good few animals and lots of swearing, but I loved how quiet and
peaceful it was to sit, when my two boys had gone to bed, and to make something so delicate and pretty,
and the rest for me is history; I was addicted!
My obsession grew and I eventually started to papercut gifts for family and friends.
I received a few orders from their family and friends and was soon booked up months in advance.
I started to design templates for fellow papercutters to download via an online shop and
vic'n'ernie papercuts was born.
Hello, my name Zhela, and I am secret paper sniffer!
I admit to being that odd person you peer sideways at in stationery shops, that is stood flicking
through the card and paper sections stopping every so often to smell the paper. Sounds extremely odd I know, but this may be the start of you developing the habits of a secret paper sniffer too...
Paper Cutting