Easter - April 5 to 13 2009

[Heidi]

Hi,
This is something creative do to for Easter and I am wondering if anyone outside Denmark knows the tradition, too? It is papercuts that sweethearts used to make to each other (a bit like Valentine´s works in other parts of the world), nowadays mostly children make them for parents and family, or friends make for friends.
You are supposed to write your name in dots and send it anonymously before Easter - if the receiver can guess who sent it, the sender must give a chocolate Easter egg to him/her. If the receiver can´t guess it, they are the ones to give the sender an Easter egg when the sender reveals himself at the end of Easter. (Oh, the glee it was when your parents simply couldn´t guess that you made them one, even after you asked about it 14 times, lol!)
Fairy tale writer H. C. Andersen made lots of these cuts and was very good at it, you can find them easily by Googling his name.
Here´s a little tutorial I made in case anyone wants to join me for some Easter cuts!

For this one I decided to fold diagonally and cut off the excess to get a square, and then folded twice more (=8 sections). It doesn´t have to be diagonal or square. You can do circles, rectangles, rhombes, flowers, any shape you like, and any colour.

You can draw the design first or go ahead and cut freehand as you like.

Now is the time to remove pencil lines and see if you need to trim edges or cut a bit more.

Unfold - you are almost done!

You may want to leave some solid areas where you can write a rhyme or poem for your friend/family/sweetheart. Don´t forget to sign your name in dots only! Slip a little spring flower through the holes or slits you cut, and you are ready to deliver or send you Easter guessing game letter! This square cut was folded twice diagonally and only has 4 sections. Fewer layers to cut through lets your scissors move more freely.

If you made a square you´ll have some left-overs to play with while you hope for chocolate eggs to come your way. Thanks for looking!
Heidi

[Heidi]

Hi Fiona,
thanks for that link, some really nice work there! I added it to my Favourites, hadn´t seen it before.
I look forward to seeing what you do with the Scheerenschnitte technique on eggs, and in paper as well. I am going to do more cuts as well.
Making these, for me, is such a Spring thing to do! We did a lot in kindergarten. It still makes me excited to unfold them and see what they are really like!
Heidi

[Lin Neiswender]

This is beautiful Heidi. Don't understand about the name in dots though. Could you explain that a little more?

[Heidi]

Yes I can ;-) Instead of writing "from Lin" you write "from ..." 3 dots for the 3 letters in your name. Heidi would be 5 dots and so on. Gives the receiver a bit better chance of guessing who it´s from.

[Lin Neiswender]

Thanks Heidi! Going to go get some fine scissors and see if I can do this!

[Heidi]

Yes get those scissors and give it a try, Lin.
I suppose one can do them digitally as well and get some really intricate ones. I just haven´t gotten around to digitally flipping & mirroring yet.