My guest today is the author of the book: Silhouettes Contemporary Paper Cutting Projects, Sharyn Sowell.
Q.: Would you please tell Readers a little about your background?
A.: I was a jewelry designer and exhausted mom when my family took our usual vacation to the Sierra Nevada Mountains one summer. Sitting in a rowboat trying to amuse two squirmy boys so my husband could fish, I pulled out his Swiss army knife scissors and cut the lunch bags to illustrate a story. And suddenly I fell in love with cut paper.
Now the boys are now in college and I am still knee deep in snips and scraps. I work ridiculously long and joyful hours from a tiny rose-covered cottage studio, where I design licensed art for manufacturers, snip portraits of families, and potter about with calligraphy and letterpress printing.
Q.: Sharyn, where did you get the idea to write a book about silhouettes?
A.: People often ask me, "how do you do that?" with a longing expression in their eyes. It seemed natural to simply write it down, with ideas to incorporate the silhouette into your home and life. Cutting silhouettes is a satisfying craft that looks like a million but costs almost nothing. It seemed a book was the perfect way to share.
Q.: I know creating silhouettes has a long history, what made you think it was right for today?
A.: What's old is suddenly new again.
Silhouettes are a hot decorating trend. Because I design greeting cards, wallpaper, gifts, fabric and so on, I get to hear what's on trend. Perhaps it's because we're looking for comfort and silhouettes make us think of simpler days while they're still so clean and sophisticated. With a silhouette you can take a classic design and give it a very contemporary twist.
There's another little secret to this book. People are falling in love with silhouettes because you can achieve great visual impact for practically nothing. Paint and paper are a cheapskate's dream.
Q.: What sorts of tools would someone need to get started?
A.: You can start with what you already have. Take the scissors out of the junk drawer and turn an some leftover wallpaper and a spare piece of wood from the garage into a chic bookshelf or transform some ugly boxes into adorable storage with a dash of paint and some scraps of paper.
Ordinary scissors and glue and whatever paper you've got laying around is plenty to get you started. You might find yourself becoming addicted to paper, as I am, and become something of a magpie, gathering paper and scissors of all sorts. But you can definitely dive right in and begin with almost nothing.
Even now, I often venture out with only a small scissors and a few small squares of paper in my pocket. Silhouettes can be a blissfully simple art form.
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Q.: In the book, many of the templates are quite intricate, is this a difficult craft? Can anyone do it?
A.: I've taught kindergarten children to cut smiling clowns in ten minutes, it's that easy. But silhouettes can be so complex and offer so much artistic and technical challenge that I know I'll never reach the end of the creative rainbow.
Silhouettes can be as simple or as intricate as you want them to be. Start with one of the easy projects and use a simple pattern. With a little practice you'll move on to something harder and find yourself grinning at the results. Soon you may be like me, dreaming up new images at night and cutting them freehand in the morning just for the challenge of it.
Q.: You’ve developed a variety of projects for book buyers to try out, would you like a share a couple of them?
A.: The projects range from very useful to completely quirky.
You can quickly scissor family portraits and paste them over the towel hooks in your bathroom. I show you a method that's easy enough for a first-timer to finish in an hour. Or if you're tired of your pets leaving a mess on the floor, grab a simple pattern for a pet placemat and banish the mess to an easy-to-wipe adorable mat.
I love the way the chandeliers look when cut into segments and glued into plain glass frames. You cut out a complex silhouette of a lampshade (you'll find patterns at the back of the book), then slice it to fit tall, thin frames, glue to backing paper and hang side by side. Maximum visual impact with a powerful contemporary punch. It's not jiffy but everyone who walks into the room will admire your skill.
Q.: I once made profile silhouettes of my family for a scrapbook and it’s amazing how identifiable they are.
A.: I cut profiles of passengers on cruise ships and often laugh because family members recognize them in a heartbeat and yet almost none of us recognizes our own profile! We almost never see ourselves in profile.
Q.: What has your favorite project been?
A.: I've always got something percolating in my imagination, and I suppose that might be it, but my life has been so full of wonderful projects.
I never thought of myself as talented at all, so one day when an art critic watched me scissoring away and quietly commented, "you really draw a magical picture with your scissors," I thought I'd hang onto the little floral heart and the kind words forever.
The first time I walked into a showroom and saw my silhouettes filling a whole display window, it looked so good I gasped.
Later I was invited to contribute to the British National Portrait Gallery and thought I'd swoon. Nothing could top that, I was sure.
But I spent an afternoon of snipping wildflowers by a mountain stream in Yosemite last summer and decided that was the most satisfying project I'd ever done.
I'll probably be a wrinkled old lady in a rest home someday still happily cutting silhouettes and telling people my favorite project is the one I'm starting next.
Q.: What are you working on now?
A.: I just finished a line of giftware designs and the next project is more cut paper design cartridges for Provo Craft's CriCut machine. I've got another book percolating in my head and am dying to illustrate a children's fairy tale series. Meantime you might meet me snipping your portrait on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity Cruise ships. And I'm a blogging fanatic at www.sharynsowellartblog.blogspot.com
My motto is "wonders never cease" and that sums up my life and work. Every day is full of miracles, and I'd like that sense of amazement and peace to infuse the lives of all those around me, too. Who knows what will come next? Something wonderful is always just around the bend.
Thanks for stopping by, Sharyn, and good luck with the book.
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