Chinese New Year – year of the Dog - papercuts & drawings, student display, adult art class, 2/26/18

Chinese paper cuts dogs class for Chinese New Year of the Dog - 2018

We somewhat followed these steps:

Cut sheet of paper into quarters

Color two of them with two different red crayons

On the back of one of these red papers draw a simple dog figure

Lay red paper face down, (red), on top of a white paper, blank paper, ( quarter sheets).

Draw a simple dog outline on the top sheet which is the white sheet and press hard as you do.

Place a red sheet on top of a white sheet, parentheses quarter sheet parentheses, red sheet red side should be against the white/blank

Draw a simple dog outline pressing hard with your pencil.

Take a peek, you should have a red line drawing on the blank sheet.

Cut out your first dog drawing in one cut, no trimming. You should have two pieces space –  the dog, and the background,.

Experiment - The sheet where are you drew hard for a transfer drawing, feel with your fingertip to see if you can feel your drawing.

If you cannot, draw another one pressing hard enough so that you can feel it on the other side.

Turn it over, raised line up.

Place another blank quarter sheet on top.

Do a light pencil rubbing to see if your line drawing will reveal itself. We tried it in crayon. Maybe pencil will work better.

Try a crayon rubbing, with a red crayon, and use your paper cut dog.

Take another quarter sheet of red colored paper and cut a simple dog figure freehand, no drawing underneath.

Now, using a simple Chinese paper cut as a reference, where you can see the cut out pattern designs, see how you can create a simplified version of some of the design patterns in a new red paper cut. Since you are using scissors and not a knife, see if you can do this in one continuous line/cut. You should end up with two pieces – the dog and the background.

Some of your white backgrounds can be placed over red papers, (red colored paper). Tip one down on top of a red paper.

Tip a red dog cut out onto a blank quarter sheet.

Through all of this keep making colored quarter sheets as needed!

Arrangement options:

Dogs, dog figures, quarter sheets, onto a whole sheet.

One long accordion series,

Bind together

Join together using little strips of blank paper and glue on the back of adjoining panels. Make this accordion pamphlet/booklet/card/series as long as you like.

Attach your paper cut cards onto a long string like a banner.

Think of more ideas!