Christmas Deco Paper Cut

I made a few of these little christmas hangers to send to friends at Christmas

Happy Birthday Gran

A card for my gran's 89th birthday

Father's Day 2015

This year my dad gets my 'Fab Dad' papercut card.

I also made some raw chocolate-fruit-nut balls. He loved them.

Tracy & Rochelle's First Wedding Anniversary Paper Cut

I was asked to make a paper cut for a friend to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

The colour scheme of their wedding was red and white. I was shown their amazing wedding cake for inspiration:   

I made a quick sketch with their specific words, dates and initials. They loved it straight away, and suggested to include more song lyrics. 

 

 I drew it up at full size and cut it out:

I mounted it on red with foam sticky tabs behind the cut so that it raised it from the backing slightly: 

I also did a timelapse of it being cut:The Cutting of 'To The Stars And Back' from Charlotte Vogel on Vimeo.

Paper cut for Persephone on her first birthday

During Quiet January (as it is known in my world) I took on a special commission to create an artwork for a friend's baby based on her name, Persephone – the Greek Goddess of Spring and harvest.

I took inspiration from the Pomegranate mentioned in her story, and surrounded it with a celebration of meadow flowers. 

I also felt inspired to try it in two layers. The top (white) layer being outlines and defining shapes, with infills of gold beneath, mounted on mint / turquoise. 

Here are my printed templates…

I started by cutting out the top layer…

…and removed the template…

…to reveal the white top layer…

…then cut out the gold…

…and finally mounted it on the turquoise…

I wrapped it in purple tissue and bubble wrap and finished it off with a little 3-layer swing tag…

I also made a timelapse film of myself cutting out the piece…

Energy has sold!

The Mustard Cafe has sold my Energy papercut

Paper cut family tree

After doing the wedding card a few weeks ago, a friend asked me to make her a papercut tree with her family's names.

Here's the design, ready to cut…

…5 hours later it's all cut out!… 

…I mounted it in a floating frame… 

Tree Wedding Card

A friend wanted a special wedding card for her friends. She was giving them a tree as a wedding present so I made this card…

…here is is ready to start cutting…  

…5 hours later I finished cutting and removed the template…  

…I tidied up the edges, it looked really nice on a glass table outside!…  

 …I made a window card mount for it…

…I liked the way the front of the card bowed forwards – this meant the cut cast shadows on the background rather than looking flat… 

…finished! 

Bespoke Portrait card

A friend and her father wanted to give their favourite cafe owner a special card to say farewell and good luck as she closed her cafe. As they drank coffee there so often I suggested this papercut portrait of the two of them.

Father's day card 2014

Papercut Father's day card…

…inspired by the book cover of 'Transition', which was his present.

Mother's Day 2014

I tried to be a bit more free and loose with my cutting style this time. But it doesn't work like that with paper cuts. You can see at the bottom I've been too relaxed and made wobbly thicks and thins. Bad form. The trick is making a design that looks relaxed and fluid, but cut it out in a very controlled manor so as to define the design perfectly. 

New exhibition space in Norwich

Today a new department store opened in Norwich. 100% unique, Boutique Fusions sells "products and services offered by some of the best independent retailers in the UK."

It's not even on the high street, it's THAT special. I'm a big fan of Norwich Lanes. 

I'm really excited that I have the opportunity to show my work in their beautiful exhibition space at the top of the building. 

On display is my epic 'Space Bunnies' paper cut and my #3 'Do More of What Makes You Happy' paper cut in a floating frame. 

I'm very proud to be positioned next to an incredibly accomplished painter, Alexander Bell, whose seascape images really took my breath away. They are some of the most enjoyable paintings I've seen in a long time – I love their atmosphere. There's something captured in these paintings that gets flattened out and lost through photographic- and printing-processes. Something raw and honest combined with depth and mood. Absolutely stunning. To say I'm impressed is an understatement.   

Space Bunnies

Finally, my epic January papercut is complete!
This piece took ~8 hours to cut out over two weeks. However, prior to cutting, I spent countless hours originating the idea and preparing a cutting template.

I even filmed myself cutting it and prepared a time-lapse documentation, which you can watch here:
The Cutting of Space Bunnies from Charlotte Vogel on Vimeo.
Some work in progress images:

From this one sheet of paper…


… epic things grew…

Do More Of What Makes You Happy #3

I found floating frames! Yay! Now my paper cuts can be suspended in time and space, against a backdrop of it's own environment. 

Mustard January Art Change-over

'Do More of What Makes You Happy #2', in mustard and brown wrap, is up in the Mustard Cafe, alongside the work of Karl Newson and other awesome folk. 

This is the opposite wall:

Do More Of What Makes You Happy #2

Ready for the Mustard Cafe's January change over, I've prepared another 'Do More Of What Makes You Happy' paper cut. I made one this time last year and it sold on the first day of being exhibited. It was not intended to be a New Year's resolution, but it emerged to be something I kept in mind for the last year and it had positive effects. I hope this new colour way will spread the love!