If you’re just getting started with papercutting these practice sheets are a great way to start, you can print them off as many times as you like so you can get used to holding a knife, cutting clean lines and moving the paper.
To get started, print off the download on to plain paper – if you really want to get started but only have copier paper you can use it but a heavier paper will be better and less likely to rip. For more information on different papers you can read our blog post on it
Place your paper in the middle of your cutting mat (you’ll be moving it around a fair bit) and make sure you’re sitting comfortably and the light is good.
Pick which part of the papercut that you’re going to start with and position the paper so the line you are going to cut is facing vertically towards you; you will be drawing the knife towards you. Hold the paper gently but firmly with your non-dominant hand, try to start cutting from the corner and cut towards you.
To keep cutting from the strongest part of the paper, cut the opposite line before doing the short adjoining lines. Make sure to move the paper before changing to the short lines. The last line in a shape is usually the hardest because the part you’re cutting is no longer joined to much, cut slowly but firmly.
Work your way down the sheet getting used to holding your knife, if your hand starts to hurt you may be pressing too hard.
There are many different ways to cut the star shapes, the video shows how you can cut from the outside in, you can turn the paper for each line or even do all the lines that go one way and then all the opposite lines.
There are no real right or wrong ways to papercut but there are ways that are faster and slower; ways that make your hand hurt and ways that don’t, ways that don’t rip the paper… and ways that do!
These things are likely to be different for everybody and you will probably need to try a number of different ways of cutting before you settle on things that work every time.
In my experience, the things that have made paper cutting easier and more enjoyable have been;
- changing my blade regularly so it’s nice and sharp
- finding a paper that I love and that feels smooth to cut; I like a paper that’s no heavier than 130gsm
- elevating the cut I’m working on so it’s at an angle, there’s probably more high-tech ways to achieve this but I put a lever-arch file under my mat to elevate the part furthest away
- cutting lines in the same direction so that I don’t turn the paper too much
- keeping my mat clear of paper scraps (because if you cut over them, the knife catches and can rip the paper) and not putting my hot coffee on it (it warps!)
