Papercut Polaroids

If you follow Oh Cut It Out on social media you've probably noticed that I like to draw inspiration for artwork from song lyrics. The first piece of papercutting I ever made (back when I was a student living off buttery toast and Yorkshire tea) used the Zeppelin lyrics "if there's a bustle in your hedgerow don't be alarmed now".

In recent months I've cut Billy Bibby's lyric "you keep me waitin' and waitin' for you" from the song "Waitin' For You" beneath an intricate, floral skull; and used Michael Malarkey's lyric "these holes in our hearts are like diamonds to some" from the song "Holes" to inspire a geometric anatomical heart...

Well, I've been at it again. This time with Darling BOY lyrics. I was feeling kind of upside down and uninspired (designing Christmas cards in July will do that to you) and these lyrics jumped out at me...

"We're living in a photograph

To keep the past just close enough" 

- "Bless Your Bones", Darling BOY

Recently my work has been growing in size. I want big designs with intricate detail. There's a soaring sense of achievement when you've spent 20 hours cutting one piece of card, and only one of your fingers has a plaster wrapped around it.

But working on large pieces all of the time becomes overwhelming. Polaroids seemed like the perfect antidote.

I dug out some old Polaroids of my parents first dog, Dylan, and cut out a German Shepherd beneath a leafy tree... Then I went looking for visual lyrics that could be executed in a limited space:

 "Are you ducking and diving round the houses?"

- "Oh Roisin!", Darling BOY

These papercuts remind me of the booklets you get in CD cases... Each song represented by a papercut visual and corresponding lyric. If people still bought CD's, that is...

"You knocked the wind out of my sails"

- "Shirley", Darling BOY

I'm so happy with how these lyric Polaroids turned out, and I suspect I'll be cutting out more in the future... Watch this space!

For more music chat go back and read 'The Lost Art of the Mix CD'.

You can find Darling BOY's ep 'In Flames!' on iTunes and Spotify.
 
Until next week...

-Karen