A Kirigami print for the January challenge at Up & Scrap

Last year Up & Scrap came up with the most interesting challenge that I had ever participated in; creating a trompe l’oeil using scrapbook material. I made THIS mandala with a whole bunch of die cuts. I fooled the eyes of the viewer, camouflaging ugly shapes like skulls, moustaches and bats between feathers, leaves and flowers and won the challenge. ^_^

This year Up & Scrap invites us to create a new trompe l’oeil for their January challenge: Oro parece platano es 2a edición. I made this Kirigami print in which I play with the negative space and hidden messages:

Kirigami is the Japanese art of cutting paper… of drawing with the scissors… It requires a lot of patiencea… It took me hours to cut each of the elements of this ensemble with my sharp craft knife…

Did you believe it? I’m sure you didn’t. You probably recognized some of the dies that I used to create my false Kirigami, like the Die-namics Fresh Cut Grass or Skyline Border dies.

I partially die cut the latter and cut it in vertical strips in order to glue them to a panel of black cardstock.

I used one of my favorite products Stick-it double sided adhesive sheets to die cut and glue each of the pieces; the trees cut with the “Tall birch” die from Memory Box, the small birds from La Pareja Creativa, a note from the  Die-namics Musical Notes set, the Waffle Flower butterflies and so on.

I also hid the sentiment: “You inspire me” in the scene…

 

…the word “You” (a die by Avery Elle) between the stars in the sky…

…the word “inspire” (from a set of dies called “Industrial 2” by Spellbinders) in one of the white strips…

..and the word “me” (from the Die-namics Bottlecap Letters) in plain sight, as if it were a signature, in the right hand corner.

I was inspired by this beautiful illustration (looks like watercolor) by the designer and artist Tang Yau Hoong:

My version is a lot more graphic, with a big contrast between the background and the foreground which interact in a special way… fooling the eye. Sometimes you see the tree trunks and sometimes you see the buildings… like a real trompe l’oeil.

I hope you liked my graphic scrapbook trompe l’oeil. Wish me luck in the challenge!