Aleph Bet – layered papercuts

redshift · January 31, 2019, 8:16am

I’ve been really loving playing with making Hebrew abecedaria designs and finally got to put a few through the forge.

Three sizes in this first batch: 11x17, 8x10, and 4x6. Well, not exactly 11x17 since the cut limit on my machine seems to be 10.95".

The 11x17 was first. The white paper is from Amazon, while everything else is from my years-old stash of cardstock. I used bleach in a little spritzer to create the splatter effect on the paper behind the letters (it was solid dark green). Since most of my paper is 12x12 at largest, I experimented with a little creative piecing together for the colored portions to make a single 11x17 sheet.

The 8x10 was made in much the same way. The top blue layer got some bleach, plain cardstock behind the letters, and fancy stuff pieced in.

The 4x6 is just the letters cut out of white paper with another piece behind it - nothing terribly exciting there.

Another shoutout to @raymondking32 and now @wing for the paper settings here and here.

dklgood · January 31, 2019, 2:07pm

Those turned out great.

ChristyM · January 31, 2019, 2:41pm

Lovely!

Jules · January 31, 2019, 3:33pm

Creative use of all the techniques! Looks great!

arh2 · January 31, 2019, 5:52pm

Just gorgeous - I love the color gradient effect in the letters.

raymondking32 · January 31, 2019, 5:57pm

Hey, those turned out great!

jbv · January 31, 2019, 6:57pm

the bleach-on-colored-paper effect is really interesting

redshift · January 31, 2019, 7:06pm

Honestly it was the result of laziness. I was going to use dilute watercolor on the white paper, but the spritzer already had the bleach in it so I just went with it.

jbv · January 31, 2019, 7:08pm

well, score one for laziness!

ptodd · February 1, 2019, 6:47pm

Some lovely work. Paper is fun to work with.

henryhbk · February 1, 2019, 7:53pm

Am I crazy or does the paper cut one have 2 daleds?

redshift · February 1, 2019, 8:03pm

Hah, it does look like it! The hei appears to have lost its left leg at some point in the design process…

Good catch!

3d_g33k · February 2, 2019, 1:53am

They look amazing! Great work and great paper selection, it adds a lot to the art!

wing · February 3, 2019, 9:23am

Oh this is awesome! I showed my Jewish friend who helped me get some of the papers for my experience and he’s impressed.

redshift · February 3, 2019, 9:35pm

Nice to hear! I’m planning on making these part of a product line (just ordered a boatload of large-format fancy papers) that I hope to sell in some of the local Judaica shops. Totally not at all what I planned on when I bought the laser, but here’s hoping at least one shop owner bites.