OUGD603 HARRISON ADVENT CALENDAR - PAPER CUT EXPERIMENTS

Following on from the sketches of the present idea from the last blog post, the present was producing using the paper cut method, to create a bold, but almost physical appearance.

The ribbon. Stripe detail was added to create a bit more detail and interest to the design. Simple effect to keep with the modern style Harrison requires.

Initial bow design, suing two shades to give more shape to the 2D design. It was placed at a bit of an angle to make it look more realistic and less angular as well.

It was suggested by a peer to try and create the bow in more of a 3D shape, but folding over the paper to create the bow part. Here is the result, photographed from above. From this angle, which is the angle it will have to be photographed at for submission, the bow looks quite flat and shapeless, even though it has added depth to it compared to the 2D version.

However, from this angle, the bow looks much more shapely and realistic, however you won't be able to see this from the above angle which is a shame.

This is the 2D bow with more added details to make it look more shapely, which works really effectively. It looks neat in the middle of the present.

From this photograph, you can see the space underneath the coloured paper, as the bow has been stuck to the present using foam pads, which lift it off the paper, creating interesting shadows, and giving the bow a bit more shape and depth which is required, so it has a little extra pop to it.

Wrapping paper experiments:
For the wrapping paper, there are different choices to be made in regard to the pattern. Should it be Christmas trees, dots, stripes, or left blank. To make this decision, each pattern was tested in paper cut on a tester present.

Christmas trees. These actually work really well, and don't look very twee as I feared they might. At a wonky angle the slightly different shape and size of the trees is disguised as each one was drawn and cut out by hand, it would be impossible to make them identical. 

Stripes. Although a simple design, the stripes blend in very easily to the ribbon, which is also striped, and detract attention from it.

Spots were extremely time consuming and fiddly to cut out. If I was to use this I would use a hole puncher to create the dots, which although would make them a specific size, they would all be one uniformed size, not higgledy piggledy like they are here. However I'm not sure if spots are a bit too feminine and cutesy for the advent calendar.

Here you can see all the different patterns together on the tester present. The mini Christmas trees really stand out as being the most festive looking, whilst still allowing the ribbon and bow full attention.

Reflection:
These paper cut experiments have been really useful to define what works well and what doesn't, especially for the bow and wrapping paper pattern. To make the ribbon stand out a little bit more, perhaps I could apply a light blue glitter paint to the darker shade of the ribbon.

Next steps:
The next stage in this brief will be to experiment with a more orderly layout of the Christmas trees in the one remaining section of the tester present. This will be to see if the pattern works better in a more orderly pattern or scattered.