Cutting Up at the Castle

It's tea time at Castle in the Air, and Ulla Milbrath has just wrapped up today's class, "Introduction to Paper Cutting." She's been working with cut paper silhouettes in her home studio for some time, but today was the first time she's taught the art.

Six students arrived at the studio this morning and, using scissors and X-Acto blades, were guided through a simple cut-out of a swan. Later, they tried a more complex cut-out, one that required some interior cuts. Before the day was out, they'd finished a silhouette collage by embellishing a portrait with other images they cut out from pieces from Ulla's collection, and started on a larger project that they can finish at home.

Ulla says she loved how different every piece looked, even though they all began with some of the same elements. Some of the pictures came from Silhouettes, a Dover book by Carol Belanger Grafton that Ulla recommends. She wasn't the only one who enjoyed the day. One excited student even exclaimed, "We had more fun than we could have even imagined!"

Do you want to try it right now? Ulla's let us turn one of her simple collages into a silhouette for you to download and cut out yourself! Click here to try it!

Silhouettes from Ulla

Yesterday I was so charmed when Ulla Milbrath came by and gave me the sweetest present -- a silhouette papercut scene starring Pinocchio and some of his winged friends! We're big fans of Pinocchio at my house, and are thrilled to have the honor of hanging Ulla's fantastic picture in our house.

For those of you who want to try silhouette papercut for yourself, Ulla has promised to teach a class this spring at Castle in the Air on this intricate and rewarding art. Sign up for our class schedule and we'll email you once the date is set.