Tonight I took a short course on paper cutting with
Suzy Taylor. You can read more about the course on my blog
here but I thought I would show you some of the colour options I had when deciding on what backing paper to use.
All of these photos were taken within a couple of minutes on the same setting, with the same lighting conditions etc so I hope you can see just how much a different backing paper changed the look of the paper I used for the design.
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This light blue combined well with the dark blue I used but seemed to make the blue more purple looking. I like the calm and co-ordinated look
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This light peachy/orange contrasted well with the dark blue and made it 'sing' more
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The pink worked well but again made the blue too purple
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The soft mauve worked well for a subtle effect but this wasn't the look I was going for. It also made the blue look a lot lighter
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Peach made the blue look a lot darker
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Orange was a great contrast and I felt showed the blue and the work off really well
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Orange/ red was too harsh of a clash for my tastes and it also really lightened the blue
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This taupe worked well with the blue but it made it look much lighter. I also felt it seemed to show off the white parts too much. It was strange that one colour could have such an effect
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This soft green worked well but made the blue look mauve
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Soft yellow worked really well but made the blue look too purple. I loved the look but wanted to preserve the blue colour
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Beige made the blue look dark purple and whilst I loved it, it was too subtle for me!
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Lime green was a good combination but made the blue look too purple
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This yellow was my final decision. As soon as I put the blue on it the piece seemed to really 'sing' and it showed the blue, and the detail off the best. All white parts, which I didn't want showing, seemed to disappear and it made the work look its best.