Paper Cuts And Choices

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.


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

This light peachy/orange contrasted well with the dark blue and made it 'sing' more

The pink worked well but again made the blue too purple

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

Peach made the blue look a lot darker

Orange was a great contrast and I felt showed the blue and the work off really well

Orange/ red was too harsh of a clash for my tastes and it also really lightened the blue

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


This soft green worked well but made the blue look mauve

Soft yellow worked really well but made the blue look too purple. I loved the look but wanted to preserve the blue colour

Beige made the blue look dark purple and whilst I loved it, it was too subtle for me!

Lime green was a good combination but made the blue look too purple


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.