What's a Papercut Banner?

 

I thought I would tell you a little bit about the process of making papercut banners. I was first introduced to the process by reading a book called Spaces for Spirit: Adorning the Church, by Nancy Chinn. 

 

She describes herself as a liturgical artist and begins her book with a quotation from Exodus 35: 30-35—

 

Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. He has filled him with the Spirit of God—with skill, with understanding, with knowledge, and in all kinds of work— to design artistic designs, to work in gold, in silver, and in bronze,  and in cutting stones for their setting, and in cutting wood, to do work in every artistic craft.  And he has put it in his heart to teach, he and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, as designers, as embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and in fine linen, and as weavers. They are craftsmen in all the work and artistic designers.

 

God called real people with names to help create a space where people could have a space to get in touch with God. God still needs people to create spaces for the spirit. Their skills might be with wood or dough or metal or photos or words or fabric or paper. Nancy Chinn says: 

The artist has borne the image of the isolate, the deviant seer in society, who by living on the edge has been able to see most clearly the trends, the shifts, the new paradigms emerging. But there is another vital, rich place for this sensitivity to be nurtured. It is in community. As a member of a community, the artist becomes not the deviant but the listener, questioning and absorbing diverse answers... We carefully listen, and we too hear a new voice, a new call. We search and find a form that can suggest a kind of mediation between what we have heard in community itself and the voice of the materials. Listening like this is a mysterious and powerful process. To be heard is the source of great healing, of love, of life-giving spirit.

 

I hope that this project, although it has been modified from what I originally envisioned, can become a listening project, as you respond below with your comments and talk and listen to one another. 

I had been making fabric banners with our church in Houston, but that turned out to be quite expensive. I thought paper would be a lot cheaper, and I liked the idea that the paper was so temporal. Paper doesn't last forever. It would return to dust. So I began. I usually involved the community in the process. I made banners with churches, wedding parties, and on mission trips. The banners were large, usually about 3’ x 9’. At first I used photographer’s backdrop paper, but then I discovered I could use Tyvek and the banners would be much more resilient. I helped the youth in our church in Waco make one that hung outside in a tree for about six months before a storm finally damaged it beyond repair. It’s been great fun. My favorite one is the one I did for my daughter’s wedding. They were married on Maundy Thursday outside under a tree. My prayer for them was that they would shine like stars in a dark world (Philippians 2:15) and that they would have deep roots and firm foundations to know the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:18­-19). The banner drew all those things together.

 

So it begins. I had used up all my paper, so I had to buy a new roll. 

 

I have a rubber mat that I put under the paper while I cut the designs with exacto knives.

 

 

Here are the tools of the trade—exacto knives, charcoal pencils, compass, straight edges, erasers.

 

 

Then comes the next to the hardest step—drawing out the design. I usually carry it around in my head for a month before I put it down on paper, and it can change along the way. I was inspired by the stained glass windows in the church,

 

 

and  I wanted to include the Stations of the Cross. Here are the beginning sketches.

 

The hardest step is knowing what to cut away and what to leave and continuing to believe that it will all make sense in the end.

 So that’s how it begins. Any thoughts or questions?