Cutting Paper

 

My new hobby is cutting paper. I have an X-acto knife. I have printer paper. I have a cutting mat, which claims to be self healing. I'll try not to dwell on the fact that I am repeatedly injuring the mat so much that it must heal itself.

My first attempt at cutting paper resulted in a small rectangle cut out of a regular-sized piece of printer paper. Further attempts resulted in similar cut outs. Eventually, a house with tiny windows appeared (pictured above).

So far, the most difficult part about cutting paper is remembering which part is to be cut out and which part is to remain attached. If I need to fix a line I cut, I need to make sure I fix it in the correct way. Otherwise, I'll be starting over. I have a few failed attempts beyond the house pictured above that shall not be pictured anywhere. These attempts won't be pictured partly because they are incomplete and partly because I don't have a good set up for taking photos.

I have a goal in mind with this new hobby, and I'm going to document my progress. I'm not following any tutorials or guidelines on how to approach this. I couldn't easily find any guidelines, and I realized that I don't want to be guided by someone else's journey. I want to follow my own. I may eventually get stuck and seek guidance, but I'm going to try to work through it first. The struggle is important.

My prediction with this new hobby is that it will be enjoyable until I cut myself. Then it'll be painful. After that, it'll return to being enjoyable.