How to Do Paper Cut Art With Joy in Chinese
Paper cut art is a Chinese art form that started during the sixth century, during the Northern and Southern Dynasty in China. Red paper cut art is hung on windows, mirrors, lanterns and doorways during festivals in China. It is a Chinese folk belief that red is a lucky color and making paper cut art with red paper promotes good luck. The Chinese character or symbol for joy is often cut into the center of the paper cut art and is thought to promote happiness. Make your own paper cut art with red paper and the Chinese symbol for joy.
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Things You'll Need
- Cardboard
- Red paper
- Low tack painter's tape
- Chinese joy character stencil
- Pencil
- Craft knife
- Glue
- White paper
Instructions
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Set a piece of cardboard onto your workspace and tape it in place with painter's tape. Tape the red paper to the cardboard on your workspace with low tack painter's tape. You can use anything from simple construction paper or Xuan paper, which is a thin type of paper that is made for Chinese paper cut art.
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Tape the stencil over the red paper with painter's tape. Trace the pattern of the stencil onto the red paper with a pencil. Remove the stencil.
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Use a sharp craft knife to carefully cut out the symbol you just drew on the paper.
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Glue the joy symbol onto a piece of white paper to finish your Chinese paper cut art.
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Tips & Warnings
If you can't find a Chinese joy character stencil, make your own. Type "Mandarin Chinese symbol for Joy" in your preferred search engine to find an image of the characters. Print up the image. Cut it out and use the remaining negative image on the paper as your stencil.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Henry Gan/Photodisc/Getty Images
