Rock... Paper... Scissors...

Rock... Paper... Scissors...

Ok, so there are no rocks involved, but what master silhouette artist Karl Johnson can create with just paper and scissors in only two and a half minutes is amazing! It totally rocks. Aha, that's where the rock comes in!

This week the girls were treated to their very own original silhouette portraits hand cut by master silhouette artist Karl Johnson of Cut Arts. This special event took place at our local toy store Mr Mopps.

Two beautiful sisters

Karl Johnson is an amazing silhouette artist. To see him work and create such beautiful portraits with nothing but paper and scissors (plus a whole lot of talent) is a treat. I was in awe of how quickly he created such a perfect likeness of the girls. Ava's silhouette was created in only two and a half minutes! That's right. Two and a half minutes! And it's so perfect. How he does it is beyond me. Lola's portrait took a little longer but unlike Ava she was a wriggle-bum who wouldn't stay still. No problem; iPad to the rescue!

Karl creates the silhouette portraits out of black archival quality acid free paper. Multiple copies can be cut at once. I had three copies made all at once and they all came out perfectly. Once completed the silhouette is then mounted onto vellum card stock and framed. 

I had originally thought the portrait must be hand drawn onto the paper before being cut out, but no; the whole thing is done freehand with scissors. Amazing!

Here's a video of Ava's silhouette being created. It's a little out of focus at times, but that's because my camera struggled to keep up with the speed of Karl's scissors! You can also find this video here on my Vimeo page. 

Here are a few photos of Lola's silhouette being created.

Lola watches the iPad while her portrait is created.
The only way to keep her in one spot and looking in the right direction!

Snip, snip snip...

A little cut here... a little cut there...

Almost done

A few finishing touches...

... and all done!

Ava's completed silhouette

For those of you back home in Australia who'd love a silhouette portrait of your children, yourselves or even your pets but can't justify flying to America for it, never fear!  Just click here and you'll be taken to the Cut Arts custom orders page. Email through a photo and Karl will create a masterpiece for you. And at a very reasonable price too. 

Ok, now I sound like a sales pitch!

Here are the girls with their framed silhouette portraits.

Ava with her framed silhouette

Lola with her framed silhouette 

Lovely!