Drawing with Scissors

paper collage

Scissors Safety

3 RULES TO FOLLOW WHEN USING SCISSORS:

Sit down when you use scissors to cut.
Look at the scissors when you cut.
Hold the closed blades together when walking or passing scissors to someone.

Proper Ergonomics and Safety First when using Scissors (Demonstrated in Cassie Stephen's video)

Thumb-Up Positioning: Place your thumb in the top small loop and two or three fingers in the bottom larger loop.
Visual Cue Trick: Draw a small smiley face or place a sticker on the thumb of their cutting hand. The smiley face must always "see" the ceiling while cutting.
Body Anchor: Keep the cutting elbow tucked close to the ribs to stabilize the arm.
The "Helping Hand" rule: The scissor hand does not move much while the other non-dominant "helping hand" feeds, rotates, and controls the paper.
Directional Safety: Always cut forward and away from the body.

Let's Cut Leaves (Part 1)

Cut the leaves out from the leaf print-out.
Each artist cuts 4 leaves. Start with the 2 easier basic leaf shape to practise.
Cut tabs to flange the base of the tree.
Glue the cut leaves to the flanged tree trunk toilet roll.

Materials: Printed leaf paper. Scissors.

ARTIST INSPIRATION: Rich McCor (Paperboyo)

Source: Paperboyo

Lesson 2: Let's Cut a Snowflake (Part 2) -

Build Cutting Muscle Strength: Cut thicker paper as it will be folded

Symmetrical Negative-Space Art: Fold a piece of paper in half. Have them draw half of a design of different leaf shapes along the fold, cut it out, and unfold it. This requires keeping track of the fold line while controlling the blade.Cut geometric shapes at the border edges.

Fold the A4 paper in half and half again.
Cut half leave shapes on the folded sides. Leave gaps in between.
Cut basic shapes on the open (unfolded) edges. Leave gaps in between.
Open the folded paper to reveal your leaf "snowflake".
Keep the leaves in your plastic folder.

Materials: Coloured paper. Scissors.

Precision and Task Sequencing (To build motor control and patience): Nature Silhouettes: Cut out organic leaf shapes.

Build Cutting Muscle Strength: Cut thicker folded paper.

Let's Make a Tree (Part 3)

Cut tabs on the base of the toilet roll to flange the base for the tree.
Glue all the cut leaves to make your tree!

Materials: Cut leaf paper. Toilet roll. Scissors. Glue stick

Precision and Task Sequencing (To build motor control and patience): "Fringing": Cut repetitive, parallel snips that stop precisely at a specific borderline without cutting the piece all the way off to make tree trunk.

Build Cutting Muscle Strength: Cut thicker toilet roll cardboard.

Lesson 3: Let's Cut a Spiral!

Cut a spiral mobile from the spiral template.
Cut a spiral from the circular paper. (1 sheet per student)
Move the paper as you cut slowly, following the shape of the circle.
Go slow to try to keep the circular shape.
Force your hand holding the paper to move the paper.

Materials: Round coloured paper. Scissors.

Spiral Template

Lesson 4: Make a Matisse-inspired Paper Collage (Part 1)

Introduction to artist inspiration Henri Matisse.

Pay attention to Matisse's colours, shapes and patterns in his artwork.
Think of what you like about Matisse's art.
Think and ask yourself: What do I want to do for my paper collage?

DESIGN YOUR MATISSE PAPER COLLAGE

1. Use the A4 cardstock sheet to use as your base/background colour. Write your name and class on the bottom right corner on the back.
Take 3 A5 thin coloured papers. Cut the shape you want. Return leftover papers to the "PAPER SHOP" if there is a lot left for others to use or save it in your sleeve.
For more colour papers, take up to 2 colour sheets at a time. Always check the leftover paper stock before taking a new sheet.
Layout your pieces to create your composition before glueing down.

Materials: Coloured cardstock, Coloured papers, Scissors, Glue sticks

Cardstock colours for background

Paper colours for cut-outs

CHOOSING COLOUR

How to Choose the "Right" Colours for your Artwork

Do you just choose your favourite colours?
How do you know if the colours go well together?
- - - Learn colour theory and the colour wheel
    - Look at the colours of nature