Scherenschnitte: Traditional Papercutting

From the Introduction of this 32 page book: "Scherenschnitte, or scissors cuttings in the Pennsylvania German tradition, are derived from the Swiss-German technique of cutting one piece of paper in a continuous design, although the paper can be folded from one to three times for repeats in the overall pattern. The earliest Germanic forms date from the mid-sixteen-hundreds, most of which are religious pieces. The earliest forms coming to America in the late 18th century are found to be of birth certificates and love letters. These particular Swiss and German people were fleeing religious persecution, so we find various Protestant sects, including the Seventh Day Baptists of Ephrata, the Moravians of Bethlehem, Schwenkfelders, Mennonites and the majority of churches of Lutheran and Reformed faith producing this work. The cuttings at this time were basically intricate cut borders surrounding documents. These differ from the German-Catholic picture oriented cutting, whereas the Protestant were word-oriented. Many such pieces are now found in museum and private collections." This book shows illustrations of various scherenschnitte patterns such as the liebsbrief (love letter), certificates, shelf paper, doilies, mantle paper, children's fantasies, and more. Tips are found on cutting, single, double, and triple fold designs, using stencil letters and numerals, designing within a border, antiquing and adding texture, using a limited palette, and inspiration for cuttings. More than thirty photos of a variety of designs are included along with descriptive text.