Silhouette

Check out these wonderful animal silhouette book dividers by Hiroshi Sasagawa.

They are such a clever idea. It’s like playing peek-a-boo…

I would DIY it but I can barely fit toothpick into my bookcase it is so packed - and not only packed standard like a bookcase should, but books ontop of books, fabric squashed between, magazine falling down the back….I think you get the picture. I must sort it out sometime and then perhaps make a zoo to help keep it tame.

Inspiration is everywhere. You just have to look to find it I believe. For example, I was working late the other night and noticed that the light cast this beautiful shadow on the wall of the remaining daisies in my vase.

I decided to play a bit with the image in Photoshop…

Silhouettes have an amazingly calming effect. I have two silhouettes pasted on my bedroom walls.

I came across this poor cat silhouette, all tattered and torn sorting through my mom’s old school stuff (she was a Grade 2/Sub b teacher) and became transfixed with it. It was so beautiful I couldn’t let it be thrown away. So…I got hold of some charcoal card, traced the shape and cut it out. It now sits on my skirting board and every time I see it, it’s simple beauty calms me.

The other cut-out I have are three swallows.

I have a fascination with maps and I hate the way that old maps, artworks, just get chucked away. My first idea to ‘rescue’ them was to create paper bags out of them. But this never materialized and I still have a stack of old maps under my bed. At the same time as this was going on I was busy doing a textile design with birds and loved the shapes I was coming across. I choose the swallow silhouette, worked on it a bit and cut it out of the maps. They now fly above my bed and fill a wall that would ordinarily be quite boring and plain. I love the correlation created by the swallow and the map. I have gotten a lot of compliments about them and really all they were was an experiment to fill a space when I had no money and little time. I have grown to love them and think I will keep them when I move one day.