Make A Retro Paper Sculpture

Paper modeller Mel Edwards explains how she achieves absolute precision when making sculptures out of paper

MY LOVE OF PAPER

Mel Edwards

Having only graduated last summer, I’m still pretty new to the world of freelance illustration. My style and process, however, are things that I’ve been developing for quite some time now. I dabbled with paper during my a-levels and art Foundation, but University was where I truly fell in love with the material.

Initially, I cut everything using a scalpel and produced a lot of layered, two-dimensional illustration. This process was extremely time-consuming and the end result always looked very handmade. As I progressed, I started working with a laser cutter – this gave me the advantages of speed and precision but it burned the edges of my paper. Now, I cut my papers using a plotter. The plotter also facilitates speed and precision but, instead of a laser, it cuts with a blade, which eliminates the unwanted burn.

START PLANNING

The first stage of every project is planning; In this stage I make lots of rough sketches and notes. However, paper (like any material) has properties that sometimes pose constraints. These constrains don’t always become apparent until begin making my creations; soIkeep my initial designs loose, and leave space for the paper to make some of the decisions.