I Heart Schnitzels

Last Thursday, my friend, Amanda, and I signed up to take a German paper cutting class called "scherenschnitte."  It means "scissor cuts" in German.  Neither of us could pronounce this, so we decided to refer to the class as schnitzeling.  (Yes, I know that schnitzel is a sausage, but it's the closest we could come to pronouncing the word.)

So on Thursday, we found ourselves trekking across NC State's godforsaken campus, full of pot holes and road construction, to the Pullen Arts Center (we made it there after two or three attempts despite using a GPS).  The class, however, was worth the trouble.  Our instructor was very knowledgeable and friendly.  She provided us with special scissors for cutting, different weights of cutting paper, a light table, and a packet of templates to try.  We had two hours to cut and snip to our heart's content.  Amanda and I both tried the hardest patterns the instructor had to offer.  I figured, if I'm taking the class, I want to be able to show I learned something.

Here the are the patterns we tried:

My Scherenschnitte

Amanda's Scherenschnitte

And here are the results:


With a little extra time at the end of class, I decided to try and create some of my own miniature schitznels.  They didn't turn out as well as I had liked, but it gave me ideas for the future...



Although scherenschnitte can be killer on your hands (those scissors are just so small), I can see myself trying it again the future.  Einen schönen Tag noch!

"Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable."

- George Bernard Shaw