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A Papercut for Her Majesty

Phew!  Well I didn’t think I’d keep a lid on THAT for quite so long! In January of this year, I was excited (and terrified in equal measure!) to be commissioned by the National Federation of Women’s Institutes to design and create the official card from the WI to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her 90th birthday! An honour indeed, but where
Birthday Card for Her Majesty to start?!  I was to produce a handmade papercut card for the Queen on behalf of the Queens of Craft!

I knew straight away that I wanted to include aspects of Nottingham Lace in the design, particularly as papercutting lends itself beautifully to the intricate detail of lace.  I had a Birkin & Co. archive piece in mind and chose some flower and leaf motifs to incorporate into the design.   The inclusion of the traditional WI logo referenced the historical relationship between the WI and both Her Majesty and the Queen Mother before her and the motifs and wording were held together with ‘threads’ of paper lace.

After many hours of cutting and a numb ‘papercutter’s finger’, mounting the white papercut onto the Queen’s favourite pale blue colour paid pleasing homage to Wedgwood’s Jasperware, in honour of my father, a ceramicist and my creative hero!

A big thank you goes to the WI for this amazing opportunity and of course, a very Happy 90th Birthday to Her Majesty!

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