Knife, Paper, Octopus

December 30, 2018 8:59 PM

Paper cutting art requires tremendous patience and a steady hand, and Japanese artist Masayo Fukuda has mastered the craft. Known as Kirie in Japanese (translated as “cut picture”), the traditional art form involves cutting intricate forms from a single sheet of white paper and then contrasting it against a black background to reveal the design. Fukuda has been practicing Kirie for 25 years and has recently revealed what she believes to be her best work of 2018—an incredible life-sized paper octopus.

The artist's website shows the development of the piece from concept sketch to finished cutout.

posted by Johnny Wallflower (13 comments total)

With any of the scissors in this house I could quickly and easily turn that into confetti. Just insanely amazing.
posted by sammyo at 9:29 PM on December 30, 2018

This is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.
posted by Mavri at 10:06 PM on December 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

Sometimes I'm jealous of an artist or craftsperson because I think that I might be able to do something similar, if I took the time and effort to commit myself to learning the technique. I can't be jealous of this because I can't imagine myself, at the peak of whatever physical dexterity that I've ever possessed, getting within orders of magnitude of this precision and sophistication. Jaw-dropping.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:11 PM on December 30, 2018 [9 favorites]

Just gorgeous! Wow.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:35 AM on December 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

I actually shouted when I saw the picture. I thought I knew what to expect from the description, but it completely overthrew my expectations.

It is amazing.

I wonder both how she keeps her knives sharp, and how many blades she goes through in the course of a year.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 1:53 AM on December 31, 2018 [2 favorites]

I like the way she uses light and dark sucker designs to create visual interest. I’m also interested that I didn’t notice this until I saw her holding the design rather than displaying it against the background.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:51 AM on December 31, 2018 [2 favorites]

I follow a lot of paper cutters on Instagram, and this is some of the finest work I've ever seen. Really gorgeous.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:27 AM on December 31, 2018

Wow. Does anyone know what kind of blade or scissors you cut these with? It doesn't seem like an x-acto knife would be small enough.
posted by pangolin party at 6:34 AM on December 31, 2018

There are specialized paper craft knives, including some which are made by X-ACTO. They come with very tiny blades if that's what you need. Fiskars also makes a bunch.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:56 AM on December 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

Before showing this to my wife I said “I promise you that no matter what you’re picturing, this is still going to be way more amazing” and then she clicked and swore :-)

There’s a YouTube video with not great music that shows a time lapse of her doing a chameleon which is mesmerizing.
posted by freecellwizard at 7:22 AM on December 31, 2018

As soon as real octopuses get a glimpse of this they are going to be wanting their own intricate paisley tattoos on their heads and armpits.

Stunning!
posted by heatherlogan at 7:33 AM on December 31, 2018 [2 favorites]

A video on the finished cutout page shows her using what looks like an X-Acto knife.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:34 AM on December 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

This is awesome in the true sense of the word.
posted by billiebee at 10:32 AM on December 31, 2018 [1 favorite]