Paper artist Ali Harrison much prefers using a blade than a pen. With perfect precision, she hand-cuts anatomical organs out of paper. These intricate, unique patterns are then transformed into a variety of fun laser-cut housewares.
“The first paper cutting I did, I used my kitchen cutting board and a borrowed box cutter,” Harrison recalled in an interview with the Etsy blog. “It didn’t turn out amazing, but I fell in love with the craft of doing it.” After falling in love with cutting paper, she armed herself with a sharper blade and an actual cutting mat, and her studio – Light & Paper – was born. At first, all Light & Paper items were hand-cut originals – but when it was near impossible to keep up with orders, she decided to begin laser-cutting her designs.
Aside from her original freehand-cut pieces, which focus on anatomical organs, Light & Paper also sells more “mainstream” merchandise such as wedding cake toppers, pop-out 3-D cityscapes, and greeting cards. “For a simple piece like one of my little ornaments, the cutting could take me just a couple of minutes,” she says. “For my larger pieces like the anatomical heart, it takes well over 40–50 hours. But I don’t usually time myself.”
“Since I’ve started my business, I find that I don’t have as much time for creating as I want, because there’s always so much to do,” she admits. “So when I am able to give myself that time, I never really feel stuck in it—I’m just happy to be able to create and design something.”
Take a look at some of her breathtaking pieces, and buy one for yourself on her Etsy shop.
