剪纸 Paper Cutting

Chinese Paper Cutting or Jianzhi (剪纸 jiǎn zhǐ) is the first type of papercutting design, since paper was invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty in China. The art form later spread to other parts of the world with different regions adopting their own cultural styles.

Because the cut outs are also used to decorate doors and windows, they are sometimes referred to 窗花(chuāng huā), meaning Window Flower.

[zhé zhǐ] 折纸 folding paper 
[huà cǎo tú] 画草图 drawing cutting lines 
[jiǎn zhǐ] 剪纸 cutting the paper

There are two methods of manufacture: one uses scissors(剪子jiǎn zi), the other uses knives(刀 dāo). In the scissor method, several pieces of paper — up to eight — are fastened together. The motif is then cut with sharp, pointed scissors.

Knife cuttings are fashioned by putting several layers of paper on a relatively soft foundation consisting of a mixture of tallow and ashes. Following a pattern, the artist cuts the motif into the paper with a sharp knife which is usually held vertically. Skilled crafters can even cut out different drawings freely without stopping.