Another kirie artist is here to awe and inspire.
While origami is pretty well-known outside of Japan, far fewer will have heard of Japan’s other paper-shaping art form kirie, which literally means “cut picture” (切り絵). All one needs is a piece of paper and a cutter knife, and with some intuition and mad cutting skills, you too can make jaw-dropping beauty like we’ve taken a look at before.
Now another artist who goes by @mi_kocoa on Twitter entered the spotlight when she shared her most recent work and astounded all who saw it. While her works in the past have featured lovely designs of animals and flowers, this one utilizes text as the main focus — specifically, an excerpt from the classic children’s novel Night on the Galactic Railroad (Ginga Tetsudō no Yoru) by Kenji Miyazaka.
鳥の部分も。今までで一番時間がかかって、一番脆くてぎりぎりです。文字に小さい穴あけたり中抜きにしてみたり……やってみようと思ったこと詰めました。反省点が山積みですが苦し楽しかったです pic.twitter.com/8Mzp9TTCx1
— 里紗 (@mi_kocoa) August 5, 2017
This was cut entirely by hand from a single sheet of origami paper, using only a cutter knife. To keep the whole thing together, each kanji and hiragana character is attached to the next with hair-fine lines. Some characters have even been hollowed out in the center for emphasis.
▼ Trying to imagine the level of patience and hand-control
needed to cut such fine detail is mind boggling.
お蔵入りになりそうな予感がしないでもない…… pic.twitter.com/NFPWVW4jmF
— 里紗 (@mi_kocoa) July 26, 2017
▼ The final product looks so delicate,
like simply breathing on it would cause it to tear.
銀河鉄道の夜より#切り絵 pic.twitter.com/aFjG5EUevq
— 里紗 (@mi_kocoa) August 5, 2017
The final product has been retweeted over 80,000 times and liked an astounding 196,000 times, with netizens voicing their awe at @mi_kocoa’s talent:
“This kirie seriously moved me!”
“It’s so beautiful.”
“Amazing!”
“I thought this was Photoshopped, but it’s real and it’s amazing! How do you make such fine details so perfectly? Wonderful!”
Her other works are just as finely detailed, and equally lovely to look at:
▼ Look at the details on that dragon.
一枚だけとても懐かしい~#切り絵#動物のイラストだけで興味を持ってくれる方へ届け pic.twitter.com/k54vPbibRG
— 里紗 (@mi_kocoa) July 18, 2017
▼ A beautiful little goldfish with flower blossoms.
こっちの写真の方が好きかも…となったのでこっそり pic.twitter.com/hVgMpmWklO
— 里紗 (@mi_kocoa) April 10, 2017
▼ Kitties in love.
できました~ #切り絵 pic.twitter.com/55edy2SRE2
— 里紗 (@mi_kocoa) June 24, 2017
We’re sure this won’t be the last we see of @mi_kocoa, and we can’t wait see what her magical hands create next! Be sure to follow her so you can keep up with her art as well.
Source: Twitter/@mi_kocoa via Togech
Featured image: Twitter/@mi_kocoa
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