Cut Paper Art / Afro Comb Inspiration

I get ideas for my art by researching a certain topic, looking at pictures, reading books or flipping through blogs. While looking up African mask styles I came across a website about an exhibition in London at the Fitzwillam Museum called The Origins of the Afro Comb: 6,000 years of culture, politics and identity. The exhibit was over, but it excited me to see so many designs of the Afro comb. As an African American woman with lots of hair this tool has played important roles in the creation, maintenance, and decoration of my hair and in my cultures history.

I was so interested in this exhibit and the history I decided to design and have my own interpretation of the Afro Comb. I first created rough sketches and scanned my images into Illustrator. From there I refined my shapes and ideas, until my Afro Comb was symmetrical and looked the way I wanted. I then printed my design out, taped it down to black paper and started cutting.

Paper Cut Art Afro Comb

Paper Cut Print in Orange and Blue

I loved these two so much I am currently designing another Afro Comb paper cut. Stay tuned!