Isagra Naglia

The only commissioned piece I managed to create this holiday season was for my friend Sarah to give to her husband Dennis. She said his favorite hymn was Come, Ye Disconsolate and was wondering if I could create something from that. I gave it a shot. At the end of the second verse, there's a line that goes, "Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying, "Earth has no sorrow that heav'n can-not cure." That line spoke to me and I tried to create something from this, using part of this line and depicting a sphere inside of a more celestial orb. They both said they were happy with the results!

I remember when I started really falling in love with the music of Brasil in the late 90's this was one of the first LP's that made me a big fan of 70's MPB. This one is the Japanese remaster from the short lived Forma label. 11 tracks that spin beautifully at 32 minutes. This one just breezes by. My favorite record of the Forma imprint hands down! Not one bad number on this masterpiece. One can easy see why this band was Jorge Ben's band circa 1969-1971. There are many things in common with this band & Os Originais do Samba who also backed Jorge Ben during the same era. I adore this recording, but also really enjoy the 1975 LP which has a slightly better sound then this set. I find the LP cover of this record kinda funny. Look closely at their faces. They seem to be looking out at a mass of screaming girls and the two guys on the ends seem a little worried about pleasing all those girls while the guy in the center looks ready to jump them all. Very funny! I had this up on this page a few years back, but decided to post it again. A very solid spinner. For those of you who are just discovering the charms of 70's MPB, enjoy.

P.S. Some words that I can add to describe to this excellent session are, funky, soulful & rockin'. So don't miss this gorgeous listen. If I have to sum up what I think of this recording I would say that it spins so well that one could easily spin it twice.

I'll bet you were thinking, "There's no way Cindy's going to do another template, she doesn't have any of her Christmas shopping done. How can she have time?" These are valid thoughts, but I created this last week at the same time I created the other one. Two birds with one stone!

Christmas day is almost upon us. My bishop requested that all the members of the ward read the 4 gospels and 3rd Nephi in order for us to gain a greater knowledge of Christ this Christmas season. So far I've read Matthew and Mark. It's been a wonderful refresher of who exactly He is and what He has done for us. I hope we can all get to know Him a little bit better this season.

This is what the template looks like. Be careful around the star! Cut the gray areas out first!
Download here: Creche

1975 must just be the most perfect time for Samba Pop in Brasil and this record is proof of that fact. What a great band! At the peak of their powers and amazingly recorded by RCA Victor studios. I'm very impressed with the way RCA Victor records its artist like this group and others on that label. Such depth of fidelity here that it's slightly mind-blowing. This may or may not reveal itself on the first listen, but after a few spins it really opens up sound-wise. 1975 is a peak year in MPB. Grab this and see what I speak of. May this put a smile on your grumpy butt. A big, big thank you to Zecalouro @ Loronix for this share. Since Loronix seems to be out of business, then I'll host those posts that I've suggested at this point. R.I.P. Loronix.

P.S. Since these guys sing in six part harmony they kind of remind me of "The Beach Boys", just a little more macho.
For those that get what's going on here in this era of Brasilian popular song, this record is "The BOMB". The cuica player of this band is rough and ready and the choral singing here is super outstanding. The engineers over there at RCA Victor are Albert Einstein brilliant. So says my ear.

If any of you are interested in a beautiful nativity that will last for many, many years, check out my friend Valerie Atkisson's work made out of precious metals. These nativities are for sale right now and the perfect gift for those créche collectors out there or to have in your own home.

Valerie Atkisson Design

Every year for Christmas, I have this grand ambition to cut out a life-sized Nativity silhouette from wood and place it in my front yard. I sketched out a possible Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus scene in church and that's about as far as I got with it this year. It's closer than I got last year! I hope you are all enjoying this holiday season and for those of you who believe that our Savior was born a little over 2,000 years ago, that you are remembering Him in your hearts at this time. Merry Christmas!

Above is what the template looks like. You can download the pdf of it here: Nativity. Remember to try and cut out the inner parts first. For the halo, cut from the inner points of the stars, outward. Enjoy!

I don't know if I'll keep this up, but I'm gonna try. I have quite a few extra super talented friends with extraordinary skills that I would love to share with you.

I'm going to start off by showcasing my friend Cory. The name of her company is Songs of the Sea and she does hand-embroidered pieces of clothing and accessories. I have a skirt she made for me that is one of my most favorite skirts ever. Here is her blog: Songs of the Sea. She has an etsy store that doesn't have anything in it right now (I can't critique because mine is currently blank as well).

Take a gander!

Look at this! Two Template Tuesdays in a row! I was actually going to make this one as a wallpaper, but December 1st happened and then December 2nd happened and then it was the second Template Tuesday of the month and I thought I would just use it for today. Maybe my goal for next year will be to actually do calendar wallpapers a month ahead of time. What I wanted to do was make a bunch of people smooching under different mistletoe, but I only got around to making Santa and Mrs. Claus (in their lean years).


Here's hoping that some of you get some mistletoe action because heaven knows I'm not getting any as of yet. Christmas is still a little bit away, so there's still time! Here's what the template looks like. It's moderately simple. Just take it easy on the faces. Try to cut from the inside crooks of the face out towards the negative space. It works better for me that way.
Download your free template here: Mistletoe Santa

At sundown on December 1st, Hanukkah begins. I thought I'd make a little menorah of my own for Template Tuesday. I tried to pattern it after traditional Jewish papercutting. I hope I didn't do their craft a disservice.


According to wikipedia, here is the origin of the holiday:

From the Hebrew word for "dedication" or "consecration", Hanukkah marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem (Second Temple) after its desecration by the forces of the King of Syria Antiochus IV Epiphanes and commemorates the "miracle of the container of oil". According to the Talmud, at the re-dedication following the victory of the Maccabees over the Seleucid Empire, there was only enough consecrated olive oil to fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days, which was the length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate fresh olive oil.

This one is a folded cut, so it's half as much work, but this still took me about an hour to cut, so expect to be spending at least that much time with your penknife.
Download your free scherenschnitte hanukkah template: Hanukkah

So, maybe this Template Tuesday is on a Thursday. Semantics. The gauntlet was thrown at me on Tuesday and I had to pick it up (thanks Johnny for making me jealous that you were going elsewhere). I've mostly been lazy AND I've been needing to do a commissioned cut for my friend Marie and I've got papercutters block and I don't want to do anything else until I get hers done. But, I guess it's better to do something than nothing at all. Which brings me to this:


The Mayflower! I was trying to think of something Thanksgivingy to do that wasn't too corny and I thought of the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria and how they would be PERFECT to do and then I remembered that those were from when Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I had to think for a bit what famous ship the pilgrims sailed over on. And that is how this Mayflower papercut came about. As I was cutting this, I had no clue what year the ship sailed in and so I did a little research and found out it was 1620. This got me all excited because I came to realize that I would probably (hopefully) be alive in 2020 (which will just be an awesome year anyway) and I hope to have an amazing 400th year Thanksgiving birthday party. I wonder if the country will do anything special or if anyone will care? I think it's care-worthy.

Anyways, if you want to do the Scherenschnitte of the Mayflower, click here: Mayflower
Here's what the template will look like. I hope I've got another thankful one in me for next Tuesday.

Another fantastic outing by the duo of Antônio Carlos & Jocafi. 1975 finds this team in fine form. The rapport between these artists & the RCA Victor studios is a such a delight. These artists are the height of Brasilian Pop and they're beautifully adorned by the engineers at RCA Victor. Listen for the clarity of recording here. The bass work & choral singing are spectacular.
12 songs in 30 minutes is quite a feat! The pacing & quality are outstanding on this set. Friends of this page who enjoy a nice mid-70's example of MPB will find much to enjoy here. This one goes out to my DJ friend Paul who loves to snatch up these lovely pieces of vinyl before they disappear from God's good Earth. Get this Paul. More then enough RCA goodness here to make this worth your purchase. This sounds great with headphones! Thank you Zecalouro of Loronix for this lovely share. I'll host this, since Loronix seems to be no more. R.I.P. Loronix.

P.S. There are some serious clues about Pop excellence abounding in this era of recording. Listen to not just the warmth of the bass guitar, but the depth, clarity, tempo & agility of the pace setting of the bass playing. Another clue is the depth of fidelity on an instrument like the cuica. You really have to know how to record to get all of these non electric instruments to sound good. Such is the genius of RCA Victor!
Has anyone heard anything by these artist from 1976 or 1977?

So, Caleb and Hillary, over at Blonde Grizzly, invited me to participate in their Classic Monsters Group Show on October 15th and I finally completed my papercut tonight after lots of thought. I'm pretty pleased with it. It's of the Stygian Witches. Those are the awesome witches from Clash of the Titans (I prefer the old CoT, but the new one's witches are pretty great too). Traditionally they each share an eye, an ear and a tooth between the three of them. Here's my version. I also made computer wallpaper with a calendar if you're into that sort of thing.


Here's what the wallpaper looks like. Go ahead and download!












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I drew this in my sketchbook a little while ago and wanted to make it a Template Tuesday, but never got around to it. Now I have. It originally had a bazillion little dots all over the dress to ornament it, but I thought that might be too tricky.

Anyway, here's Cinderella. This one comes from the Grimm Brother's version in that she gets her gown from a wishing tree. The Perrault version is the one that the Disney fairytale is most like. I like them both, especially the Grimm's one where the stepsisters cut off portions of their feet to fit them into the glass slipper.


Here's what the template will look like. I forgot to flip it in my illustrator file. It's a pretty straightforward cutting. The trickiest parts are her apron strings and the parts where the birds connect to the gown. Keep practicing if these are a little too tricky for you.

Here is what the pattern looks like:

Download your free papercut template: Cinderella

I know I've got a long way before I'm even close to being anything like Alberto Vargas, but here's my attempt at a Varga Girl. I went to Disneyland with a guy who is in the Air Force a few weekends ago and I told him it kind of stunk that they don't get to do nose art of sexy ladies on their planes anymore. He agreed with me. I think I would like to flush this out a little more someday. I like the concept.

If you're going to try this one, remember to go from left to right on the thin lines (right to left if left-handed). Have fun!
Download your free papercut template: Varga Girl

Eva, over at Sycamore Street Press did a wonderful write-up about me on her blog.

Check it out: sycamore q + a {no.65}: Cindy Ferguson of Scherenschnitte

P.S. If you want to purchase the most awesome cards/prints or find out about beautiful things or take letterpress classes, Sycamore Street Press is a blog you should really check out.

It's been a little while since I've done a Template Tuesday. I'm out of practice! Here's one that has some tricky parts. Mostly, you'll have to be careful at the areas where the thin lines intersect. Always remember to drag your knife away from the intersection. Don't drag towards the intersection.

I've had this in my sketchbook for a while. I modified it last night a bit so it didn't look like all the other Template Tuesdays where there's a person leading something in their hands.

Do you think she's capturing love or keeping it captive?

Here's what the template will look like:

You can download your very own pdf here: Love Lasso

I am super excited that Blonde Grizzly is allowing me to teach a class in their gallery. It will be on Thursday night, short notice, I know. I will be teaching people how to make this Alice in Wonderland papercut. I cut silhouettes with an x-acto blade, so that is how I will be teaching, but if you have scissors, please feel free to try those out too. I will be cutting out the papercut with the class and can give personalized attention while you cut your very own. I will have a few other templates along with the Alice one in case you are interested in a different design. Hope you can make it!


Here are the details:


Thursday, September 9 at 6:00pm.
Class will be 1 hour long.
Limited space available.

$20 for the class without a t-shirt (here is the link for this item: Basic)
$30 for the class with a "Bear Murdering Puma" t-shirt. That is 50% off for the t-shirt. (here is the link for the class with the shirt: Deluxe)


Please bring your own supplies (an x-acto knife and a cutting mat). Please let us know if you are unable to bring supplies...we will have a limited amount to lend out.

Here is all the artwork from the show! This took a lot of work and so much research. I am so pleased with how it turned out. I arranged them in order of their statehood for a little educatin'. If you are interested in buying any of them, please contact Blonde Grizzly and they will be happy to help you out!

#1 Delaware
State Flower: Peach blossom
State Bird: Blue Hen Chicken
$80


#2 Pennsylvania
State Flower: Mountain laurel
Ruffed Grouse
$80

#3 New Jersey
State Flower: Purple violet
State Bird: Eastern Goldfinch
$120


#4 Georgia
State Flower: Cherokee rose
State Bird: Brown Thrasher
$80


#5 Connecticut
State Flower: Mountain laurel
State Bird: Robin
$80


#6 Massachusetts
State Flower: Mayflower
State Bird: Chickadee
$140


#7 Maryland
State Flower: Black eyed susan
State Bird: Baltimore Oriole
$80


#8 South Carolina
State Flower: Yellow jessamine
State Bird: Great Carolina Wren
$80


#9 New Hampshire
State Flower: Purple lilac
State Bird: Purple Finch
$140


#10 Virginia
State Flower: Dogwood
State Bird: Cardinal
$150



#11 New York
State Flower: Rose
State Bird: Bluebird
$140


#12 North Carolina
State Flower: Dogwood
State Bird: Cardinal
$150


#13 Rhode Island
State Flower: Violet
State Bird: Rhode Island Red
$80


#14 Vermont
State Flower: Red clover
State Bird: Hermit Thrush
$80



#15 Kentucky
State Flower: Goldenrod
State Bird: Cardinal
$80


#16 Tennessee
State Flower: Purple iris
State Bird: Mockingbird
$80


#17 Ohio
State Flower: Scarlet carnation
State Bird: Cardinal
$80


#18 Louisiana
State Flower: Magnolia
State Bird: Eastern Brown Pelican
$80


#19 Indiana
State Flower: Peony
State Bird: Cardinal
$120


#20 Mississippi
State Flower: Magnolia
State Bird: Mockingbird
$80


#21 Illinois
State Flower: Native violet
State Bird: Cardinal
SOLD


#22 Alabama
State Flower: Camellia
State Bird: Yellowhammer
$80


#23 Maine
State Flower: Pine cone & tassel
State Bird: Chickadee
$80


#24 Missouri
State Flower: Hawthorn
State Bird: Bluebird
$140


#25 Arkansas
State Flower: Apple blossom
State Bird: Mockingbird
$80


#26 Michigan
State Flower: Apple blossom
State Bird: Robin
$80


#27 Florida
State Flower: Orange blossom
State Bird: Mockingbird
$80


#28 Texas
State Flower: Bluebonnet
State Bird: Mockingbird
$140


#29 Iowa
State Flower: Wild rose
State Bird: Eastern Goldfinch
$120


#30 Wisconsin
State Flower: Wood violet
State Bird: Robin
$80


#31 California
State Flower: Golden poppy
State Bird: California Valley Quail
$140


#32 Minnesota
State Flower: Lady slipper
State Bird: Common Loon
$80


#33 Oregon
State Flower: Oregon grape
State Bird: Western Meadowlark
$80


#34 Kansas
State Flower: Native sunflower
State Bird: Western Meadowlark
$80


#35 West Virginia
State Flower: Rhododendron
State Bird: Cardinal
$80


#36 Nevada
State Flower: Sagebrush
State Bird: Mountain Bluebird
$140


#37 Nebraska
State Flower: Goldenrod
State Bird: Western Meadowlark
$140


#38 Colorado
State Flower: Columbine
State Bird: Lark Bunting
$120


#39 (or 40) North Dakota
State Flower: Wild prairie rose
State Bird: Western Meadowlark
SOLD



#40 (or 39) South Dakota
State Flower: Pasque flower
State Bird: Ring-necked Pheasant
$80


#41 Montana
State Flower: Bitterroot
State Bird: Western Meadowlark
$120


#42 Washington
State Flower: Western rhododendron
State Bird: Willow Goldfinch
SOLD


#43 Idaho
State Flower: Syringa
State Bird: Mountain Bluebird
SOLD


#44 Wyoming
State Flower: Indian paint brush
State Bird: Western Meadowlark
$80


#45 Utah
State Flower: Sego lily
State Bird: California Seagull
$140


#46 Oklahoma
State Flower: Mistletoe
State Bird: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
$80


#47 New Mexico
State Flower: Yucca
State Bird: Roadrunner
$80


#48 Arizona
State Flower: Saguaro cactus
State Bird: Cactus Wren
$80


#49 Alaska
State Flower: Forget-me-not
State Bird: Willow Ptarmigan
SOLD


#50 Hawaii
State Flower: Hibiscus
State Bird: Nene
$80


Do you have a favorite?