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linda gomez biography
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[Biography] [Gallery]
Lived: - present
GAP Member Since: 2005-04-01
Type: Polish, Pappercuttings, Wycinanki
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8389 Baker Ave., SP2
Rancho Cucamonga CA 91730-3229
USA
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Baby
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I am a Canadian by birth but became a naturalized citizen
of the United States in 1976. My family emigrated from Canada
in 1957. I work as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist and have
spent 22 years with the Air Force Reserves as a lab tech. |
I am a new member of the Guild of American Papercutters and
really enjoy seeing the other members’ cuttings. I myself have
been doing a type of Polish papercutting after becoming interested
in papercutting at a folk dance camp I attended at the Idyllwild
School of Music and the Arts in California. (I had won a scholarship
for the week of instruction.) |
Buffalo
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Dragon
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That year, the Polish dance teacher, Jan Sedja, presented an hour
of folk culture and taught us wycinanki from his home area of Poland.
I have never seen any other wycinanki in the style that I learned.
I am sure the styles vary from region to region. I would love to go
to Poland on a fact-finding mission to find out what region the style
I make comes from! Jan taught us the two traditional edgings and then
said we could do whatever we wanted in the inside. Since that folk
dance camp, I have been doing papercuttings, mostly at Christmas time,
to hang from threads to decorate ceilings or to hang on Christmas trees. |
As the years went on and my time with the Air Force Reserves was
nearing 20 years, I was looking around to find a home craft business
I could turn to after I retired, partly to make up for the lost income
from the Reserves but also to continue working in a civilian career field.
Around that time, a lady was leaving the clinic where I worked and she
really admired my cuttings. For a going-away gift, I put three in a frame
to give her. When I did that, it hit me: This is the business I need to
do. That was over three years ago, and my business is growing steadily.
Since then I have also done a Happy Birthday banner and a few greeting cards. |
Gomez1
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Hummingbird
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For my papercutting, I use a small pair of 3 inch Fiskars scissors,
and where necessary, a scalpel with a #11 blade. The scalpel blades are
very sharp, much sharper than X-acto blades and they are not expensive
since the blades are very replaceable. |
Most of my cuttings are done using origami paper which Jan Sedja said
was the best since it is very thin, yet very strong. I fold the paper
in eighths and then do the border first, and work my way to the center.
After the border is done, either one or two rows, I unfold it one fold
and draw on the design that I want to make if it is a four-merous design,
as in the dragon cutting. Once that design part is done, I fold it back
into eighths and finish the rest of the cutting. |
Tiger
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I find if I cut the small interior design parts first before
the paper is weakened, the cutting comes out nicer, with less
chance of error. Once the cutting is done, I carefully open the
paper out flat. I press the designs in a book or with an iron
if I am in a hurry. |
This year I entered the National Orange Show Festival as they
added a new category, Papercraft, to their offerings. They had
three new classes under that category which were: 1) Paper-folded,
cut, 2) Paper-not folded, cut, and 3) Paper, other. |
I was the only entrant in that category, so each piece I entered
was given a ribbon, and one cutting earned a “Best of Show” ribbon.
I expected this since there was no other competition, but it was nice
to read the judges’ comments about my work. When I retrieved my cutting
after the show, they asked me if I would enter again next year. I told them,
yes, of course. They also asked me if there are more people that I know
who do papercutting. I told them about GAP and said that I would put out
the word for next year. |
The Orange Show Festival is held in May at the National Orange Show
Fairgrounds in San Bernadino, CA. They have a website at
http://www.nationalorangeshow.com
for those of you who are interested for next year! |
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