A Poem Prompt
with simple paper cutouts
This week’s prompt is inspired by a beautiful little painting of Magpies that I recently saw in my Substack feed by Jess Stride…
… and the old English Rhyme she referenced.
The Magpie Rhyme
“One for sorrow, two for joy,
Three for a girl, four for a boy,
Five for silver, six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.”
More (and longer) variations of this rhyme exist - a summary of which can be found at Hypnogoria.com
The Magpie is often found in folktales and myths across cultures.
[They] have long symbolized wisdom, intelligence, and mystery. Their ability to mimic human speech adds to their mystique. The number of magpies seen together has long been thought to offer clues about future events. A single magpie was often regarded as a bad omen, while multiple magpies could bring varying fortunes. This superstition has been passed down through generations, influencing how people perceive magpies today.
When you spot seven magpies, people often say that it represents a secret that will never be revealed. Some believe this implies hidden knowledge or untold truths, while others interpret it as a warning, suggesting that some things should remain undiscovered. ~ Bird-Watching.co.uk
Since I love birds and poetry, I decided to use the two together for today’s collage prompt while trying out a new paper-cutting strategy.
Collage Prompt #10
Use a line from The Magpie Rhyme for inspiration, or choose your own favorite poem.
Paper-Cut Shapes
I’ve often wanted to be someone who could make delicate paper cutouts to illuminate nature’s beauty. I love the work of Mary Delany (1700-1788)1, whose incredible botanical collages will be touring in Britain through June 15, contemporary paper-cut artist Pippa Cyrlaga, with her delicate lacy designs, and Clare Celeste’s stunningly beautiful paper-cut room installations.
However, my paper-cutting skills align more with Henri Matisse’s Cut-Outs, which focuses on creating thoughtful layouts of simple shapes using his mastery of color and design.
So, I approach today’s collage prompt more like Matisse than Delany - with a standard pair of scissors and a traced template of a magpie (duplicated as a mirror image by simply folding the tracing paper in half and re-tracing the image) to represent a “two for joy” collage.
With a stack of vintage postcards handy, I then placed the tracing over the appropriately colored sections of the postcards and firmly re-traced the lines to lightly emboss the paper. It was a quick and clumsy way to get where I wanted to go, but I was happy with the colors and patterns I found to create the bird shapes. (I ended up cutting the tail feathers as one piece from a postcard that happened to give it a feathered look without needing a bunch of cutting.) I then proceeded to lay them out on top of a scrap of bookbinding paper with handwritten lines I added from the Magpie Rhyme.
To complete the collage, I added branches and a few feather/face details using a dip pen with ink (both black and white); I colored sections of the paper with artist crayons; and finally, I embellished the piece with a little hand-made paper lace flair that was left over from some paper-casting experiments I had recently finished. I added a coating of cold wax to adhere the paper pieces to the collage and give some cohesion to the layers of materials. (The cold wax will eventually dry clearer than it shows here.)
I hope this rhyme or another poem of your choosing gives you a little creative boost too. Happy collaging!
~ Jennifer
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Corrected Mary Delany’s year of death to 1788.