Make a Paper Payce

Greg Payce is recognized internationally for his unique ceramic works that use the negative space between ceramic vase forms to create optical illusions. One of our Artist Educators, Ian Symons, shows you how to make a fun and easy paper craft inspired by Payce’s whimsical work, which can be found in our collection of contemporary ceramics.

You can also download the instructions as a PDF

Materials:

• 5 sheets of white paper
• Pencil
• 2 sheets of coloured paper in the same colour
• 1 sheet of a coloured paper in a different colour
• Cardboard
• Scissors
• Glue
• Tape
• Markers
• Ruler

Instructions:

Lay your head on a sheet of white or coloured paper and use a pencil to trace the silhouette of your face onto the paper.

Use a fine marker to define the line.

Stack the piece of paper with your silhouette on top of the other sheet of the same colour and the 2 sheets of a different colour.

Carefully cut around the outline of your silhouette. You should have 4 silhouettes now.

Start experimenting by placing your white paper silhouettes face to face on the remaining piece of coloured paper. In this arrangement a slender vase is created in the space between them.

Place your coloured paper silhouettes overlapping but not quite on top of the white paper silhouettes.

Try experimenting with different widths for the vase.

To recreate the striped pattern of Greg Payce’s work, tape the 2 white silhouettes back to back on a scrap piece of cardboard. Use markers and a ruler to draw multi coloured stripes across the white paper.

Glue the striped silhouettes to the background.

Then glue the coloured paper silhouettes overlapping but not quite on top of the striped paper silhouettes.

Take a photo of your work and share it using #GardinerFromHome.