Valentines 2010

In 2010 I had the idea to make my valentines from old Christmas cards.

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I solicited my friends to send me all their used Christmas cards, and I started getting exciting envelopes of cards in the mail. Many, many cards. This must be what it’s like to be popular!

I created the design of the heart for laser cutting … I wanted most of the card image to be cut away, but there to be enough left that some semblance of image remained; that you could tell it came from a christmas card.

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The final result, after they were cut, exceeded my most hopeful expectations. I simply couldn’t believe how transformed the cards were; how these cards (most of which were, in their original state, nothing special, or even downright ugly) gained so much more from the process. And how incredibly attached I became to each and every card. They were very hard to give away.

I made about 500, and every single one is different.

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2010