Learn how to pronounce 'Wycinanki'

Week 13 is Maroon, Sand, Parchment and Coal Black

Easter is coming up and to end March’s paper-based collage theme, I’m featuring wycinanki instead of focussing on a specific artist for this Coloricombo prompt.

So who or what is wycinanki? Pronounced vee-chee-non-kee and roughly translated as ‘paper cut design’, wycinanki is an incredibly intricate form of paper cutting that’s such a part of Poland’s cultural heritage that it’s even been recognised by UNESCO

Originating in the the fourth century in China, paper cutting as a hobby or art form made its way westwards and became popular in Poland around around the middle of the 1800s. Patterns in bright, sometimes multicoloured paper started appearing in peasants’ homes, maybe smaller versions of traditional patterns that been previously made by shepherds in bark or leather with sheep shears. These would have been a different scale, used to decorate furniture or as large and heavy hanging pieces in windows, walls and from ceiling joints.