Sarah Harrington

Still on the historical theme, I recently came across the work of a talented silhouette artist called Sarah Harrington.

It seems Mrs Harrington was professional silhouettist who worked during the latter part of the eighteenth century. During her career she visited many parts of the country in the performance of her art, and cut silhouettes of many prominent people of the day, including King George II. What struck me in particular about about her work, apart from her obvious love of hats, is that they are all cut inside-out. What I mean by this is her profiles are all cut from the centre of white paper (now rather yellowed) while the black profile is formed by placing a black material, eg. silk, behind the cutting. As there are no entry lines in the profile she presumably began each silhouette by stabbing the paper with the points of her scissors. The proper name for this technique is "hollow-cutting".

Ever curious I've of course been experimenting with the technique myself. It's surprisingly difficult. I'm finding it awkward to turn my scissors freely, but enjoying the challenge of learning something new. Of course I've no idea yet if it will ever have a commercial application, unless I get booked by a modern day manufacturer of black silk perhaps. I wondered if perhaps you might have an idea or two about this?