Beginners - Lesson 1 - cut paper

This is step one in a new series for the beginners who do not have their nibs and ink but they want to have fun with the alphabet.

These were cut out of scrapbooking paper. The holes made with a hole punch.

Instructions:
Cut 23 rectangles, the same size.
Cut 1 rectangle slightly narrower for the I.
Cut 2 rectangles slightly wider for the M and W.

Then, remove tiny slivers of paper to make the 26 letters of the alphabet.

Use a scrap to add the tail on the Q.

In my classes, I would not give students this exemplar. I would demonstrate I-L-T-A  and then tell them to go ahead and figure out the rest.

With A, you only need a triangle. Or you can add a small snip to give it two legs on the bottom. You really don't need the hole in the center at all.

Students quickly understand that the alphabet is a series of symbols and there is a very tiny amount of information that distinguishes one from the other. The two letters that usually stump them are G and Q. That little notch on the G is easy but not obvious. With a Q, you can cut the rectangle a little taller to allow for a tail.

These proportions are very generic and the fun of this alphabet is to figure out all kinds of variations.

Below is one by Nicholas Davies. You can find more if you do a search for *cut paper alphabet* on Google and Pinterest.