35 beautiful projects
to transform your books – create
cards, display scenes,
decorations, gifts, and more
By Clare Youngs
Cico Books, March 7, 2017
Hardcover £ 14.99
ISBN 978-1-78249-415-7
Star rating: *****
I am so very enthusiastic about this book that I am blogging
about it on publication day :)
This superb new title by creative powerhouse Clare Youngs is
a follow-on from her title Book Art,
which was published four years ago. In
the intervening years, folded book art has become a papercrafting phenomenon.
You’ve seem them – books re-purposed into mini-sculptures, pages folded to
create 3-D words and-or-images. The craft has “how’d you do that?” WOW factor – and in her new title, Clare
Youngs reveals the secrets of folded book construction, while providing cleverly-designed
folding templates. (Patience and precision are required – but, you will be
delighted to know, the actual craft is not in itself difficult.) She also thinks outside the book to provide imaginative
3-D projects using re-purposed books.
The concept of re-purposing books is something of a hurdle
to some of us – including the author. However, once you realise that many books
are destined to be pulped , have outdated content, or are in way off-peak condition
(and ready for a second life), then you
are good to go.
The folded book designs include a bird, a butterfly, an
ampersand, a tied knot, a star, a sculptural centrepiece (360 degrees!), a
number one, a Scandinavian apple, hearts, a festive fir tree, Cloudy Days (raincloud w/raindrops). Many of
the designs incorporate positive/negative space (book-folding insies/outsies)
to create shadow and dimension.
The book is divided into three sections – Folding books,
Making Scenes, and Refashioned Pages. The Making Scenes section is about
transforming books into tableaux – you’ve seen them – the story emerges from
the pages of the book in glorious 3-D. Here you will find a Little Mermaid
(with scrolled waves) - surfing the mermaid craft trend, a fairytale castle, and much more. The Mushrooms and
Ferns are genius – the book pages forming the “gills” of the shroom. Making
them involves papier mache lite! The Charming Village makes genius use of
colourful cross-stitch patterns, re-purposed to make a folk art display. The is
much more here, in glorius 3-D – including a mouse peeping out of a teacup.
Fun.
The Refashioned Pages section contains more delights. The
piece de resistance is a Shaggy Dog – a cute terrier constructed from paper shredder
strips! Other ideas include Origami Vase Slipcovers (dimensional folds for a
quilted effect), Blooming Hydrangeas (no papercraft book is complete without
paper flowers), Paper Weavings, embroidery on paper, and some eraser-printing. Love the Sardines in a Can, and the Pretty
Printed Feathers :)
The projects have beautifully-illustrated step-by-steps and
the project photography and book design are excellent. The book itself is a
keeper – it has specially-designed endpapers. Nice.
My one criticism is the fact that the book-folding templates
are provided back-of-book in 50% reduction (they must be enlarged by 200% for
use). Book-folding requires great precision and a spot-on folding pattern is a
necessity. Enlarging the patterns from a hardback book is kind of tricky –
especially if your photocopier is not up to snuff. It would have been great if
the publishers had provided a link to a website from which .pdf book-folding
templates could be downloaded for use. Instructions on how to enlarge the book-folding
templates by hand are provided at the front of the book – but this will be
time-consuming and requires precision. Access to full-sized templates would be
a super assist! (I realize that the reduced-size of the templates is a compromise
– the consequence of the desire to provide the reader with an abundance of
projects to make.)
This title is highly giftable. Its projects are an umbrella
for many aspects of papercrafting – quilling, origami, book-folding
(obviously), and more.
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