Book Review: Make Your Own Woodland Creatures

Make Your Own Woodland Creatures:

35 simple 3D cardboard projects

By Clare Youngs

Cico Books

Hardback  £14.99

ISBN 978-1-78249-040-1

Star rating: *****

Notice to papercrafters: if you buy this book as a gift, you will want to keep it for yourself.

Woodland creatures are having a mega-moment. They are here, there, everywhere: clock the John Lewis Christmas ad, and Donna Wilson home dec designs, for example. So Make Your Own Woodland Creatures is right on trend – delightfully so – and perfectly timed for Christmas gift-giving.

This is a papercraft book with a difference. With this book, you can create an entire woodland eco-system inhabited by whimsical slotted cardboard creatures. There are even five press-out and assemble creatures made of sturdy cardboard: Prickly Hedgehog, Pretty Partridge and Chicks, Cheery Chipmunk, Stripey-Tailed Raccoon, Black-and-White Badger (don’t know how the Racoon missed the alliteration net).

The slot-together creatures are like simplified sliceforms. The photographed animals are decorated in sprightly mixed prints (a bit Orla Kiely-influenced). The book is divided into several chapters: Cute and Furry, Big Beasties, Birds of a Feather, Little Critters, and Down by the Pond.  There are 35 different animals – so, a generous  number of projects which can be made time and again. The author certainly took a good idea and ran with it!

Up front, you will find basic directions for making the creatures out of layered cardstock, or, for greater permanence, plywood. There’s a template section at the back. On page, you get a diagram showing required pattern pieces plus beautifully illustrated step-by-step assembly diagrams (and a beauty shot of the finished project).

The woodland creatures are designed with flair - clever construction, economy of line. Nice. I am a big fan of Clare Youngs (her other titles for Cico are also winners: including Book Art, Papercrafting in No Time). I believe she has a background in advertising packaging design – and this shows, in a good way.

Although this book does not teach a specific craft skill, it is a title you will come back to repeatedly. The imaginative animals make wonderful budget gifts to give to kids. (What child wouldn’t be enchanted to receive a Sticky-Tongued Frog or a Koala and Joey?). The Reindeer could be used to make beautiful seasonal tableaux.

Note: I was sent a review copy of this title. Although I did not specifically request it, I was charmed by it.

Book Review: Book Art by Clare Youngs

Book Art

Clare Youngs

Cico Books

ISBN 978 1 9081 70 92 7

£14.99

First off, this is the ideal gift book for a papercrafter. As befits a book entitled “Book Art”, the book itself is a thing of beauty. Classy design – hard cover (cloth!), stitched binding. Lovely photography and thoughtful styling.  Most importantly, quality content. Thirty-five charming and inventive step-by-step projects to amuse and fascinate. Timely, too­­ - fits in nicely with the trend for papercutting. (Suggestion: give a book gift this Christmas as an e-book antidote.)

I can whole-heartedly – and guiltlessly – endorse Clare Youngs’ delightful new craft title, Book Art. I have to admit, the concept of using books as a craft material has – until now- made me cringe. The term “altered book” – guaranteed to make me tune out. Crafter – spare that book! Especially in the age of the e-book, books of the papery kind are sacrosanct, an endangered species. Clare Youngs addresses this mini moral dilemma immediately in her intro. She makes it clear that she respects books and that the books for her projects are ethically sourced – that is, they are worn out, damaged, or have out-lived their usefulness. She also points out that many of her projects can be constructed using old catalogues or magazines. So I’m OK with it now – and can see how the idea of book art fits perfectly into the eco-craft/up-cycled category. I’m ready and willing to re-purpose old books and (especially) catalogues and mags!

So many crafts these days –even, surprisingly, papercrafts – are dependent upon buying expensive papers, products, and embellishments. But you can make most of the projects in this book with little more than printed matter, scissors or craft knife – and glue. So an A* for thrift.

The projects in this book have a quirky, naive retro charm. The author is an ace at paper manipulation, so it is no surprise to learn that she has a background in packaging design. The step-by-step format and template-based designs make this an ideal book for beginners. The photocopiable templates, at the back of the book, are clearly labelled for enlargement. But there is also plenty of inspiration here for the more experienced papercrafter.

There is  variety in the techniques used – lots of papercutting (as you would expect), but also quilling, stamping, simple book binding, origami/kirigami, torn paper,  and papier-mâché.  Stationery ideas, homecrafts, kids crafts (to make for or with kids). All boxes ticked. There’s even a section on Animals (cute, but not too twee).  The use of colour in the projects is impressive, and this is perhaps, surprising in a book with this subject. 

Every project here is a winner. My favourites include the Pigeon Message Card (carrier pigeon with paper strip message band on leg) and the Owl and the Pussycat Pop-Up (all singing, all dancing 3-D amazing). This book is a celebration of papercrafting.