Mobile Art, by Clare Youngs. Book Review.

Mobile Art

Make your home a magical place with these 35 beautiful hanging decorations

By Clare Youngs

Cico Books 2015

Paperback £12.99

ISBN 978 1 78249 209 2

Star rating: ****

Making mobiles is a fun craft idea for the spring and summer, when a breeze through an open window can make your project dance.

Talented and prolific craft author Clare Youngs is back with a winning new title bursting with creative energy. The subject this time is mobiles. Mobiles are purely decorative – so they present a great opportunity to let the imagination run wild, and that is precisely what the author has done with her playful and inventive collection of action projects. 

Photographing mobiles can be tricky for a couple of obvious reasons. First up, the object you are photographing just won’t stay still. Secondly, a still photo can’t convey the kinetic motion of the mobile. So – it is an amazing feat on the behalf of the author and the production team that nearly every project in the book seems to be dancing on the page, and is begging to be made. Many would be suitable for kiddie decor.

The mobiles, most of which are easy-make, are made of a variety of materials – with an emphasis on papercrafting. Papercraft projects include Party-Time Sparkle, which is a papery interpretation of those wooden wind spirals you see in garden centres. The idea works a treat in mirror card. The Sausage Dogs mobile is big fun - the tube-like dachshunds are cleverly fashioned from paper, with paper “bones” to weight them like a kite’s tail. Floral Filigree is a jumbo quilling-inspired mobile. Very effective. There is also a traditionally-quilled snowflake mobile. Birds are an obvious choice for mobiles  and  Clare Young’s features two takes on the idea. Birds in Flight consists of jazzy papercrafted streamlined birds with bright graphic designs. Birds of a Feather features 3-D papercut feathers - like lacé, without the links.  Paper-Clip Graphics works a treat. This quick-make mobile channels the typographic trend, with magazine cut-outs paper-clipped onto the hanging wires. Balancing Act is a genius construction of papercrafted acrobats performing a trapeze act.  They cleverly hook onto each other in a feat of derring-do (reminds me of that fondly-remembered monkeys in a barrel toy).

There are a very few projects that work less well than the others – Tassels and Beads, is a bit clunky. The beads are way too heavy for the delicate paper fans. This mobile is much more static than the other projects in the book.

There are a lot of pom pom enthusiasts out there – it is a craft trend you just can’t ignore –  so I will mention that the Pops of Colour mobile features pom pom cascades. Other techniques that get a look-in include macramé, fabric craft (hand-stitched elephants, Folksy Felt Horses), and Himmeli (Finnish strawcraft).

There is lots of variety not just in the projects, but in how the mobile mechanisms are constructed. Some mobiles feature objects suspended from a bar, others have a top ring; sticks crossed at top, marionette-fashion, and also cascades of carefully-balanced bars à la AlexanderCalder.

If you are fascinated by mobiles and happen to live in the vicinity of London, you will want to check out the Alexander Calder exhibition scheduled for November onwards at Tate Modern. Calder was the great grand-daddy of kinetic sculpture, and the exhibition will be an event.

While you are waiting, you can try your hand at Clare Youngs’ delightful Mobile Art.

Papercraft Workshops at The Handmade Fair

The sun is out and I hope that you're doing something summery and pleasant. Chill-out time provides space to plan and anticipate autumn activities. This year, there's a new crafty event on the calendar: Kirstie Allsopp Presents: The Handmade Fair, venue: Hampton Court Palace, on 21st-22nd September.

A new show that celebrates crafts (in a delightful venue) is certainly worth noting. This show - fanfare - pays particular attention to papercrafts. There will be a Papercraft Tent hosting free papercraft skill workshops. Entry to the Fair entitles you to one free skill workshop. Each workshops lasts between 30 minutes and an hour. 

I'm posting this today because the workshops are booking up fast.

There's a choice of six workshops, including Paper Cut with Poppy Chancellor (get your skates on, this is already sold out on Saturday).
There are also workshops in Paper Garlands, Pompom Panache (pompoms still trending - these are ginormous tissue paper beauties),
Quirky Calligraphy Boxes and Tags, Finishing Touches (personalizing die-cut designs), and Tissue Tassles.

So, enjoy your time off. Daydream in paper!

Paper Flower Books

Paper flower-making books are having a well-deserved moment. The good news is that there's not a dud in the bunch. How to choose? It depends on what you're looking for. Below, some points about each book. Click on the title for a link back to my original blogpost review.

The Exquisite Book of Paper Flowers

By Livia Cetti

Abrams & Chronicle Books 2014

Paperback, £14.99

If you are a paper flower traditionalist, and your goal is to make realistic-looking flowers, then this is the book for you. Most of the flowers are made of crepe or tissue paper. Lovely section on painting techniques. Floristry skills to the fore. For paper flower artistes.

How to Make 100 Paper Flowers 
By Maria Noble
Creative Publishing International 2013
Hardcover, spiral-bound, £16.99

Here you will find the best of both worlds - trad crepe paper lookalikes up front, crafty fun stuff (cupcake liner flowers, origami, quilled designs) in the back. A good choice if you plan on crafting with the kids.

Paper Blooms

By Jeffery Rudell

Lark Crafts, February 2014

Paperback, £ 12.99

Not every papercrafter likes working exclusively with crepe paper and tissue paper. If you like to flower-craft with firmer papers of different types and textures, and are into paper manipulation and pattern cutting, then this is the book for you. Lots of amazingly clever folding techniques. Many of the flowers are layered.  

Paper to Petal

By Rebecca Thuss and Patrick Farrell

Potter Craft, October 2013

Hardcover, £16.99

This title makes a great gift book. It is hard-covered and the production values are lush - all-singing, all-dancing. It is great for opulent party makes and quality fun stuff. Excellent on crepe paper flower-making skills. Good use of prints and patterns in the designs.

Foldable Celtic Knot Embellishments

I have some fancy folding for you today - 3-D Celtic Knot Embellishments. They look great in gold glimmer paper. The knots look impressively intricate - but you can learn to fold them with just a little practice. The basic knot shape is of one-piece construction, which is convenient --- and a nice party trick! All the knots work on the same principle: fold the "arms" to the centre, then swing the free side to the back. You can catch a hoop in the loops for an extra-fancy touch - loop-de-loop deluxe.

Print the Celtic Knots template onto the wrong side of the paper, then cut and fold. There are tutorials for each shape of knot.

There's also a download for a bag topper. The idea is that a cello pack of Celtic Knot embellishments would make a welcome gift for a calligrapher or card-maker: 3-D illuminated manuscripts!

Fix the knots onto your project with sticky dots.


Here are your downloads:
CelticKnots.pdf 
CelticKnotBagTopper.pdf 

I've done tutorial sheets for the three knot shapes - the squares, the trefoils, and the hearts:

If you'd like to learn how to design your own 2-dimensional Celtic Knots, these books by Sheila Sturrock are great:
Celtic Knotwork Handbook 
Celtic Spirals Handbook
Both books are from GMC Publications Ltd. Neither title is new - but they are worth tracking down. The first title is available used and new, the second is still in print. Each title de-mystifies the process of drawing Celtic Knots in a clear and user-friendly manner - and throws in a bit of history to boot. The books are intended for pencil-drawing, but if you've gone digital than the geometric principles still apply, of course.

Have fun illuminating your manuscripts, gifts, or cards.

Book Review: Fletvaerk - amazing Danish paper-weaving

Fletvaerk

By Anna Schepper & Lene Schepper

Klematis

Hardback, 140 pages, 299.95 kr (Danish)

ISBN 978-87-641-0970-2

Today I am featuring a Danish-language title. I’ve never reviewed a foreign-language book before, but I am making a well-deserved exception for Fletvaerk, the first book by the genius papercraft team behind the PaperMatrix blog, which originates in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Flaetvaerk means braiding, as in interlaced strands. This concept is common to all of the intricate paper-woven creations in the book, which contains full-size templates for more than 50 designs. Papercraft wizardry to amaze and astound!

The authors, Anna Schepper and Lene Schepper, aim to “revive and reinterpret the tradition  of Danish woven paper hearts and ornaments” (such as cone-shaped baskets). And they have done so to spectacular effect, with some digital assistance in the design and paper-cutting department.

I have always been a fan of woven paper hearts. Here’s a link to my papercraft template for Hot Off The Press: hearts template . (Entry level compared to the PaperMatrix designs – but I try!)

Unfortunately, I have not picked up much Danish from watching Borgen and The Killing – so I am unable to read the text of the book. The good news is that there are plenty of how-to diagrams. A reasonably experienced papercrafter should be able to figure out what to do, since all the designs are paper-woven in a similar manner. Also – importantly – the fabulous PaperMatrix website and Facebook pages can be read in English – so it is recommended to visit them and get acquainted with the paper-weaving technique before attempting any of the book projects. 

Don’t get intimidated by the technical wizardry. Some of the projects can easily be tackled by the newcomer to papercrafting. There’s a pretty party bunting with a selection of pennant designs (p.23),  some traditional Danish woven hearts (p.23), and op-art style spiral heart (pp-24-25 ) that can easily be accomplished. The 3-D stars (p.49) are built up from modular sections, and can be assembled easily.

Woven-heart Christmas tree.

There’s a clever secret to making the cone-shaped baskets: an inner paper cone is used as an armature during the weaving stage. The puzzle-piece cone (p.72) is delightful – but probably best to attempt it after doing some simpler woven cones first. The heart-motif baskets (p.77) are ideal for Valentine’s Day. 

The Schepper’s total mastery of their art is expressed in their designs for curved shapes. They’ve got intricate balls, wait for it – egg shapes; and gently curving bells (p.88), which would make great tree ornaments. They can even craft ogee-curved domes, as seen on Russian churches. There are hot air balloons, a rocket ship, and some fun fancy dress crowns. Wow-ness – all of it. Such sophisticated shapes woven in paper.

To counterpoint the astonishing technical achievement of the designs, few materials are required to make them: coloured papers, glue, cutting implements, and a handful of paperclips (to keep strands in place as you are weaving).

I notice that the Scheppers come to papercrafting from technical backgrounds. So many modern-day papercraft designers have impressive technical CV’s and/or academic credentials!

Fletvaerk is a large format book, beautifully photographed and presented. It certainly deserves pride of place on any papercrafter’s coffee table. The virtuoso paper-weaving of the Scheppers is to be admired and shared!

You can order Fletvaerk directly from the Klematis website:

In fact, all of the book’s pages are available to browse online on the Klematis website.

And don’t forget to visit PaperMatrix online, Facebook or Pinterest.

Note: I was supplied with a review copy of this title.

Easy Origami Magazine

There’s a brand new papercrafting mag at the newsstand (real and virtual): Easy Origami, from Future Publishing. It is designed for the origami newbie, but has plenty to keep those more experienced in the craft engaged and entertained (a bit like those Pixar kiddie movies, with jokes in for the parents). 

This title has got the mix just right. It is bright and appealing, with lovely (and fun) step-by-step projects, interviews with origami movers and shakers, internet links to follow up on – and  (tah dah): a beautiful collection of 15 double-sided patterned papers for folding. Plus, some free downloads (bottomless paper!).

The choice of projects is just great – you’ll want to try them all. (My personal favourites are the Carambola Flowers by Maria Sinayskaya, the snowy bunny (cover stars), the Song Bird by Sok Song (so very graceful - and very different from the usual flapping crane), and the Gift Bags with the pointy envelope flaps  (and button embellishment). See – I couldn’t narrow it down to just one or even two projects! The projects are all step-by-step: folding diagrams and/or photo tuts, as appropriate.

There’s an interview with Leyla Torres, she of the wonderful Origami Spirit blog: http://www.origamispirit.com/ (Q & A interviews with other notable origamists, too – Hannah Ashwell, who works in fabric; and Michael Trew, who creates models for advertising and promotions.) You will also find plenty of book leads to pursue.

Up front, you'll find an origami shop window, featuring not (as you'd expect) materials for making origami, but instead origami-inpsired gift merch. Lovely, affordable gift merch. Nice. 

Easy Origami would make an ideal stocking filler for kids (plenty of models to keep boys interested – paper plane, animals) or adults. (Might be a an idea to look into a subs, as a bigger gift!)

Future Publishing has been coming out with lots of lovely crafty “bookazines” lately. I’m a happy bunny (like the paper models on the Easy Origami cover).  You can check these craft titles out on the My Favourite Magazines website: http://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/

For an origami book with geek appeal, here’s an earlier review of mine:
http://thepapercraftpost.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/book-review-folding-paper-infinite.html 

If you have a pukka interest in origami, consider joining the British Origami Society. They have active local groups, hold conventions, have an online shop for members with supplies and downloads, and the BOS magazine (material contributed by group members) is great:
http://www.britishorigami.info/ 

Happy folding!