Send Something Beautiful
By Emily Hogarth
Apple Press 2014
Paperback, £14.99
ISBN 978-1-84543-548-6
Star rating: ****
Thanks for visiting my 200th blogpost. I have a nice treat for you today - Emily Hogarth's new title.
Emily Hogarth is an Edinburgh-based papercut illustrator.
Her motto is “making the everyday magical”. This charming new collection of
postable projects and stationery items comes up with the goods. (Papercraft
Post, indeed!).
In the digital age, communication by snail mail – and stationery
in particular – has novelty value. And the 25 postable papercraft projects in
this book provide memorable moments of all-singing, all-dancing entertainment
for the recipients. Many of the projects
are interactive.
Since papercutting is Emily Hogarth’s forte, the majority of
the book’s projects are handcrafted papercut creations – but there are also simple origami makes
(Origami Hearts, a puffy star necklace), and entry-level printmaking – a handcut
leaf stamp. Some of my favourite projects include the Parrot invitations with
flapping wings, the Flower Twist card (a volvelle of sorts), and the paper leaf
garland. The Love Birds pop-up is simple but stunning, a little bit of
additional dimensional interest goes a long way.
The “production values” of the book itself are top notch. It
is a quality paperback, with a reinforced cover. There’s a beautifully-executed
aeogramme-themed graphic design motif. Each project has a beauty shot and
step-by-step how-tos with photos. Templates for the project are back-of-book
(you will need to enlarge them on a photocopier).
A few small gripes that do little to detract from a
delightful book:
- Apparently this book has crafty contributors,
including the wonderful Mr Yen, papercutter extraordinaire. However, the
projects are not attributed. I do wish each project had been credited. As an
aficionado of papercrafting, I would have liked to have been able to clock the
personal styles of the contributing artists.
- Please show me more – the lead project is a
sweet postable cress garden. Brilliant idea – but there should be a pic of the
garden in use complete with sprouting cress. Same goes for the ingenious
Message Card with cut-out banner slots. A pic of a be-messaged card should have
been provided.
This book is very giftable – for beginning to intermediate
papercrafters. I would also
recommend checking out Emily Hogarth’s
two other papercraft titles,The Crafter's Guide to Papercutting (a popular classic), and Papercutting for Special Occasions.
Note: I was supplied with review copies of all the featured titles.
