The Sunday Paper #359

April 18, 2021

I have spent a good part of this week reviewing the galleys for my upcoming book, The Art of Papercraft. I felt old asking for a hard copy, since everything is done digitally these days, but my editor honored my request. I love featuring the work of other artists in my book, because there is such a variety of work going on and it makes for a richer book, in my opinion (I hope you’ll think so, too). Above you see my test of the instructions for this Origami Candy Dish, folded (and invented) by then 7-year old/now 11-year old, Trinity Adams of Paper For Water. We’ve still got a few months to go before the book comes out (November 2021), but my involvement is coming to a close soon – phew!

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Oh my goodness. There is so much to love about the Hearts for Love project, started by Linda Mihara who owns Paper Tree in San Fransisco. First, I loved visiting this paper store a few years back (which now houses Miki’s Papers, for those of you who knew that amazing shop in Berkeley). Second, the mission: Mihara starts with a crisis: “Many  Asians, including our most vulnerable,  have become the target of hate crimes.” and introduces a positive action: “Join me in folding 1,000 Origami Hearts as a show of support to the families of those victims who lost their loved ones.” And this says it all: “Let’s counter  HATE with  LOVE!” GoFoldMe appears at the top of the web page (so clever), and in just a couple of weeks, Mihara has received over 4000 hearts, far surpassing her original goal of 1000, which she is currently displaying in the shop window. Click through to find out how you can join the fold!

Check out this amazing work by James Lake, who turns sheets of cardboard into pieces of art. There is a biennale in Lucca, Italy, a town with a cardboard manufacturing plant, that features the work of artists who create on site in several of the town squares. Lake created this piece for the Lucca Biennale in 2018.

Here’s a new twist on the plantable paper many of have seen (and made) into handmade paper cards: the sustainable packaging from the Philippines is made from discarded pineapple leaves that grow into a new plant.

This is a fascinating video documentary about the state of Egyptian papyrus making today. I had never seen a video about the process, which is documented here. You have to see the contemporary technique of slicing the papyrus with fishing line.

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Papery Tidbits:

• Have you had a chance to listen to my interview with Erica Spitzer Rasmussen on Paper Talk?
• Are you Asian or Pacific American? Warren Wilson College is putting together an AAPI Contemporary Craft Directory. Submissions are due April 20th.

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In the Studio: 

Last weekend, I attended a few sessions of FoldFest, a virtual event sponsored by OrigamiUSA. I made this simple origami car – you can insert two marbles underneath the hood and roll it around on a tray – with Paul Jackson, a prolific author of an amazing series of books about paper, geared toward designers. Next, I took a more challenging workshop that reminded me of the first origami workshop I ever attended in NYC back in about 1988. I didn’t realize until much later – when I was talking with Robert Lang in a podcast interview – that just like with most languages, you have to start simple and build up your skills over time.

I chose not to pursue origami after that first workshop, because I thought I’d never ‘get it’. In fact, working on The Art of Papercraft almost sent me over the edge again because I chose to feature a few origami projects that I still didn’t have the language for! We ended up hiring a technical editor when I realized I didn’t know enough to guide the illustrator on diagramming the origami and other folding projects. It is tricky, and I’ve learned a lot. And that is just the kind of problem solving I enjoy, especially when I can work with an expert who has thought about the same types of problems a little longer than I have! This is humbling, and reaffirms that I will never reach the end of discovering new things about paper!

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Featured this week in my Studio shop: LandEscape, an artist’s book, Papermaking with Garden Plants, Digital download: The Papermaker’s Studio Guide, and Playing With Paper.

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