The Papercraft Post
If you are looking for an ace 3-D cardmaking book with designs contributed by a talented bunch of international paper artists – you’re in the right place. This book contains projects of graded complexity – but even the simplest designs are hooky and original. This is a go-to title for getting your paper engineering skills in gear.
The feats of paper engineering magic are divided into three sections – Cuts & Folds, Tabs & Slots, and Discs & Spirals. So – you’ve got your standard pop-ups and fold-ins, plus mechanical cards. All the projects are handmade (but they could certainly be adapted for digital cutting if you are so inclined).
Star projects include Pot of Flowers (Freya Lines) – a simple papercut with a colourful backing so both the design and the background pop; Fiesta (Freya Lines) – Mexican papercut-inspired pop-up; Bird Box (Whispering Paper) – a pop-up kraft paper shadowbox with a delightful papercut bird, Knight’s Fortress (Lynn Hatzius) – a spectacular concertina castle that is deceptively easy to make. In the second section, Carousel (Tina Kraus) would make a splendid birthday surprise, Snail on a Leaf (Rosa Yoo) is a super dimensional pull-tab pop-up. In chapter 3, Bird in a Cage (Kyle Orman) impresses (as the name says, it is a paper cage card - pull the string to reveal the lattice cage).
These cards are all-singing, all-dancing – in many cases, you will have to rely on the description to use your imagination to create a mental gif of the card action. As you would expect, step-by-step how-tos accompany each project.
Outstanding features of the book include a picture gallers "Project Selector" and capsule bios of the contributing papercrafters. Nice.
There’s a template section at the back of the book – due to the nature of the cards, enlargement is necessary in most cases.
So – a pleasing round-up of all-occasion interactive cards.
Rachel Hyde - Myshelf.com
If you are a card maker that finds flat cards a bit flat, give your hobby a new dimension with this book full of pop-up creations. There are thirty cards in here and here is the best news; despite their intricate and professional appearance they cost very little to make, and you probably already own all the materials!
Just the usual cardmaker's kit of glue, scissors, craft knife and lots of colored card is all you need to make these impressive and contemporary cards. No die cutter or expensive machinery apart from the use of a computer printer or photocopier for the patterns. Instead, this is a book that gets back to the nuts and bolts of papercraft with papercutting projects and lots of folding, scoring, and even tracing. After the introduction, there are three sections of cards to make comprising of the simplest cuts and folds, more intermediate tabs, slots, and layers and finally the more advanced discs and spirals. All these projects are about precision in cutting and measuring (although the latter is mostly done for you with templates), but if you are new to papercutting, it is not too daunting as, in good Search Press style, there are plenty of staged photographs. Not every project needs many, but where required, they are present. Overall, this is an attractive book too, with pages tinted in mostly pastel shades and the usual rectangular photographs have been replaced by either green mats with work on them or other shapes. There are lots of pictures of the work in progress and completed in jolly bright card making it all look fun to do in contrast with many other books about paper engineering which are often rather stark. Turn to the useful project selector to choose from various florals, buildings, views, animals, and words. There is a wedding card, Christmas tree, Valentine heart, dragon, robot, penguin, two castles, and my own favorite of a fox on a hillside to name a few. I think that these represent a good mixture for men, women and children and a variety of occasions. These are the work of an international group of artists whose short résumés appear at the end. If you want to learn papercutting and pop-up skills, this is a great place to start.
Machine Knitting Monthly
April 2016
If you enjoy making cards take it one step further using essential folds, creating slots and tabs, as well as rotating discs and springs. There are full-size templates and east to follow steps to bridge the gap from papercraft to paper engineering
