Book Review: Friendship Origami

Today is paper craft day. No, I'm not making pretty things out of paper, I am diligently transferring previously published articles (sigh) from that soon to be defunct publishing web site, you know, the one that used to be a good source of passive income for free-lance writers? Alas, it was a good run while it lasted.

I've been slacking off the past couple months, but a recent RT on Twitter reminded me that I have a little over a month left to get all my articles transferred from the site to my blog. Today's session started with the migration of my (former) Helium article on where to find scherenschnitte patterns, a tedious process in that I had to edit each hyperlink and check to be sure all the examples I'd listed in the original article were still viewable on active web pages.

Once that was (finally) over (it may have taken longer because the Saints game was on...) my sojourn into Scherenschnitte was  followed by the relocation of my book review of of Ramona Jablonski's Paper Cut-Out Design Book. The next subject at hand is one of my personal favorites - origami.

This cute little book came to me one day via my aunt; I've used it in the past in my enrichment classes, both for crafting and for sessions in how to follow directions. My students loved making origami items, and when we did them as part of an exercise in following directions I never told them what they were making. If they listened carefully, they'd end up with a paper cup (one of the simplest things to make).

I've even had the kids make their own origami paper by coloring abstract designs onto plain old copy paper. Copy paper is cheap and letting the kids decorate their own (without necessarily knowing why) lets them do something they love to do - color, and it provides them with unique papers later for use in their origami projects.

And so...

Review: Friendship Origami

Filled with sixty-four colorfully illustrated pages, Jill Smolinski’s Friendship Origami promises hours of paper folding fun with over two dozen great projects from jewelry to animals to paper dolls.  Even though the book’s cover says “Girls wanna have fun,” it’s a sure bet that boys will find almost all of the included projects equally as enjoyable.

Recommended for kids aged nine through twelve, Friendship Origami begins by explaining the basic folds and forms essential to creating origami on the first two pages and then moves straight into making stuff with the “Best Buddy Bracelet.”  This accordion folded project can be completed by any child capable of making a folded paper fan.  Children between the ages of six and seven may need a little help from an adult, especially with the last few steps, but even they can make this bracelet.  (This project is a great manipulative to use in the classroom, especially as an exercise in following directions.)  Recycled magazine pages with colorful pictures on both sides produce very interesting bracelets as does gift wrap.

The only difficult fold in the entire book is the Peace Crane. Everything else in Friendship Origami is easy enough that even younger kids (aged seven or eight) could accomplish many of the folds with the help of a fold-savvy adult to clarify some of the step by step instructions.  While the jewelry and purse projects are geared specifically toward girls there are many that are not.

Both girls and boys will enjoy folding the wallet, hat, dice, dog and turtle origami projects outlined in Friendship Origami.  The folded gift box is a great way to reuse stiff paper like the perfume inserts and advertising cards in magazines as well as old greeting cards.  The “Heart of Lace” makes a great Valentine project and the pinwheel, catchall and basket make great party favors.

Many kids learn to fold paper fortune tellers (also known as cootie catchers) at some point in their school careers and Friendship Origami presents yet another option for this project in using them to create puppets.  (Note: In the book they are used as a candy dish and can be found in the table of contents under Sweets for the Sweetie.)

Origami is a great activity that both kids and adults enjoy that yields hours and hours of entertainment and Friendship Origami is a great introduction for young people to the ancient paper folding activity.  All instructions are fully illustrated in simple, plain language.

What to do With That Old Wall Calendar

Alas, Helium isn't the only content site to decide to shut down this year. Yahoo Voices (formerly Associated Content) announced recently that in a matter of weeks, it too would soon become a mere memory. This has left quite a lot of writers scrambling for something to do with previously published articles as well as the need for someplace new to publish to.

Having recently whittled down my many blogs, after the Helium announcement I created one more new one to which to share the multitude of articles that will no longer have a home and do not fit in to my Crafty Consideration, Of Wondering and Wandering, Notably Nola, Adventures in Wine Tasting, or To Dance Better Than Myself blog formats.

Who knows what the future holds for freelance writers and the publishing industry? This writer is at least getting off the content mills (they are ALL content mills, no matter how you dress them up) merry go round with high hopes for something better.

Here is the article formerly known as "Crafty Ideas for Repurposing Old Calendars:

If you are in the habit of buying photographic wall calendars with images of beautiful waterfalls, beaches, sunsets or reproductions of art work by famous artists, you will more than likely be hesitant to throw them away at the end of the year. The good news is you don't have to. They can easily be upcycled and turned into fashionably functional items that can be used for gift giving or to decorate your home.

One very easy thing to do with your calendars at the end of the year is to turn the images in them into simple wall art. There's really not much difference in the printing of the calendars and some posters that are sold commercially, only the calendars are much more economical. To turn the calendar images into wall art all you need to do is trim down any negative space, (if there is white or other colored space around the image) put the image inside a mat and frame and you have instant art.

Many art supply and craft stores have pre-cut mats in a variety of sizes that are sold for use with photographs and inexpensive prints. You can also find mats on occasion at the Dollar Store. These mats may not be acid free and therefore are not suitable for original art, but they are perfectly fine for your recycled calendar images. Place the matted image inside a frame from a discount or thrift store and you have instant wall art.

Even an inexpensive offset print can look like a piece of fine art when double matted and placed in a nice frame. It's all about the presentation. In a pinch you could also make your own mats by cutting posterboard with a craft knife, but this won't look as nice.

Another way to repurpose your pretty wall calendar at the end of the year is to make lidded origami gift boxes from it. There is a plethora of folding diagrams available online to make a variety of origami boxes that can be used for storing small items such as rings or used for eco-friendly gift wrapping.

Making rolled paper beads from the colorful calendar pages is fun and functional and the beads can be used to make jewelry, hair accessories, flowers, or even a beaded curtain. Making the beads is as simple as cutting the pages into long triangular strips and then rolling them onto a toothpick from the widest end and applying glue as you roll. The beads will be dry and ready to use after a few hours.

Calendars can also be re-used in art projects to create collages. Simply, rip, cut, or tear the pages to use them to create new art or use them as backgrounds. Cut yourself out of a photo and paste to a tropical paradise and it's a fantasy vacation come to life in 2D. You could have fun adding your own face to one of Degas' dancers or reinvent yourself as the Mona Lisa. The images from your calendars are also great for decoupage projects.

When friends and family come for a visit your cute and quirky homemade art projects will be the topic of many discussions. You may even get commissioned to create art projects for other people and, if done on a smaller scale, your creations could even be used as greeting cards. So instead of throwing out this year's wall calendar why not have a go at one of these projects and give it new purpose.

Author's footnote: I can't believe I didn't include iris folding as an option when I originally wrote this. Haven't heard of it? Look it up! 

How To Upcycle Old Magazines Into New Jewelry

I love making paper beads. I love it so much I could stay up all night creating them. Whenever I teach jewelry making classes with children I almost always spend a couple days making rolled paper beads, and then of course, I become obsessed with making them myself. It's amazing to see what pretty things one can create from such a simple material.

The craft itself is ancient and still practiced in Africa today. The beads are also very easy to make which means they are a kid friendly craft and provide almost instant gratification. I'm planning to create some kind of wired paper bead installation in the not too distant future when I get a little extra time that's not already dedicated to five million other things. It could happen. Really.

In the ongoing move to migrate Helium craft articles to my blog I'm taking a break from sewing to highlight how to make jewelry by upcycling magazine pages. The article used to contain hyperlinks for more information, but the links have become obsolete so I've removed them.

How To Make Jewelry From Old Magazines

Magazine pages are glossy and colorful and ideal for making jewelry.  The pages can be recycled to create beads, brooches, pins and earrings using a variety of very simple techniques and few additional materials.

Beads

Rolled paper beads have been made since ancient Egypt and they are so simple you can create dozens of them within a matter of hours.  Kids enjoy making them as well and when you learn how to choose the right pages you can create an array of beautiful beads even the pickiest person would be proud to own and wear.

To make beads from magazine pages simply cut across either the width or length of the page in such a way that you end up with long triangular strips of paper that are about an inch across the width at the bottom and taper down into a point at the top.

You may want to use a ruler in the beginning or even create a triangle template from leftover cardboard to make forming uniform triangles easier.  You will need two triangles for every pair of earrings you plan to make and a dozen or more for a necklace depending on your desired finished length.

Lay the triangle on your work surface with the most colorful side down and carefully roll up the widest edge around a toothpick just enough so that the paper touches itself and add a dab of glue as you continue rolling and adding small dabs of glue.  

Carefully remove the beads from the toothpicks by sliding them off and sit them aside to dry.  If you are making magazine page beads with very young children they can roll the magazine triangles around plastic drinking straws.  After the beads are dry they can be cut apart for stringing.

Brooches

Magazine pages can be used pretty much in the same way that other papers can for crafting and the same techniques such as origami, iris folding and tea folding used in paper crafts can be used to create jewelry.

To make a simple brooch with a recycled magazine page you will need a small square or rectangle of card stock at least two by two inches, a magazine page, tape, a craft knife (or scissors) and a shape template.  Use the shape template to cut a shape from the center of the cardstock.  (It will look like you have created a new stencil.)

Iris folding involves laying folded strips of paper over an opening to create rows of overlapping folds that fan out slightly at one end.  It’s a little like looking at a camera aperture when it’s closed. 

To Create an iris fold miniature for use in making a brooch, start by cutting a colorful magazine page into one half inch wide strips.  Fold a strip in half length-wise and lay it over the shape cut out on the back of your cardstock template.  You want to lay it down at a slight angle (maybe 25 degrees?) taking care that the edge of the paper does not show in the opening if you turn it over. 

Secure the strip in place with a tiny piece of tape and flip it over just to be sure you have the angle correct.  It is important that the folded edge be the side that shows in the opening and that the open edges are hidden beneath each previous strip when flipped over.  (See the photo at the link above).

Keep adding folded strips of magazine page until the opening is covered.  You may find that as you go along your angles will change slightly as you add new strips and that you may start your angle slightly lower than the position of the previous strip.  When the opening is almost completely covered you will notice a small hole.  Simply take a flat scrap from your magazine page and cover this hole from the back.

Cover the completed iris back with a corresponding size of cardstock, cardboard, foam core or a scrap of matt board and glue on a pin back to complete the brooch.

Bracelets

There are few different ways to use paper to create bracelets, but one quick, easy and fun way to create a bracelet from a recycled magazine page only requires the ability to accordion fold.  If you’ve ever made a folded paper fan, you have the ability to fold an origami bracelet.

You will need a colorful page from a magazine trimmed on the longest side so that is perfectly square.  (i.e. if the page is 10 ½” by 8”, trim the 10.5 side to 8”).  Fold the square in half across the middle on the diagonal making sure to smooth the fold down completely to get a good crease.

Now you will have a triangle shape.  Take the top point of the triangle and fold it down to the middle of the previous fold making sure to have both layers of paper.  You should have a long almost rectangular shape with slanted ends.  Fold the edge of that shape over to meet the previous fold and repeat this step once more.

Now unfold the paper completely.  Starting at the middle of the square, fold the paper down along the first fold line from the center crease.  Now accordion fold back and forth until you get to the last crease.  At this point the tip of the “triangle” should be pointed inward.  Rotate the paper and do the same thing to the other side of the square only this time you will have to invert the fold from a peak fold to a valley fold. 

What you will see when you’re done is a series of alternating triangles as a result of the folding.  Take the entire folded piece and turn it over.  Carefully slide the tip of one end inside the space just past the tip of the other end where the folds begin.  Secure in place with tape and your recycled magazine page bracelet is complete.  (This project was learned from the book “Friendship Origami” by Jill Smolinski)

Decoupage

For Jewelry projects with kids decoupage can be use to reinvent existing wood or plastic beads or to turn a cardboard tube into a bracelet. It is quick and easy and cheap and only requires magazine pages, glue (such as mod podge), and a small (cheap) paint brush.  If you are covering beads you may want to insert toothpicks into foam to allow the beads to dry.  Just check them periodically to make sure they are not sticking to the foam.

To make a decoupage bracelet from tp or paper towel tubes, cut a tube into rings and then make a cut in one ring from top to bottom so it can go on and off the arm.  Alternatively, you may want to cut a tube open in a straight line from one edge to the other and then cut it into slices to make a bracelet.

Cover the tube with bits of cut or torn paper (glued on) just as you would decoupage any other surface.  Allow it to cure and coat entire surface with another layer of glue or varnish.  Your bracelet can be further embellished by adding trims such as nylon cord along the edge or dimensional paint or whatever you choose.

There are so many great options for making jewelry from old magazines.  All it takes is a little time, a few supplies and your own imagination.

The article was originally published in 2010.  I'm surprised I didn't reference The Paper Jewelry Book, by Jessica Wrobel. Maybe it's because I ordered it Pre-Katrina and the majority of my books were in storage at the time. At any rate, it's definitely worth checking out.

Upcycled Stuff Craft Challenge

It all started with a tweet. I logged onto Twitter late afternoon on September 14, and noticed that @Teamupcyclers had just posted an update asking if anyone was interested in a Craft Wars style challenge. I followed the link, and ended up on Tricia Kokoszka's Upcycled Stuff blog. She was holding a Sewing Month challenge in which participants had to create something crafty from "trash" that she would send them.

I thought, 'why not?' There was only one problem, however. Despite the tweet from Team Upcyclers, and even though there were still available spots left, the deadline had already passed. Not sure of the status of the challenge, I posted a message to Tricia that if it wasn't too late, I'd be interested and sent her an email with my mailing address. A couple tweets between me and Team Upcyclers and emails with Tricia, and there was a second chance challenge underway.

Three days later, on Monday, September 17, I went out to check the mail and there was my little box of goodies. I had no idea what would be inside, and in her initial blog post, Tricia had warned she might not send even one stitch of fabric in the box. I was definitely relieved to find several squares of stretch denim  along with the items I was to upcycle, which included five black plastic spools, and an empty cardboard tube from a roll of packaging tape.

Once I laid everything out, my first thought was "wind chime. I just had to figure out how configure everything and incorporate sewing somehow, and since I'd never actually made a wind chime, I decided that wasn't going to work out, especially since I only had until  Saturday, September 22 to get my project completed, photographed, and emailed to Tricia.

Time for another idea. I played around with arranging the materials for a day or so, trying to come up with a neat idea that would turn out something interesting, but that I would still have time to make before the deadline. So then I thought maybe I would make a doll. 

The only question I had was how I would connect the tubes together to form the body in a way that would still be considered sewing. I also didn't want to hide the tubes inside of the doll's body, because then it wouldn't be obvious that I had used them. The next idea was to use the denim to make roses and have the tubes as their stems.

However, I couldn't think of how to use the empty tape spool, and you had to use everything. Also I wanted to make one complete item, not several little ones. I went back to the doll idea for a while, but time was ticking away and I would have to dig up a bunch of other supplies to first create the doll and then make clothes for it, and I just didn't feel I had enough time.

So then I experimented with wrapping the cloth around the plastic spools (which it turns out were register tape cores), but I still needed away to connect them all together, and I still hadn't figured out how to incorporated the cardboard tube. Once again I laid it all out...

...I decided I would use three swatches to make a strip to mount the other fabric pieces to. First, I hand-sewed the pieces together using backstitch.

Then I folded the edges up and slipstitched them together to complete the strip.

One the foundation strip was done, it was time to add each tab. Because I wanted them to fit snugly, I wrapped the folded fabric around the tubes to sew them.

Last but not least, I wrapped the white cardboard tube with reclaimed scraps of variegated yarn and attached it to the bottom of the piece. I fold the top down to create a tab for hanging, but it seemed too plain. I attached a purple polymer clay bead (also made by me) at the top and voila, I had a denim plastic hanging thing.

Somehow it still seemed as if it needed more color, so I dug out a paint brush and delved into the acrylic craft paints. Even with the flash the photo is kind of dark. I guess I need to spend a little more time figuring out the new camera and learning how to edit photos on the new computer.

When I went back to Tricia's earlier email with the challenge instructions, I realized that I had only needed to use some of each item for the challenge, but I managed to figure out a way to use them all. I found out today that there is a story around the black register tape spools. after reading it, I was glad I had come up with something that used all of them.

Tricia emailed earlier today to say that the photo and story is live on her blog and to let everyone know. So to go to Upcycled Stuff to check out the post (and a lighter picture) and read the story of the tape spools click here. Don't forget to vote!