Making Pop Ups

The second installment of Kimberly-Little Chute Artist-in-Residence Drop In Program actually built on the knowledge I learned in the first session. Instead of learning book making techniques, Ben Rinehart taught us different techniques to make pop up books. 

Again this was a drop in any time class and I learned from last time to get there when it started.. especially I had to get to Little Chute for the Book Festival at noon. Yes it was drop in anytime but Ben (or Stephanie) would have to catch the others up while the rest of worked on the current page. Then Ben would teach us a new concept and catch up any new people.

In the course of the 90 minutes or so that I was there, we learned 4 different pop up book techniques that would make good pop-up books and/or pop up greeting cards. I actually stuck with a theme for my pop up book and maybe one day I'll finish it....

We used card stock for the papers and a light paper for the pop up elements

The V Tab

The was the first type we learned This is how you'd get different types of landscapes such as grass or mountains. We cut a piece of paper in half and then trimmed the top to be something other than straight across. I just did some wavy edges. Then we folded in half. and folded up from the bottom a little. We then snipped the bottom center crease to make a "V"

We glued one side of the paper to the book page and then close the page down to glue the other side on to so the gutter lines up. We were told that the we wanted it tilted a bit. 

To make the pop up we cut out shapes and then attached them to the V Tab using  Z tab. Again we glued the shaped (with a base) the page and one end of the Z tab to the back of the shape. Then we closed the page to attach it to V-Tab. 

This one wasn't too difficult. It had to many working parts for me. Cut this a certain way... glue this a certain way... then add this... and glue it this way. This would be the best one for making cards though.

The Lotus

Okay so this may not be the right name for this pop up technique but it followed the lotus technique of book making in the first session. We folded a square into quarters and then diagonally on the opposite side of the paper to make the paper pop. We glued it to the page the same way... one side to the page and the close the page to secure the other side.

Then we added stripes of paper to the center of the lotus and attached shapes to the stripes. When you open the page, the shapes pop out at you. You could do several smaller squares or one large square.

This had to be my favorite pop up technique. It was relatively easy and you can add whatever shape you want from the stripes.

The Spiral

This was probably the easiest of all the pop-up techniques... no folding required. You literally draw a spiral on a piece of paper then cut it out. You glue one end on and close the page to attach the other side. Easy peasy. Then you can attach your shapes to the spiral. 

This was the fun one. I liked making it and if I didn't have all my pencil marks on my spiral, it probably be even better looking. I had one of the girl scouts draw my roses for me. I am not an artist and my pop up book was showing this.

The Strip

This concept allowed us to add shapes outside of the central fold of the book.. allowing a more creative landscape or book. Basically you glue a strip that had some extra folds to your page so you actually extra gutters to attach shapes using the V-Fold from above.

I struggled with this one. I just wasn't getting how the V-Fold worked with the strip. Maybe if I had more time I would be able to figure it out.. or if my stripes weren't so close together. 

Again I had a lot of fun learning these techniques. I am really sad that I won't be able to the final Artist-in-Residence event at the end of the month because I have to work. 

A lesson in Paper Folding

Like Appleton Library, Kimberly-Little Chute had an artist-in-residence in September/October. Benjamin D. Reinhart, a bookmaking and box making professor, is the artist-in-residence in Kimberly. The Kimberly-Little Chute Library was offering several drop-in programs about bookmaking techniques. The first one was a basic book making class.

After doing the heart walk, I headed over to the Kimberly library to learn how to make a book. It turns out I wasn't making a book per se but learning how to fold paper to create different types of "books" that would be great for reports and/or book projects if I was a still a teacher. I did learn how to make 3 different types of "books".

The pocket book

This was a simple accordion book that had pockets on each paper where you could tuck in recipes, photos, or other mementos.

I really like this one. It's easy and it would make a fun recipe book. Instead doing a traditional accordion fold, you folded the paper to the middle a couple times to create an illusion of an accordion. If you the right size canvas or cardboard, you could a make a nice strong cover. Instant gift. 

The chain book

This one involved many squares of paper glued together to make a chain. We started by folding the paper in quarters and then opening it and folding it the opposite side on a diagonal to make the paper pop -- so it looked like a lotus flower or personally I think a frog. 

Then we glued like sides together to make a strand. 

This book could go on for ever just by adding more squares. It would also make nice holiday garland. 

The square

Okay that is not the name of this type of book but I can't remember what it is really called. I know it is a pain and I don't think mine turned out right because it never shifted the way it was supposed to.

We folded our paper into 16 squares using a lot of hot dog folds. 

Then we cut out the middle to make a picture frame.

Folding the corners and sides a certain way we ended up with a square that if you twisted it opened a different way. Mine didn't seem to play nice. This would be fun for a book report.

Despite not making what I would have thought of real books, it was a fun activity. I am glad I went and glad KimLit has their own artist-in-residence. Ben is a great teacher and am I looking forward to more artist-in-residence events at the Kimberly-Little Chute Library. 

A Crash Course in Library Detritus

Several of the area libraries have been sponsoring Artist-in-Residence programs where a local artist displays their art at the library and offers a couple of programs about their craft during a two month period. Having minimal artistic ability myself, I enjoy learning about and attempting new art projects and art forms. As I was scrolling through Facebook one night (that's all I seem to do most nights), I stumbled across an Artist-in-Residence event at the Appleton Library. It was free and so I was. That's how I ended up with a crash course in Library Detritus.

Appleton's Artist-in-Resident for September and October is Mel Kolstad who creates mixed media projects. Her latest endeavor is Library Detritus -- or the debris left in books when they are returned. She has mini collages on display featuring bits and pieces of library detritus. The pieces are very simplistic yet meaningful.

In this session we were going to make our own library detritus collages using items found in the book return and books returned to the Appleton Public Library. You would be surprised at the things people left in their library books... or used as bookmarks. There was a dollar bill, loose change, a plastic egg, envelopes, random drawing and letters.

While Mel and most everyone else believed in the whole simple yet meaningful collage method, I apparently missed that message because I think of collages as random, busy, and jumbled. Maybe I should have looked at Mel's before I started my project. I really like the simple collage method but instead I went back to what I know -- busy and jumbled.

The first thing that came to my mind when I heard library detritus was bookmarks. I wanted to create a collage using bookmarks and I wanted it to say READ. After experimenting with hole punches and scissors (and ruining several good bookmarks), I finally figured out how to put this collage together. I ended up cutting out each leg or side of a letter from a bookmark -- each letter was supposed to be a different theme about me and things I liked. It didn't quite end up that way but the collage is still totally me.

After seeing everyone else's finished project, I felt like the kid who got glue and smudges all over his project in kindergarten -- the one messy one among all the neat ones. It was still good but everyone else's was clean and mine was busy. But then again, it is totally me. I don't know if I could do a neat basic collage. It would make me think outside of the box. Hmmm... it would be fun to try. I just need to find some random detritus...

I really enjoyed the afternoon and can't wait to partake in other Artist-in-Residence events at the libraries this fall and winter. Who knows maybe I will become a better artist....