Turning recycled paper into art is a great way to give it new life. There are some amazing and inspiring examples of rolled paper art, which I have linked to at the end of this post. And while they may seem long and involved to make, small versions can be just as impressive. As long as kids can roll a strip of paper, they can create something cool to display and enjoy.
Filed under paper crafts, recycling
I recently attended OCAD University’s annual Grad Show, which is always brimming with interesting ideas. This time, I came away intrigued by Iris Fong’s look at perspective, and thought it would be an excellent way for children to see how perspective changes, based on your relative distance or position.
Filed under paper crafts, perspective
Years ago, we had a visitor from Japan who gave us a kusudama flower she had been discreetly making during her stay here. It was simply beautiful. Over a period of several months, she had been quietly cutting, folding and assembling pieces of newspaper in her room whenever she had some spare time. That meant folding 60 petals, assembled into twelve flowers, to create a ball-like shape referred to as kusudama. She also added a touch of watercolour paint to the edges, using one of those cool Japanese water brushes. You can see a photo of the flower at the end of this post.
This project involves making just one component with 5 petals, as pictured above. However, if you’re feeling inspired…
Filed under flowers, origami, paper crafts
After having fun experimenting last week with watercolour paint, salt and glue, I ended up with a lot of circles. That’s what happens when you get a new circle punch, and marvel at how it slices through paper and makes a perfect little circle every single time. To think I used to cut them by hand…This week’s paper garlands and creatures are all about helping you make use of those circles.
Filed under paper crafts
Snowflakes are such a beautiful symbol of winter. You can even admire their intricate patterns with the naked eye. Physicist Wilson Alwyn Bentley was fascinated by them, and became one of the first people to photograph them back in the late 1800’s, capturing more than 5000 amazing images in his lifetime. Continue reading
Filed under paper crafts, snowflakes
Legend says that anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes will be granted one wish. It’s a beautiful idea which a young Japanese girl named Sasaki Sadako hoped to achieve. Sasaki was an infant at the time of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, and developed leukemia as a result of her exposure to radiation. At the age of eleven, she began making a senbazuru ( a thousand paper cranes), wishing for her recovery from leukemia. As time went on, however, she began to wish for world peace instead. While she died at the age of twelve, her message was not forgotten. The Children’s Peace Memorial in Hiroshima commemorates the child victims of this bombing, and every year, thousands of origami cranes are sent to Hiroshima by children from all over the world.
Filed under Japan, Multicultural Art, origami, paper crafts
For those who can’t remember grade 6 math (and we are a rather large group), a hexahedron is a six sided three dimensional geometric figure. The snap part refers to the very cool final step in folding, which brings this lovely shape to life. Now if only it had a chocolate inside.
Filed under origami, paper crafts
Henri Matisse, who was born in 1869, was an immensely talented french artist who worked as a draughtsman, printmaker, sculptor and painter. He is considered by many to be the most important french painter of the 20th century. During the latter part of his life, his health deteriorated, often leaving him bedridden or forced to use a wheelchair. As a result of these constraints, Matisse explored new ways of expressing himself and began to make large scale cut paper collages. They allowed him to show off his incredible sense of colour, and remain among the most influential works of his career. He referred to his experimentation with cut outs as “painting with scissors”, and covered the walls of his room with them, transforming his environment into “a little garden where I can walk.”
If you’re in need of some playful ideas to decorate your child’s room, why not consider colourful paper cut outs to brighten up a wall, or create a unique looking border. All you need is an inviting pile of construction paper, scissors, and some enthusiastic children to create an explosion of colourful, organic shapes.
Filed under Artists, Henri Matisse, paper crafts
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