This is fun! It takes practically no money, it's very easy to get started on your own, and you probably have the materials you'll need right around the house. Best of all, you can turn out some very respectable looking projects right from the get-go. As your skills improve, you can turn out some real works of art, and it still won't cost you much money.
My initial inspiration came from Paul Jackson's book,
The Art and Craft of Paper Sculpture. Everything I have learned on the subject, I learned from Mr. Jackson's book. Once you understand the basics, I'm sure there is almost no limit to what you can do. So can the youngsters.
Materials:
paper
scissors
white glue
optional: craft knife
Note: The paper can be construction paper, art paper, watercolor paper or even copy machine paper. Practice with whatever you have, then visit the art store for a variety of papers in different colors and weights.
General Tips & Suggestions
It helps to work with the grain of the paper whenever possible when making your folds. To find the grain, you can hold the sheet of paper up by one end to see which way it rolls over the easiest. You can tear it in both directions to see which way tears the straightest, or you can roll it up in your hands in both directions to see which way rolls the easiest. I find the last test is the easiest way for me to find the grain.
There are two basic methods for making folds in the paper. To score the paper, use the tip of your scissors or use a light touch with the knife blade, and very carefully cut through just the top layer of the paper. Fold away from the scored line to get a crisp, sharp fold.
To crease the paper, use the back of the knife blade, the tip of the closed scissors, or an embossing tool, and dent or crease the paper by running the tool along its surface. Fold into the crease to make your fold. In many cases, making a creased line instead of a scored line is preferable because it does not weaken the paper and it is less likely to tear.
Practice with many different paper shapes...squares, rectangles, half circles, wavy shapes, etc. Try both scoring and creasing. Crease on one side and press the paper along the creased line, then turn it over and crease between the lines on the other side. Make accordion pleats this way. Try this in wavy shapes. Experiment.
Make a folded corner. To make a paper frame, cut the center out of a piece of construction paper. Remove the center, then repeat the fold at each corner of the remaining border. Continue the center crease the full length of each side. Glue your frame to a background piece of paper and fill it with flowers.
Make another frame by removing the center area of a sheet of construction paper. Leave the border flat and glue it to another piece of construction paper in a contrasting color. Cut four wavy strips of paper about 7" long and 3/4" wide in the widest area, crease down the center, and glue around the border of the frame. Fill center area with leaves traced around or copied from real leaves. Crease down the center and out to the leaf points. Turn leaf over and crease out to in-between points, so you have both hill and valley folds in your leaf. Repeat with several more leaf shapes in different shades of green and brown. Fill frame with an arrangement of leaves.
To Make Flowers:
- Fold a circle in half, then in quarters, and then in eighths. You now have a cone shape. Cut the corners off at the top of the cone and round off the top. Unfold and re-crease down the center of each petal so all creases are in the same direction.
- Fold a circle in quarters, then cut a heart shape in the cone. Unfold, and ever so slightly, roll back the side edges of each petal against scissors blade to give them dimension. Stack two such flowers, alternating the position of the petals.
- Make flower centers of a small flat circle of paper, or form into a cone by cutting a slash to the center of the circle, and overlapping the cut edges. Glue to hold.
- To attach shaped items, such as the cones, to a flat surface, cut a small strip of paper. Fold back a tab at one end and glue to the back of the flower. Cut a small slash in the background paper, slip strip of paper through, and glue to hold.
Resources The Art and Craft of Paper Sculpture
by Paul Jackson (ISBN: 0801988748)
A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating 20 Outstanding and Original Paper Projects.
Click
here to order this title.
Krause Publications
Website:
www.krause.com
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