30 Paper Weavings in 30 Days

I recently completed a 30 day online class run by Helen Hiebert called Weaving Through Winter. The class had a very open structure, Helen did a 30 minute video introduction each week on a theme and workshop participants could take the concept and run with it. We posted pictures of what we made and offered comments and suggestions to each other. It was a wonderful daily practice and meditation. If you want to see all 30 of my pieces check out my Instagram posts at @gina_pisello. I will show you my favorites below and tell you a bit about what inspired them.

Enjoy!

This is one of the last pieces I made in class. I was inspired by weaver Kay Sekimachi and light streaming onto the red paper before sunset.

This weaving went through several stages before becoming the piece at the bottom. I tried folding an origami bowl with it, but the shape and size of the weave was wrong for this particular origami piece. I would like to try again with a different weaving pattern.

I wove abaca paper strips together then folded it into a Tomoko Fuse spiral. I love the way this turned out.

A simple weave around a silhouette.

I didn't know what to weave on this day but found inspiration in torn paper torsos I made years ago that sit framed on my desk. This one was hard to weave, but I really like the results.

This is a Danish heart basket, commonly made at Christmas time. I used folded paper and wove a love letter with a Japanese paper bag for this simple weaving. There are many more designs for this if you search Pinterest.

One week of the course was about weaving shapes. I wanted to do a simple circle and the tension of the weaving caused this to curve nicely off the page.

I experimented with hexagonal weaving trying to work out the formula for doing so. Turns out quilters have a way of doing this called triaxial weaving. I liked building this out from the center, but want to try doing it the "right" way sometime soon.

The completed hexagon weaving.

Another hexagon weaving.

I remembered that Claire Van Vliet and Hedi Kyle invented ways to weave books together in the excellent book Woven and Interlocking Book Structures. This one is my favorite with its crossing shapes and locking structures. I created the pages with eco-dyed paper.

This was an early weaving from the class. I wanted to explore strips that were angled. I like the optical illusion of it.

This is one of the later weavings. I cut warp strips around the leaves on the eco-dyed paper. Then I cut weft strips one at a time to bend around the leaves. I wanted to enhance this central image. 

Nesting Blizzard Boxes

Hedi Kyle and Ulla Warchol have written a wonderful book called The Art of the Fold.  My last blog post was about samples I made from the book. Today, I want to present a modified version of one book that I have come up with. I will introduce other works I have made using Hedi's structures as a jumping off point in a later post. I am including a diagram of measurements, divisions and how I folded this new work. You will need lightweight, but sturdy paper that measures 6 x 18 3/8 inches. You will also need to score many of the divisions between sections. Do so accurately and you can fold this project. I used Hedi's directions for folding the boxes and added the extra "bridge" section between boxed so that they can fold inside each other. Each box gets slightly wider to accommodate the precious one.

I hope you try it and let me know in the comments what you think.

Enjoy!

Diagram showing how to divide the paper before folding. Each 3 square division represents 1 inch. The first 8 divisions are exactly 1 inch each. The next 2 are 1 1/16 each followed by three 1 inch sections ( labeled side, bridge, side). Finally there are two 1 1/8 sections followed by three 1 inch sections. I made a model of this on graph paper to make it easier to score the lines. Then I moved on to decorative paper.

Here is the structure folded and ready to pop into boxes with bridges between them.

Here are the boxes from the back showing the extra section between them. This extra paper is necessary to act as a hinge to allow each box to fold inside the next one.

The boxes beginning to be nested.

All the boxed are nested inside the largest one. You can make this with more box sections by increasing the width of each box by 1/8 inch. Good luck.

The Art of the Fold

Hedi Kyle

was my favorite book artist before I even knew her name. I learned several of her structures early on in my book making career and loved them for their versatility. You can imagine how excited I was when I heard she was writing a book with her daughter Ulla Warchol that I could peruse at my leisure. I was also hoping there would be new structures to try. The book arrived on October 2 and I got busy making samples and experimenting with structures right away. I was enthralled by the easy to follow diagrams and the paper suggestions as well as information on changing dimensions. Below are pictures of samples I made using my stash of papers and book cloth.

Enjoy!

My samples so far from this amazing book!

My variation on the tree fold introduces a long leaf followed by a short one and then a long one. That way half of the leaves (pages) are hidden from view. The possibilities for a book are endless.

The same book open.

The Blizzard Box invented by Bill Hanscom and Hedi Kyle. I also make a square version (in blue).

The Blizzard boxes nested and holding some of my sea glass.

The Star Box is very satisfying to make as Hedi's dimensions give you a perfectly nested box and cover all in one.

Three variations of the School Book Wrapper, 2 with pleats and one without. I used book cloth to make these as it is sturdy and folds nicely around journal inserts.

This structure was new to me and I loved playing with the pop-up. I ended up creating a shape that I could fold into cranes.

I love the simplicity and creativity of this book. The triangle structure is unusual, but it fits so nicely into the covers. I can't wait to use it for an actual artist's book.

Another simple, but effective book structure is this Pocket Accordion with Separate Cover. I had fun coming up with the cat closure.

The Crown Greeting Card is lovely and easy to make.

I have made many Blizzard Books over the years; it was one of the first Hedi Kyle structures I learned. I never thought to create this kind of structure though. Thank goodness for Hedi and this book!

The Telescoping Ziggurat was a new structure to me and I enjoyed folding it and creating two pieces from one structure by cutting the very long strip of paper on the diagonal so that it rises up like a tower.

How to Cut and Fold a Weekend

I spent a hot and fun weekend with a wonderful group of fellow artists and my dear friend Bhavna Mehta cutting, folding and playing with paper. Bhavna is a patient teacher who always takes this everyday item to new heights with her cutting techniques. The workshop focused on cutting and folding paper which created some lovely effects. Everyone made the same cube, frame and cuff projects, but the diversity of results was stunning and inspiring. Please check her Instagram feed for pictures of other people's projects and see mine below. I am off to cut some more!

-Gina

The completed planetary system cut box piece.

The cube unfolded and partly cut.

The finished cube,

Beginning to cut the ring and cuff piece.

Many erasures lead to a design I am happy with.

What remains.

The cut cuff.

Wearable art.

My framed insert so far. (Front)

All the cutting left to do. (Back)

Late day sun creating interesting shadows behind this piece.

Another view with different shadow effect.

Playing Origami Detective

I follow someone on Instagram who posted an intriguing picture the other day of a folded origami envelope/box.

URL: https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/0gIihjYd3lscJQ  (Click on the right arrow 3 times to get to the correct page.)

She asked if anyone knew how to fold it and I thought, "That's easy, it's just a twist fold but on the back side." I didn't have time to study it that day, but yesterday I decided to tackle the problem. I tried several folds that I thought would work and they didn't. Then I tried something that seemed similar, but wasn't. Then I desperately tried to find the directions online. There were none. I stared at the image and tried to unfold it in my mind and couldn't quite see it. I decided to take a break and come back to it today after finding a YouTube video that made a similar fold called the square tato.

Long story short, after much trial and error I figured out how to fold the envelope called an Ori-Sue used for holding slips of paper that have scent names written on them. This is used in the Japanese tea ceremony from what I could find out. Maybe you would like to try folding this lovely little envelope.

-Gina

Crease pattern for Ori-Sue fold. Red lines are mountain folds and blue lines are valley folds.

Start with a square piece of paper. Different colors on each side make for a more dramatic final product.

Mark the center of the paper by folding in half and pinching each side. Do not crease. Then fold up one side past the center (so more than 1/4 the paper width) but less than 1/3 the paper width. For example, if your paper is 6 x 6 inches, fold up the side more than 1.5 inches but less than 2 inches.

Left sample has sides folded to 1/4 the length (in other words each side is folded to the center of the paper) and there is no center square. The middle sample has sides folded into thirds and the whole center is the twist triangles with no edges. The sample on the right is what we are trying to make and is folded between 1/4 and 1/3 the paper width.

Fold in the corners creasing very lightly to mark the square. Fold up the two sides to the point where the diagonal meets the edge of the paper. This will give you the same width as the first fold without having to measure.

If you have done things properly the two sides should overlap each other, but not meet at the folded edge.

Rotate the paper 90 degrees. Again fold the corners in lightly to meet the straight fold and mark on the paper's edge. Fold the last edge up to this diagonal mark. Now all for sides are folded. You have a square in the center of the paper and four squares at the corners. Crucially, you have rectangles between the corner squares on the four sides of the paper. 

Next you will fold each side up and fold in the left side corner to meet the vertical line as shown above. Repeat on all four sides, only folding the left corner up. Fold the corner to the back of the paper as well to make the last step easier.

Your paper should now have all of these folds (minus the red and blue lines). It's time to collapse.

To collapse the model, fold up one side then fold back along the diagonal on the right side. Fold in the corner and turn the model 90 degrees counterclockwise.

Fold up the second section the same way, folding in the side then the corner. The center square starts to take shape.

Fold in the third side the same way then open up the first side at the top left corner to tuck in the last corner mountain then valley folds.

Pinwheel the four sides overlapping them to form the final shape.

Here is the final model. You can make the square of contrasting color bigger or smaller depending on how close to 1/4 or 1/3 you fold the first side of the paper. Play around and see which size you like best.

Mica Book

Making a book with mica pages presents some challenges. If you use natural mica, you can't glue or tape it as the top layer will simply pull away and leave the rest of the mica sheet unattached.  There is also the issue of binding a single piece of mica without a center crease to sew into. One solution is to use Keith Smith's Sewing Single Sheets method, but I don't like sewing if I can fold instead. So, to make my book I used Beauty in Use's slot binding method shown in Claire Van Vliet and Elizabeth Steiner's  Woven and Interlocking Book Structures. The pages vary in size and width, with the bound edge and bottom squared up. This gives the book an irregular top and fore edge, which I like.

Hope you enjoy!

-Gina

Preparing the binding strip.

Mica ready to have the corners cut.

In the middle of adding the mica to the binding. This method uses slits cut into the paper as well as the corners of each page. They go in opposite directions and make a perfect fit when bound.

The finished book. I love this kind of mica with red, blue and black inclusions. It looks like ancient writing or a secret star map.

A top view of the book.

The end.

Shows to See in SD

I am honored to be included in the Mesa College Gallery juried show "Art That Cuts" opening April 12. There was a write-up in the San Diego Union Tribune that you can read here. I created a new piece for the show that went through some revision before making the cut. Below you can see some of the missteps I took along the way to the finished piece.

And now for a bit of art philosophy... When I make a piece of art, especially something new, I have to make lots of decisions about size, color, structure, etc. Yesterday I finally started working on a book structure that I have been putting off. It occurred to me that the decisions I made were probably not the same decisions I would have made had I worked on it sooner or later. In other words, the art I make is time and place dependent. I make certain decisions today that I may not make tomorrow or yesterday. Making a specific piece of art is temporal as well as physical. Okay enough philosophy. Onto pictures...

Enjoy!

My first idea was the branches at the top of this image. Then I tried the curving shapes in the foreground. I didn't like either one.

Next I tried the curve running across the folds instead of being defined by the folds. I didn't like this either.

Next I sketched ideas for cutting the triangular sections above. I finally decided on the shape on the left that looks kind of like a dragonfly wing. This is a cut out that I have used before on a different spiral and I was trying to avoid repeating myself, but I couldn't come up with a better way to fill the space.

My final cut paper has the wing shapes cut out along the central spine of the piece.

Here is the finished folded and sewn piece titled "What Remains."

It looks best in motion.

In Which I Revisit Spirals

I put spiral play on the back burner for much of the second half of 2017, but as the year was coming to an end, I was folding a piece of origami paper diagonally and it reminded me of how I start folding a spiral. The only difference is that spirals use trapezoid shaped paper and this was a square. I decided to try folding it anyway and it worked well. I was journaling about the experiment and wrote "I wonder what would happen if I folded a rectangle corner to corner and spiraled it?" So I did that too and recorded my results in diagrams and samples. Here are the results.

Enjoy!

The first trial using origami paper. This photo shows the model closed.

Here is the model open.

There are two ways to crease the diagonals with the rectangle. Here is version A where I scored each side of the center line from the top of the horizontal line to the bottom corner of the next one. This creates different angles on each side of the model, but it still collapses.

In version B I just scored with the center line folded and creased from the top to the bottom of the longer edge of each horizontal section. That means the diagonal angles are the same on each side, but where they end differs. It looks very much like version A, but is easier to score and collapse.

Here is the model open. I like the way the leaf shapes cross each other in this model. It is very dynamic.

Sculpting Dyed and Painted Papers

I have been eco-dyeing paper for a few weeks. I also played around with another Leslie Marsh technique which uses paint to print leaves onto black paper. With lots of paper piling up on my work table I decided to turn some of them into a paper sculpture. Here are the results.

Enjoy!

Some of the painted leaf papers. Mom and I used Ranger Dylusions paints and a gel press plate to make these. Roll paint on the leaves, brayer a contrasting color on the gel plate, apply the leaves, place black paper on top and press. This technique is so fun and fast that I made about 20 pages in one sitting. 

I used the painted leaf papers to make the book spine. In my other blog post about this structure I used a single sheet of paper cut and folded to make the spine. Here I used a different sheet for each section then used leftover painted paper as hinges to hold them together.

I used the pale Texoprint paper from week 2 ago for the folded inserts. 

I like the contrast of the dark and light papers.

This is the finished sculpture. I love the shapes and colors and subtle leaf patterns everywhere.

Origami Flapping Butterfly

When I started attending San Diego's Origami Society two years ago, I met a man named John. He was welcoming and kind and taught me several interesting structures. He invented the modification to this butterfly that makes it flap when you squeeze the last fold between your finger and thumb. Sadly, John is no longer with us, but I enjoy making his forms and am happy to be able to share this one with you.

Enjoy!

Fold a crisp new dollar (or a piece of paper that measures 6 1/8 x 2 5/8) in half lengthwise. Turn and fold in half the other way as shown. These are mountain folds.

Fold down each top corner from the centerfold until the corner touches the bottom of the dollar. Do not crease the corners flat. Stop when you meet the center crease.

Fold back the long center mountain fold. Allow the points of the bill to stand and curve as shown.

Flatten the previous curved paper by folding in the bottom of each side until it meets the long mountain fold. This fold should result in the top points being divided in half.

Fold back the bottom points until they open out as shown.

Valley fold each side of the dollar along the middle fold. This picture shows the left side folded down.

This is how the dollar looks after you fold down both sides along the center. Turn over the model and fold back each side to the center fold. 

The butterfly looks like this after the last fold. Turn the model over again.

There is a center kite shaped that needs to be folded to make the flapping mechanism. 

Fold up the bottom of each side of the center kite. Invert these folds as in the bird base (see the picture below).

The point you just created can be grasped and pinched and the wings will flap.

Enjoy John's flapping butterfly!

My Catalog of Spirals ...so far

I spent a few days last week organizing and making detailed drawings of the spirals I have created based on Tomoko Fuse's in her book Spirals. Here are the results. I have paired the sketches with the samples so you can see how they look folded. I hope you try one or a few. Let me know which one is your favorite. (Mine is #2.)

Enjoy!

1. Basic spiral.

2. My addition to the basic spiral. It makes a leaf shape that I like.

3. This combines two spirals and kind of looks like a ram's head when collapsed.

#3 Open

4. Long skinny trapezoid has more turns than the regular one.

5. This is a different spiral, based on Fuse's Naval shell with modifications by me.

6. Naval shell with a twist.

7 a & b. Variations on collapsing a spiral result in different effects. 

7a is locked in the closed position. 7b opens into a complex corkscrew shape.

8. Note that in this sample the  parallel lines are angles up slightly towards the center fold. This creates the openness in the center of the spiral. (see the picture below)

Folding in Curved Space

If you follow this blog you know I was recently away at Penland for a two week workshop with Matt Shlian. He is an extraordinary teacher and master paper engineer (in my humble opinion). He nudged me in new creative directions by planting seemingly simple ideas in my head where they flowered and started to bear fruit. I hope the harvest will continue now that I am home. One of the ideas he suggested was folding spirals from curved paper. This idea may sound simple, but it is a challenge. Here are some pictures of my explorations in curved space...

Enjoy!

The spiral is concave and looks more shell-like than ones folded with straight lines.

A diagram of how I created the curves and fold lines.

Another view of the spiral shell showing some of the internal folds.

Compare the spiral on this shell with the one below. This one is folded with straight lines throughout and is convex.

This shell has a concave spiral when folded from a curved piece of paper.

The paper pre-creased and ready to collapse.

Penland and Paper

I have been away from the blog and home for a while, but I am newly inspired thanks to an amazing trip to Penland School of Crafts. I was encouraged to take this trip by two good friends and it was worth every second and every aching muscle. I am back home and more inspired than ever by paper and its possibilities when it comes to folding, cutting and shaping it. A huge thank you to Matt Shlian our teacher and all the wonderful people in the Paper Sculpture class.

Here's a look at some of the things I played with over the two weeks. Enjoy!

-Gina

Experiments with pleat folds that radiate out from the corners.

Finished Class group project. Matt's design.

The gem shapes I cut out for our group project.

Dramatic lighting on the class project.

Preparing to fold a spiral. I wonder how the gold will turn out?

Spiral with gilding.

Another spiral with sewn edge.

A foggy morning before class.

A small bit of 4 sided pleat folding with a twist in the center.

Tomoko Fuse spiral from Mel's book.

Matt's sample radial fold. I am still working out how to do this.

The Fibonacci spiral using Matt's technique for creating a curve. Translate it to a large sheet and fold the pleats.

Alternating angles create an arch.

The Books classroom at Penland. We were lucky to be on the ground floor where it was relatively cool most days.

A deer welcomed me on the first evening.

Space Dynamics Altered Book

I have been playing all weekend with pages for my latest altered math book. This one is titled Space Dynamics. I used some of the ideas I developed recently for folding curves and spirals on page spreads. I think the results are dynamic, just like the title says.

Enjoy!

-Gina

New page design folded on the diagonal.

Nesting pages to see how they interact.

More nested page samples.

Space Dynamics altered book finished.

Side view of the five nested pages.

Space Dynamics with her sister Vector Analysis.

Altering Old Math Books

If you follow my blog, you know that I have been working with spirals recently (okay, obsessively). I took a break to clean out the studio, but now I am back to work on altering a set of math textbooks using spirals. Yesterday I played with some new ideas for keeping the spirals attached to a two page spread. I plan to alter the pages, nest them into 2-3 page signatures, and sew them on tapes. Then I can glue the tapes back into the covers and create dynamic books. The pictures below show my experiments so far.

Enjoy!

-Gina

Three pages nested into a signature.

Spiral Play

The more spirals I make the more ideas I have for modifying Tomoko Fuse's original designs. Here are a few samples I recently created and my notes on them.

Enjoy!

-Gina

Lots of sample spirals.

Variation #8 and a dress idea.

Variation #9. I really like this one.

I haven't made #10 yet, just described it. #11 has two forms shown here. One is flat (11b) and one pops up (11a) depending on how I treat the center of the spiral.

Cut and Fold in Black

I have wanted to try cutting a design in paper before folding it into a spiral and today I finally had the time to sit down and do it. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, except to say thank you Bhavna for teaching me to think about cutting as positive and negative space. Your teaching made this what it is!

Enjoy.

-Gina

The finished spiral.

Cutting the first panel with the tools of the trade.

All the cutting is done.

Partly folded spiral

Finished spiral. The paper is black on one side and silver on the other. It makes a nice contrast.

Playing with Spirals

I enjoyed making Vector Analysis so much that I decided to play with the basic spiral from Tomoko Fuse's book and see what kinds of variations I could create. I also wanted to make some spirals from large sheets of paper. Here are some of the results.

Enjoy!

-Gina

Many spirals folded on graph paper. The straight lines make folding easier and the paper is inexpensive as a test surface.

Notes on variations of the trapezoid spiral.

Good quality, thin Japanese paper ~ 24 x 36 inches being forded.

The paper was so large and thin that I had to fold differently than for the small 8 x 12 samples.

The finished spiral. I invented the turn in that gives it a leaf shape at the top of the picture. It was a happy accident. The finished spiral is 11 x 12 inches.

"Vector Analysis" Altered Book: part 2

After consulting with a couple of artist friends (Thanks Mom and Bhavna for the advice.) I decided the altered book I blogged about two weeks ago needed something more to make it complete. First, I added paper from one of the original book pages to the spine area to cover up the dark brown. Then I had an epiphany one night and realized I could make a spiral to fit into the spine. I worked on a prototype and it fit! So I made a few more using strips from the book's pages. In the end I needed 7 pages or 56 inches of length to make a spiral that measured 9 inches long. Below are pictures of the strips being folded with before and after pictures of the altered book.

Enjoy!

-Gina

The strip on the left was the prototype. I unfolded it so I could repeat all the measurements and scoring in the correct orientation.

Here are the first 5 strips creased.

Before the spine was decorated.

How the spine looks now. The center spiral is really 7 small spirals joined together.

Before the spiral.

After the spiral was added.

More views showing how all the spirals interact.

Before the spiral.

After the spiral was added.

Crane Card Origami

Just when I think all the ways to use the half-crane origami structure are explored, a new idea strikes. Here it is; a one sheet card with interlocking cranes. It works best with paper that is different colors on each side so that there is nice contrast. I have this lovely

origami paper

in gold/silver on one side and colored paper on the other. Below are step by step images as well as a folding guide. I hope you will try it.

Enjoy!

-Gina

Fold paper in half and cut a slit in one side to make two square areas. Cut out edges on the right to leave a square behind as shown. For this 3 x 5.5 inch paper I cut a slit 1.5 inches long and 1.5 inches down from the top. I cut out rectangles on the right that measured 1.5 x .75.

Fold the single crane as with the paper oriented as shown.

Turn the paper over and fold the two cranes as shown. 

Fold the card down the middle fold and place the center crane's wing over the top crane to lock it in place.

Starting paper sizes: 3 x 5.5 (left), 3.5 x 6 (middle), 4 x 7 (right)