Fold, Cut & Curl: 75 Exquisite Snowflakes, Stars and Sunbursts to Make

Aug 13

This book shows beautiful designs that can be made using origami, kirigami and quilling. With a focus on stars, snowflakes and sunbursts, readers can create bursts of colour with these paper techniques. The three core skills are clearly illustrated with step-by-step photographs and detailed written instructions, helpful hints and templates.

Oct 13

I love this book from start to finish. It's for anyone who loves playing with paper and making beautiful things. You'll find 75 paper designs including origami, kirigami and quilling. The techniques for each craft are demonstrated and clearly explained. Each project is graded and this book is suitable for all skill levels. Templates are given where necessary, the book is enhanced by clear photographs and step by step instructions. The projects are divided into snowflakes, stars and sunbursts. The kirigami is great, the origami superb, but for me the quilling is simply amazing. I have never took much notice of quilling before, but I am hooked on these fabulous designs. All the projects are shown at the front of the book, followed by basics, materials and core techniques. Then each project is shown with many photos and steps, so you cannot go wrong. There are projects at the back of the book to try out your new skills. It would be a wonderful gift for anyone interested in paper art or a perfect treat for yourself.

Nov 13

I haven't yet used a star rating system for my book reviews - but this title, appropriately, gets five stars (or sunbursts, or snowflakes).

Last year, Search Press had a big hit with their lovely crocheted snowflake title, 100 Snowflakes to Crochet, by Caitlin Sainio. This new book looks to be a follow-up for papercrafters - an idea with legs (or rather, snowflake arms). I am a mega snowflake fan - in fact, I have designed a template of my own papercrafted Snowflakes & Stars for Hot Off the Press. Many papercrafters are big snowflake fans, too - I notice that whenever I run a snowflake-themed project on the blog, it gets a lot of hits. Could it be childhood memories of happy snowflake-cutting sessions? The snowflakes, stars, and sunbursts in this book are much more sophisticated and elegant than your childhood makes (although for the kirigami flakes, the fold-and-cut principle is the same). This book has a winning format. Up front, there's a Selector section, a glorious gallery of all the different styles, presented by category (snowflake, star, or sunburst). Each style is labelled with name, number, and turn-to page. A good system. Following the gallery, there's a skills section, teaching quilling, origami, and kirigami core techniques in a clear and concise manner. Lots of excellent instructional tips, like how to use a needle quilling tool for finer designs.

It is commendable how this book has enlisted two experts: Ayako Brodek for the origami and kirigami projects, and Shannon Voigt for the quilled designs. This is a much more successful approach than stretching the skills of one author to encompass all that is required.

The origami section has lots of variety. You will learn how to construct hexagonal, pentagonal, and octagonal snowflake bases (basic training!). Some of the designs are modular ones - this unit approach to origami is very popular. My favourite quilled designs include Comet, in which a whoosh of a filigreed tail almost seems to animate the centre star; and Radiance, which very cleverly used pieced quilling strips to craft a graduated colour effect. The Projects section is the weakest of the book, but it still has value and presents good ideas. It is just that the individual designs are perfection, and these are just presentation apps. For example, the Quilled Window Ornaments, attached with suction cups, are an ace way to showcase the snowflakes. And the Origami Garland, constructed with beads and fishline is a valid idea, too. This title would make a delightful gift for a papercrafter. Or buy it now for crafting festive decs.

Dec 13

The subtitle of this delightful and innovative book is 75 exquisite snowflakes, stars and sunbursts to make and this is, in a nutshell, what the book is all about. The two authors show you how to make these images using quilling, origami and kirigami. The theme means that this book is very useful for making Christmas cards and decorations, with the sunbursts bringing a joyous touch to birthday and other less wintry occasions. As with many Search Press books there is a page on how to use the book and a selector showcasing all the projects with page numbers so you can dive in and choose your favorites. You can also learn how to do all three papercrafts in some detail, as well as finding out what you need to buy and even a page all about paper. I particularly like the section showing the various bases for the origami and kirigami folds which simplifies the processes while cutting down on pages, leaving room for more projects. These are all graded according to difficulty and each project comes with several photographed stages for a fairly foolproof result. At the back are a few ideas as to how to use them as well as a very tiny number of UK websites that supply origami paper. More would have been good but this is a minor fault in what is an unusual, useful and most enjoyable book.