A cosy origami project for a dark afternoon

I find origami a little bit addictive. I can forget about it for months and then I sort of fall off the wagon again. And then I sometimes can't stop. It's not that I ever do very complicated origami, I dont have patience for that. I usually like to do one type at a time, and then I just can't seem to stop....! As you know, I like making my own paper designs. Not that I don't love traditional origami paper, but sometimes the colors overwhelm me. So I make sheets of more tone-in-tone patterns, many of which you can see here on the Pinterest board of my paper projects - with links to follow, of course.

Here is a little thing I made, which I decided I liked best in my own black/white graphic patterns.

The cheap LED string lights you can buy everywhere this time of year are great for paper projects, because the bulbs don't get hot. So I dressed up this one, in one of my favorite little origami-designs: small perfect square cubes, or as they are sometimes called; origami balloons. 

I put together a little tutorial, if you don't know how to make them. They are very, very easy!

They are so well suited for the purpose, because they have a natural opening, that the little LED bulb easily slides into. A super smart thing is to wrap a small rubber band around the bulb before inserting it, this will keep the paper cube quite firmly in place. I used some of those mini rubber bands kids make bracelets from: loom bands. They worked perfectly.

I like my version in the black/white patterns. And I also made them from smaller squares than the most common size origami paper, because I wanted the cubes quite small. And If you want to give it a go, I made these squares into a PDF. Just print a bundle, cut them and get going. Use thin, cheap paper (80 gr. is nice for origami) and a ruler and a sharp knife when you make your paper squares. 

They are lovely to make, almost meditative. It took me about two hours to make the fifty ones I used for this string of cosy November lights.

A sort of relaxed prequel to actual Christmas decorations, I think!

Download the 12 x 12 cm. black/white origami squares right here.

2021: I have a new location for my downloads, please go here:
Design 1  /  Design 2  /  Design 3

Are you making an Advent Calendar?

Because if you are, you might want to get one of my lovely 24 days Advent calendar gift wrap paper kits - available for 17 Euro plus a bit of shipping in the heart heart shop, and still in time to ship internationally to most places before December 1st!

Go have yourself a colorful December...

More calendar fun

Being in the Advent Calendar Business, I felt I had to do a little instagram tour of what other calendar crazed people are up to - and I found a couple of fun ones! 

This first one, the charm bracelet (I suppose you get a new charm every day?), is just brilliant - and very doable as a kind of DIY project, as it seems to be sold out from the shop? Anyway, it's too cute, and maybe they get fresh supplies, who knows. It's from here: Meri Meri.

Then I found two versions of boxes, which is a nice thing in itself. Hard to fit everything into a box, though, but maybe you give itty bitty calendar gifts? Then they are great.

The first ones are from German Snug Studio, I like the way you can make interesting patterns with them. Very tasteful.

Also into boxes, but these are graphic and black/white is Katrina Bohan. She has a whole Pinterest board of her free printables, many Christmassy things among them.

Last, but not least, because these made me smile, are the clothespin wreaths for candies. They were concieved by the etsy shop 'Colourful Gifts'. 

And check out the great looking styling of twentyfour boring, brown paper bags by Barcelona instagrammer Imma Salmeron. So festive! Feliz Navidad to that one, I say. It doesn't have to be complicated.

24 Days Advent calendar gift wrap / shop update

After some very busy weeks, I finally landed in November pre-Christmas mode, got my 24 Days Advent gift wrap and Tictail shop ready, and are now open for business!

Check out the whole concept here in the heartheart shop - a few teasers are seen above!

Big PS: In true Christmas spirit I knocked a few euros off the original price, since I realized I had miscalculated my packaging and shipping costs a bit, so go get them!

 

2021 update: Please go here for absolutely free download of this new version. The only trouble is that you have to download each sheet individually - but they are pretty! They are scaled for print on A3 paper.  

24 Days Advent calendar gift wrap now available in the shop!

Wow - The shop is now open, and you can buy my new and improved 24 Days Advent calendar gift wrap and have it delivered at your doorstep!

No more mucking about with the inkjet printer (and emptying a full set of ink cartridges), and these babies are laser printed and therefore the colors really pop and look great. The color palette is more or less the same as last time (this is not random - this red / grey / electric blue / pink combo is very dear to me, and says festive and Christmas and happy. And that kind of thing.) - but most of the patterns are new, and the sheets are A3. 

Please go to the shop and order now - in time to get the calendar done by December first! I very gladly ship Worldwide, but of course, if you live in Brazil or Australia, the shipping takes some time.

I will process all orders promptly, from day to day, if at all possible.

 

2021 update: Please go here for absolutely free download of this new version. The only trouble is that you have to download each sheet individually - but they are pretty! They are scaled for print on A3 paper. 

Busy and not at all scary Halloween yesterday...

These very Yayoi Kusama inspired pumpkins, colored by my son, ended up being the most interesting Halloween project made by anyone around here - and they are rather gorgeous, I think!

We did no dressing up or decorating the house this year, but we were actually visited by an unprecedented amount of trick-or-treaters, because that has become quite the thing here in Denmark, and we ended up having not a scrap of candy left!

I have been very busy setting up my small shop and getting ready to sell my freshly printed and beautifully wrapped 24 days Advent Calendar Paper - and the webshop will open sometime late tonight, and I will be keeping you posted about that, obviously!

New version of the Advent Calendar Giftwrap on it's way!

Remember the Advent Calendar Giftwrap I made last year?
(....the paper shown in the photos)

It was a great hit with my son, and with several other people, as it turns out - so this year I have decided to do something a bit extraordinary. I am having a small production of this paper printed professionally, so this year, you won't have to bother with the printing yourself!

It will be brand new colors and patterns, but the concept is the same; 24 different patterns, all playing with numerals in different ways, for a quick-fix but fine looking Advent Calendar. Hang the gifts on a string as a garland or display them in a basket or on a shelf, and let the small ones have some fun figuring the gift of the day out. The sheets will be approximately 30 x 40 cm. this year (or A3), enough for a proper size gift, or even a couple of small ones - and will be printed on quality paper in what I hope will be fabulous colors!

The 24 sheets will come beautifully wrapped in tissue paper and a strong cardboard tube - and will be for sale in my new Tictail-shop from this Sunday, November 1st. Yippeee..!!

I haven't landed on the exact prize yet, but it will be reasonable, and I will ship worldwide. Order as soon as you can, so you'll have time to make dear young ones a cool looking Advent Calendar, ready for December 1st.

So, gotta go - am madly busy to get this product ready for sale! Stay tuned....

2021 update: Please go here for absolutely free download of the new version from 2015. These were a commercial product, I had them printed in a small batch and sold the kits online, but now they are yours for free. The only trouble is that you have to download each sheet individually - but they are pretty! They are scaled for print on A3 paper.

Paper necklaces by Catrine Berlatier

I've always been wanting to make some kind of paper jewellery, but I just haven't found any technique or come up with anything that seems to have the kind of detailing and strength, I think it would need.

It's no fun to make something that falls apart, or can't withstand a bit of handling. But still, I know that paper is this really, really strong material, if you treat it the right way.

And then, as I was browsing away on Instagram, I came across something: these beautiful rope or concertina paper necklaces by a woman named Catrine Berlatier. She is a French jewellery maker, living in Melbourne, Australia, where a local jewellery gallery - e.g.etal - sells her work.

I think they are fantastic - they look strong and durable, and yet you feel that they must be light, flexible and nice to the touch. The weaving or folding technique is simply beautiful, and I have googled like a crazy person to identify it, because I would so love to try it. It looks like a lot of work, and her level of finesse I am not aiming for - but I'd love to give it a go. 

If anyone reading this can help, I would be thrilled! What is this kind of weaving / folding called?

But back to Catrine Berlatier; she makes her folded necklaces from all sorts of discarded paper, old books etc. (for instance old atlases  - see the first necklace below).

There is a bit of an African vibe about them, that I really like - I'm a big fan of Masai and Turkana jewellery, for instance - and they are just so well made, you can really see her skill and craftsmanship.

Her necklaces are for sale here, if you have (quite a few) Australian dollars to spare!

(all photos here are by Catrine Berlatier and e.g.etal)
 

A bit of Yayoi and a bit of anniversary

Louisiana has a stunning Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the moment, and it is not to be missed, if you are in the least bit interested in visual art, art history, pop art - or if you just happen to like to have your senses bombarded with color and wowness. It is a very in-depth look at her long life as an artist, and I found it completely absorbing, and spent hours there, even reading a lot of the tiny print about her fascinating life.

I have written a bit about her before, a mini-portrait of sorts, read here, and also a bit here (I am a great Yayoi-enthusiast!) and I have shown some of her most characteristic polkadotty work - so I thought I'd show some impressions from the Louisiana show, of her more subdued work. All her work is a partly about obsessive repetition, but you have seen the colorful dots and pumpkins such a lot, and I was thrilled to see these pale, discreet paintings (the Infinity nets), all the beautiful black/white photos and her graphic work. 

I also adore the color explosions, the whole sensory overload - and if you do too, you will be richly rewarded. But I really like this side of Yayoi Kusama, and of the exhibition. You should really, really go see it! It ends in late January 2016.

And now for a bit of a long PS:

I discovered, quite randomly, that this is my blog post number 200!

This is not what I had ever in my wildest fantasy imagined, when I started a little semi-private advent calendar event in 2011, but this blogging thing has grown on me. 

I will never be an every-day-kind-of-blogger, not even close, but as it is, I always have much, much more I would like to write about, than I actually manage to find time for - and that tells me I should keep it up. Also, I started a job outside home recently, with an almost full weekly schedule, and that makes blogging harder, but not impossible, no no.

And Christmas will come to the blog as well, for the fifth season this year - yay, another anniversary! 

There will be paper projects - well, not quite daily, but absolutely weekly. So keep the printer, the scissors and the glue handy. And if you want to get warmed up a bit; here's a Pinterest board that links to most the DIY's I have posted over the years - or go to 'DIY's - the full list' in the top menu on this page.

And this year I will even open a small online shop, as well - for one very special product!
More about this is to come, real soon. I'll keep you posted.

Let me use this PS to thank everyone who finds their way to these pages. You are so very welcome, and I hope that my tips, thoughts or paper designs add a bit of color to your life. And you are always more than welcome to leave a small (or large!) comment and let me know who you are.
 

I'd love to know!

Kafka covers by Peter Mendelsund

In Denmark book cover design is a rather underprioritized art form - lots of great books are written and published, but in my view really great Danish book covers are few and far between.

I love a great book cover (as I have mentioned before), and have several books I have purchased almost entirely because of their covers, or their overall graphic look and feel. 

I saw these fantastic covers for Kafka's classics, and immediately set about finding out more about who designed them. They are by Peter Mendelsund, who is, as I was about to discover, completely brilliant at what he does. See much more of his work here, or check out his blog.

The scope of his work is amazing, and his covers are elegant in so many different ways; somehow it is obvious that he really involves himself in the content, and puts that above having a signature style.

You can also study his work in appropriate book form, in this great looking volume: 'Cover'

He is a passionate reader himself, and has written a book about reading, about 'what we see, when we read' (but of course) - and I have to read that too, I think! 'What We See When We Read'

But back to Kafka.

Mendelsund designed this series of covers for Kafka's collected works, published by Schocken Books in 2011. I personally find Kafka almost nauseating to read, claustrophobic and odd. But maybe exactly because of that, I love these: they somehow convey some of that unease and constant, slight paranoia I feel in his work.