Shin Tanaka my first post

Hi Folks, Matt Hawkins here in my first post on Paper Forest. I've been a big fan of this blog for a long time and I'm real excited about contributing. I love the idea of paper toys online. It's like a matter transporter. An artist creates a 3D object, flattens it, sends it through cyberspace, it crosses the globe as ones and zeros and then it is built back into a 3D object!
Shin Tanaka makes some of the coolest graffiti/urban paper toys and art around. His spiky babies are a free download.

He does a lot of great collaboration with other artists. Click on the "OTHERS" tab on his site to get blank toy templates you can download and customize yourself!
Get your graffiti on!

Minny Cinny

Hello, Fine Forest Dwellers, Shelley Noble here, to share a tempting paper find. Jaime and I seem to both be fascinated by paper movie machines, a.k.a. miniature cinemas. She posted a hella great example a few months back.

A week ago I came across another exciting model, this one standing just 2-1/2" high. It's made from a pattern with instructions and a mini flip animation on cardstock by famed cartoonist, Chris Ware. It can be found on the back two pages of his "Acme Novelty Library Volume #3" and can be purchased for $3.95, plus modest shipping. (I ordered mine on Friday at 5 pm and got it in the mail today from the fine folks at Fantagraphics!)

UPDATE: The results of my first (thrilling) assembly and testing of this model can be read on my blog.

Business Card Holder

Here's a pattern for how to turn a paint chip into a lovely little business card holder. Simple and cute. Finally a use for the paint chips I snag here and there at Home Depot when the colors are just too pretty to leave. Go to the Design Verb blog for step by step instructions!

News and the Wonderful Jen Stark

First off, I want to mention that we are in the process of adding a few new contributors to Paper Forest. The first has recently been Shelley Noble, who recently brought you a lovely post, and I'm looking for a couple more folks interested in posting, who believe they could be a great addition.

My objective on this blog has been to post any and all paper automata (my favorite topic to post), other interesting paper projects, and innovative paper art that doesn't necessarily fit the standard mold. But I'm Busy. Crazy busy at the moment, so I'm opening up the possibility of adding a few bloggers to the site, who would like to post once every week or two, or whenever something strikes them as particularly appropriate. I'm looking for people with a similar vision of what has been posted here in the past. Bonus points if you can read and find posts outside the U.S. that would be more difficult for me to find and translate, but it is not a requirement. In exchange, you can certainly post your personal link on the site, and be listed as a contributor.

If interested, e-mail me with an idea or two of some posts you'd propose, so I can get an idea for what your idea of a good post might be. My e-mail can be found by linking to my website and going to the contact page.

Now on to these beautiful paper sculptures. Jen Stark creates these amazing paper pieces unlike anything I've seen. Who knew you could take a stack of construction paper and create a masterpiece?

(thanks again Jason for the Link!)

Paper Castle

Here are a couple pretty cool photos forwarded to me by Jason Hsu, of Pucker Bird Primo Fame ( a few posts down ). He participated in this installation in January at Space 1026 in Philadelphia, where this structure was made from many reused materials, like cardboard and plastic bags. It's like those big plans I drew up in second grade, but actually realized instead of just napping on the idea. again. I never knew my paper dream castle was possible. Much Fun.

From Russia With Love

Dear Jaime, Have I got you covered! Because you put your faith in me to be one of the contributing bloggers to the Paper Forest, I really wanted to bring some remarkable works that perhaps neither of us had seen before, and moreover had that certain "top drawer" PF sensibility. Tell me if I've done it.

Talented Russian designer and artist, Tatyana Stolyarova (aka; Tekuila) posted her new remarkable lotus flower paper pop-up (shown above, with a variation) to both her site and this Russian Live Journal Origamic Architecture page. She provides a pdf for download with diagrams for its construction there at the bottom of the description!

This flower is a rather nice variation on Robert Sabuda's lotus and even more feasible to construct than previous OA blooms that required a difficult thread matrix in the mechanism in order to open up. I am rabid about this flower, it may be my all time favorite pop-up to make for myself.

Also on her Live Journal page, new to me, perhaps new to you too, was a paper artist that is off the charts exciting. Dutch paper artist, Annelies Smit van Hüüksloot has been captivated by something in paper I'd not heard of, Caleidocycli, or Kaleidocycles "art that moves". She has taken Fellow Dutch artist, MC Escher's works and translated them onto this new 3D form of rotating rings of tetrahedra and the results are nothing less than spectacular! From there, click on "Escher" in her left side nav bar and don't miss seeing the steaming videos to see how they all move.



Your alter ego, Shelley Noble

PS: A friend living in Japan is hand-delivering the Harac paper cutter to my hot hands next week. A full report coming on that little treasure believe you me!

UPDATE: Erin Dillon wrote to tell us that there is a wonderful book with, as she describes, "...all of the M. C. Escher kaleidocycles models pictured in Annelies Smit van Hüüksloot's blog in full color on thick card stock with instructions." It's from the 70's, but seems to be available if one keeps their peeps open. Amazon has it, as do many smaller local shops, like Half Price Books

Thanks, Erin!

Pucker Bird Primo

Jason Hsu's Paper model may not be free, but that is because the pattern itself is a work of art. The pieces are actually screenprinted, which is a wonderful handmade touch for a paper model. I've got mine, the only question remains whether or not I just want to keep the flat model as is or construct it. To get yours, visit Jason's site.

ReadyMech Set 2

These lovely little models and MANY more await you at the ReadyMech site. The beauty of these simple designs is that they may be printed out on a single sheet of paper and constructed with double-sided tape in 15 minutes. Perfect for the office. Build your army now.

(Note: Internet Explorer may not let you download them all, so try using Firefox or an alternate browser and there should not be a problem.)