Build-O-Bama

Hey, folks. Just wanted to tell you guys about my new project Build-O-Bama. It's a simple little positive papertoy I created to show my support for Obama.
You can find it here.

Kako Ueda solo show

Artist Kako Ueda, who we posted about a while back, is having a solo show at the George Adams Gallery 525 W. 26th St. NYC, NY. Amazing new works and site specific installations made of cut paper and other materials. You can see a few images at the George Adams Gallery website.
If your in the New York area defintely stop in and check it out, from now until 10/18/08.

Paper Toys and T-Shirts From LouLou and Tummie

On Thursday, September 18, Shirt.Woot will feature an exclusive t-shirt design by the previously blogged Dutch illustrators LouLou and Tummie.

The LouLou and Tummie t-shirt will be unveiled at midnight Central time this Thursday morning (or Wednesday night, to some of us), September 18th at shirt.woot.com. But you can get a taste of what's to come from these killer little papertoys they've designed just for the occasion. The shirt is will be 10 bucks with free shipping in the US on the 18th only.

In the meantime download the free papertoy here.

LIMI-TED by Marshall Alexander

"LIMI-TED" another cool papertoy from Marshall Alexander. I love how Marshall's toys are always one piece. It's always fun to see his templates and see how he did it this time.
Grab it at Marshall's site here.
Finally a papertoy you can keep "mint in package"!

Vote for Me! (or whoever you think should win)

As most of you well know, I'm an artist who also has this paper blog, and am one of the contributors. Me, Jaime Zollars,  the artist, will be at Crafty Bastards in D.C. on the 28th of September selling art prints, shirts, and other fun stuff. I am also in the running for "The Craftiest Bastard" contest, (thought most certainly currently the underdog)  and you can vote for me since you are reading blogs right now and therefore most likely procrastinating anyways ;)

 It will only take a second, and they don't make you register or enter any personal info. Feel free to peruse the other entrants' goods too,  as there is some great stuff in the running.  And if you are local to D.C., please come to the event and say hello!

Paper Steak Dinner!

Have I posted this before? I can't find my post if I did. I thought it was funny the first time I saw it, but came across it again today. Paper Steak, including carrots, knife and fork. Fun certainly, thought I'm not sure how to best display this one in your collection. Get the download here!

Matt Shlian's Paper Sculpture

Matt Shlian's paper sculptures are great fun to look through. You will find small elegant animal models alongside more complex and large studies of beautiful shapes and forms. 

Jayme McGowan's Lovely Paper Art

I spotted these beautiful paper cut out scenes in Small Magazine online, and had to look up the artist responsible . Jayme McGowan makes fun images with cut paper, and sells prints of them in her etsy shop. Inspiring and fun to see cut paper as editorial/fashion illustration!

Superheroes in Paper!

Inspired by Chris Ware's Batman Model (and using the same template with permission) other popular superheroes have been created to create a set. New superheroes will be added each month, and each will only be available for a limited time! Fun Fun. Check it out.

Paper Toys for the Youngest Set

Here are some very easy and fun models for younger paper crafters and those who like simple designs. These trains with smiling faces and cute little houses create darling little play sets. Click here to go to the website!

Show Off Your Bloom-ers!

Due to the WILD popularity of the original Paper Rose post, there's now a Flickr photo pool set up for anyone to directly upload photos of the paper roses they may have made. The good, the bad, any effort is valuable to share. It'll be so fun to see them. My mom even surprised me by making one today, her first ever pop-up! Go check it out: Folding Flowers

I thought it was important to actually test the pattern uploaded the other day, good idea--right!?


I finally printed out the three pages, cut out the flower pieces from white cardstock and used the shapes as templates on sumptuous red and orange double-layer handmade paper from Pearl Paint art supplies. (If there's a Pearl Paint location near you, they have a very nice selection of handmade paper treasures in store.) This was delicate decorative paper so, I glued it to a richly-textured, stiff, burnt orange cardstock.

I was delighted to find that when I assembled the roses and began to ruffle the petals that the decorative paper had come away from the back orange paper. This was a surprise way to make these roses "double blooms"! Who knew?

Cool4Cats paper Automata

Just came across this cool site of paper automata by Cool4Cats last night. Some pretty amazing stuff here. Some real cool movements and ideas I haven't seen before. There are a few videos on the site but I wish we could see more, I would love to see this King Kong in action. The planes spin as Kong climbs the building. Neat stuff!

Happy Birthday to me: Here's a Blooming Paper Garden for YOU!

I spent my birthday today, er, yesterday, creating the Folding Rose* pattern for all our Paper Forest Friends (YOU!). (I hope the pattern and instructions are clear and easy to follow. Please report back with any things that need smoothing out, or better yet, with photos of the rose(s) you make!)

A heartfelt gift of a pattern for the flower, card base, and instructions are included on a three page pdf for you Here (NEW LINK!!!). It's viewable and printable there.

*The main secret to know about these flowers is that it's really just about making rings of petals, anchoring them to a base on the fold and then folding the flower in half. That's IT! You do that, in any sloppy form, and you've got a beautiful blooming paper flower!


Making a one-of card for my ballet teacher was one thing, but making a repeatable pattern that hopefully everyone could assemble again and again? That required some proper drafting. I sculpted and shaved the patterns I had until I felt it was more polished. It took a few revisions (see debris center top). It would have taken me a week to make the tabs fall in different angles, so, the closed card, especially if made on thick watercolor stock, is a bit bulged. But it still is a *WOW* to see the blooming blossom appear as the base card is opened (see bottom row above).


You can cut out and trace the pattern pieces onto any sort of paper you'd like to use, it only needs to be stiff enough to insert the petal tabs into the base. For the samples above, I watercolored onto heavy textured paper and either traced with a pencil (by taping the pattern to a bright window, seen on left upper) or ran around the cut out pieces with a scoring stylus-tool. Both methods work but tracing with a stylus doesn't leave pencil marks. Additional color may be added after the flower is completely assembled as well. I used pastel chalks in contrasting colors applied with a pompom puff for smooth blush blending.

Thanks to everyone for expressing such enthusiastic interest. If you do make one (or two!) snap a photo and we'll set up a Flickr pool to post them to!

I certainly hope you enjoy enjoy enjoy making your paper garden for all those special loved ones and the weddings coming up! Cheers!