Helen Hiebert - The Art of Papercraft: Unique One-Sheet Projects Using Origami, Weaving, Quilling, Pop-Up, and Other Inventive Techniques

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Edited by Liz Bevilacqua and Mia Lumsden

Art direction by Michaela Jebb and Ian ONeill

Book design by Michaela Jebb

Text production by Liseann Karandisecky and Ian ONeill

Indexed by Samantha Miller

Technical edit for illustrations by Michael G. LaFosse

Front and inside back cover artwork by Owen Gildersleeve

Back cover and interior photography by Mars Vilaubi Storey Publishing, LLC, except for author photo (back cover) by Lata Gedala

Additional interior photography by Courtesy of Ann Martin, t.

Interior illustrations and diagrams by Missy Shepler, except Brigita Fuhrmann, r.

Text 2022 by Helen Hiebert

Ebook production by Slavica A. Walzl

Ebook version 1.0

February 15, 2022

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Many years ago, I acquired a pair of papermaking moulds from England that were already a century old. Every time I use them, I feel a connection to the papermakers who used them before me. Making paper was their job, and it is backbreaking work to produce hundreds of sheets each and every day. I have the luxury of using paper in a very different way than they did: to create artistic surfaces and sculptural artwork. As I repetitively dip my hands into the vat and scoop up the pulp, I envision the hands of those papermakers, holding that same tool in another vat and another era. I am transported to a place where I can only imagine the similarities and differences between our lives.

This book is dedicated to all hand papermakers, from prior generations and those who will continue to make and create with paper into the futureand to those who use paper as an art form and continue to push the medium in new directions.

right: Clockwise from top left: Marbled papers by Nancy Akerly, Nancy Akerly, Nancy Akerly, Ginny Moreland, Nancy Akerly, and Emily Duong

People of all ages turn to paper, again and again, to make real the wonderful, yet unrealized, products of their imagination. We often begin exploring these pleasures in childhood, and for many, the charm seems never to fade. For some, much of the fun is in learning about papers and searching for and finding (or making) the perfect sheet for a project. Then comes the engineeringfiguring out how best to accomplish the transformation. But before anyone can make anything from paper, the paper itself has to be made.

Helen Hiebert has dedicated this book to all hand papermakers, a nod that touches my heart. Long before Richard Alexander and I opened the Origamido Studio in 1996, I had been making custom handmade papers for my original origami designs. I loved the challenge to innovate and meet my origami designs needs through my papermaking efforts, and the two paths merged in Origamido. In addition to providing our once-thriving manufacturing city with a public art gallery, we offered origami lessons and hand papermaking workshops. We promoted arts and crafts for all ages and helped launch a healthy art community in our downtown neighborhood.

Always hungry to explore even more areas of working with paper, our customers helped us expand our horizons. And so it was that while writing my book Paper Art: The Art of Sculpting with PaperA Step-by-Step Guide and Showcase, I became acquainted with Helen. I was delighted to be able to include her works among those of a couple dozen other talented artists in the book. Like mine, Helens work explored the whole process of creatingfrom pulp to paper to artand often was born of freshly made sheets of paper.

Helen is a seasoned author, artist, papermaker, and teacher who has created a comprehensive exploration of paper arts in The Art of Papercraft. This book will prove to be an excellent resource for teachers and students alike. And families with budding paper crafters will be delighted with this collection. All of the projects are fun one-sheet wonders that introduce essential cutting, folding, and assembly techniques. Each project is simple enough for beginners while being sufficiently sophisticated for the seasoned crafter. The projects are organized into different papercrafting categories, which may help you find a starting point for your creativity.

In addition, Helen weaves her inspiring personal journey into the pages, along with accounts of papermakings history and lore. She has included the works and stories of other notable paper artists, experts, and innovators, many of whom I have met and worked with through my own artistic journey.

Every paper artist has their own strategies for planning, coloring, texturizing, cutting, folding, assembling, and whatever else they need to do to create a finished piece. In my youth, I learned a lot of these strategies from books, and for that reason, I have a particular fondness for books that teach the hows and the whys of making beautiful things. Books that do this well become treasured references I visit again and again, and I fully expect that The Art of Papercraft will become such a book for me and for you.

Michael G. LaFosse

Origamido, Inc.

Haverhill, Massachusetts

Clockwise from top left: cyanotype by Beatrix Mapalagama; stamped paper by Beatrix Mapalagama; screen printing by Hedi Kyle; Van Dyke print by Alyssa Salomon; stenciled paper by Michele Roberts; rubber-stamped paper by Michele Roberts; and cyanotype by H. Lisa Solon

I studied art at a small liberal arts college in Tennessee and had the opportunity to spend my junior year in Germany, where I took a class that changed my life. The class focused on paper as a material: making recycled paper in a blender, constructing furniture out of cardboard, and creating pop-up cards, among other things. Around that time, I discovered a book called