The trees are budding. Spring's just around the corner. Time to feature a delightful new garden-themed origami book. Ioana Stoian, author of Origami Garden, caught the origami bug at the source - on a trip to Japan. The fruits of her newfound enthusiasm are a career as a pro papercrafter - and this superb origami book. Origami Garden contains the author's own designs, traditional designs, and designs contributed by contemporary origami artists. Origami Garden is a joy from start to finish. The book's production values are sky-high, and the origami projects are super-appealing (you'll want to make them all). Front-of-book, the projects are imaginatively displayed in themed sets - Washing Day (clothes on a line, picnic basket, bumble bees, flowers), A Sunny Afternoon( birds, butterflies, flowers, mushrooms, cat), By the Pond (jumping frog, crow, etc.), In the Garden (ladybirds, leaves, pot plants, caterpillar, watering can). Next up - a photo gallery project directory with project skill level indicated. This is followed by the individual project how-tos, with step-by-step illustrations and accompanying text to show you all the moves. Each project gets a close-up here - still imaginatively propped. Back-of-book, tucked into a pretty print envelope... a stash of 20 sheets of origami paper, mixed prints and plain. The prints are particularly appealing, in zingy contemporary patterns in cheerful colours. Namechecking some of the star projects: Slow snail (amazing spiral configuration), Autumn leaf (the beauty is in the detail - veins), Busy Bee. This winning labour of love is super-giftable. It would make an ideal birthday gift for a child, although you don't have to be a child to appreciate the childlike joy this book - and its projects - generates. The Papercraft Post Blog Create your own indoor garden just by folding squares of paper. Populate it with flowers, animals, birds and insects, and adorn your washing line with a cheerful array of summer garments. Make frogs leap, rabbits hold gifts and baskets brim with goodies for a fun table arrangement. Origami has been around for a long time, and inside this book are over forty both traditional and modern designs. These are showcased on four double page spreads showing them in attractive garden settings and giving ideas as to how they could be displayed. There is a useful double page of all the symbols used, with their names and how you fold them. Then come several pages showing each model on its own, six to a page with skill level (1-3) and page you can find it on. The actual projects are not listed in any real order but show the models displayed in various ways together with some excellent folding diagrams. These show the front as coloured and the reverse as plain, which is helpful, and each stage has a caption. In true Search Press style there are plenty of stages for foolproof folding and even beginners to origami ought to find this book a good introduction to the hobby. Perhaps the best thing of all is the pocket on the inside of the back cover containing twenty sheets of both plain and patterned origami paper so the lucky recipient of this book can get started right away. This would make a great gift if you can bear to part with it. Rachel Hyde - Myshelf.com I have always wanted to learn how to do origami but usually I would get confused at the 10th fold and end up with something that looked absolutely nothing like the end product. Predictably I would just give up and the pretty paper would be used for something else. I liked the cover of this book and inside the pages are bright and inviting. The origami projects are divided into themed double pages and then you turn to the back pages for the instructions and level grades. There are also 20 sheets of origami paper in various patterns included. I tried the ladybird and bee. The directions were clear and easy to read and the pictorial fold diagrams made it easier than following wording alone. The ladybird was a level one and after I had followed all the instructions I actually made something that resembled the photograph. I then decided to make the bee and jumped to level 3 instructions. This also went relatively well and even though it was slightly wider than it should have been, it still looked like the end pictures. It was fun to select the project from several double page spreads and then go to the guided instructions and I felt like I could skip levels and try something even if it was higher up than beginner. I also ended up with a ladybird and a bee that looked like a ladybird and a bee - and that in itself was extremely satisfying welovethisbook.com
