Book winner: Congratulations to Kristin McNamara Freeman, who is the winner of the book!
A book review on a different paper art: origami. I’ll give the book away on Tuesday morning, and the winner will be posted here. To win the book, let me know in the comments. The book is hardback, and heavy, so this time its new home is in the 48 contiguous states.
Book cover
Title: Extreme Origami
Sub-title: Transforming dollar bills into priceless works of art.
Author: Won Park
Details: Hardback. Race Point Publishing, 2012. Size: 11.25 inches x 8.25 inches. Page count: 144. 20 projects and more than 1000 illustrations on folding. Price; $25.00 U.S. $28 Canada, £16.99 UK.
Content:
- Introduction
- Terms and Symbols
- Are You Ready to Take the Extreme Origami Challenge?
- Instructions for: butterfly, toilet, tank, spider, fox, pig, swordfish, sea turtle, ox, Pegasus, praying mantis, stag beetle, car, fighter jet, bat, scorpion, koi fish, stegosaurus, dragon, formula 1 race car.
- Acknowledgments
- About the author
What I liked: You have to like a book that uses only American dollar bills to fold into shapes of everything from a toilet to a formula one race car.
The hardback book is beautifully designed. The pages are rich, cream-colored stock with clean black type.
In the front there are explanations of lines, folds, directions.
The completed pieces make the best use of the printing on the dollar bill, so that the pieces appear to have eyes in the right place.
The instructions are always on the right side, or start on the right side, making it easy to keep the book open flat while you follow directions.
The illustrations (of which there are many) are in clean olive green and white and clear.
What I didn’t like: I discovered that Won Park used dollar bills because they are hard to tear during the hundreds of folds and bends it takes. In other words, it’s too intricate for me. I realize it’s called Extreme Origami, and that means it’s way over my head. And it is. You have to have some experience with origami to be able to complete any of these.
Some of the large photographs don’t look as appealing as the smaller photographs that accompany the directions. It would have been been fine to show the completed work at 150 percent instead of much larger.
—-Quinn McDonald is a writer who is busy writing a book about conversations with the inner critic.
QuinnCreative 