I want that Wednesdays #1

Ok, so Wednesdays can be a drag--the shine of a new week has long faded, but the weekend is still days away. I thought it would be good to highlight a nifty product or supply or craftsperson every Wednesday. You know, so that while we are all hung up pondering global economic collapse, we can remember what's truly important at least once a week: craftiness.

Without further ado, today I want one of these do-it-yourself, error-proof Kirigami card kits.

(partridge in a pear tree--available singly or as part of the 12-card pack--because these are DIY I'm sure I could make this in a color other than purple.)

I have always loved crisp cut paper silhouettes and pop-ups. These have a very clean, spare aesthetic reminiscent of Robert Sabuda's Winter's Tale.

(All of Sabuda's work is amazing, and for it he is deservedly famous; Winter's Tale is my favorite of them all.)

Anyhoo, I think these would be a great gift for a precocious kid or even a sodden old fogey like me. Having a nifty card to give as a gift is part of the allure, but even more exciting to me is to feel like I could have my hand held as I learn to reverse engineer these designs and adapt the concepts to my own use. Nifty.

So while we're talking about pop-ups and silhouettes, I should give a shout out to some other amazing paper artists who inspire me.

Matthew Reinhart

Matthew Reinhart is Robert Sabuda's partner in crime. He has what I could only describe as a more textured aesthetic than Sabuda. His shark pop-up book rocks the house.
He also went to my high school and was friends with some of my friends. He would certainly not remember me, but aside from him being all famous now, he is memorable to me for having been (and continuing to be), um, kinda insanely good looking.

Patricia Zapata

Patricia Zapata is a multi-talented designer from Texas (I have been following her adventures in textile design over at Spoonflower, too). I guess she falls more in the paper-cuts silhouette category, but her pieces are so dimensional that they are almost pop-ups. She sells kits to make her adorable little gift boxes, but I think that one of her paper collages would make a very special heirloom gift:

(morning mist wall art)

David A. Carter

In David Carter's pop-up books, art meets engineering and confounding puzzles. My cousin gave us Blue 2 for Christmas the year Marshall was born, and it is a family favorite. The only thing that would make it better is if this book were called Blue 4.*
He has a ton of amusing titles, ranging from the silly to the serene. Marshall's favorite is Alpha Bugs, and I must admit, I usually cringe at alphabet books because I know there will be a minimum of 26 pages (don't judge me), but I enjoy Alpha Bugs every single time.

* When I was a little kid, my favorite number was 4 and my favorite color was blue. There was a television station in town, Channel 4, whose logo was (and still is) a blue 4. To me, it was the most perfect thing in the world. One day, as my mom and I were driving somewhere, I saw the Channel 4 billboard. On that day, I was particularly happy with my mom, and I turned to her and said, "Momma, you're a blue four!" Since then "blue four" has been a code phrase in my family for a really great thing. My husband even had it engraved inside my wedding band. Aw.