By Karen Thomas
Produced by Page Sage - available at http://www.pagesage.com
Before I watched this DVD, I didn't do much paper folding - it just wasn't my "cup of tea" sort to speak. I did some origami years ago, but never really got the hang of anything beyond the basics. Now with Karen Thomas, I can make all sorts of things! Not only were the instructions easy to follow because she started with easy projects, but she makes it look easy and her directions are very clear. You are able to see exactly how to move the paper as Karen describes what she is doing. In my opinion, this alone makes the DVD worth it, so many times, I have watched paper folding videos or read paper folding books and it is difficult to figure out how to do. But Karen makes it so easy.
The first time I watched it, I thought that I might pick up a few new tips or techniques. As I was watching it, the projects looked fun and Karen made them seem easy to do, so I went and got some paper, and jumped in doing the projects! I really enjoyed the projects and learned a lot from them.. My favorites were the folded earrings and sliding box - which I have given to people as gifts. They were amazed that I created not only the box but the earrings as well!
The credits at the end of the projects are great - not only are the credits listed, they are listed over to top of a book of Karen's artwork - more wonderful inspiration!
Sections include:
The Projects
The Interactive Gallery is great! Not only can you go to project section from any image in the gallery
Extras
The Projects
The projects start out telling you what supplies you will need. They are also listed inside the covers of the DVD which is helpful. The Projects include:
Folding 101 - Talks about various types of origami papers and other papers. Then she goes thru the various types of tools you will need for doing paper folding.
Paper Finishes - How to make your own custom designed papers. Karen shows you how to make double sized paper, dying paper, interference paint on black paper, stippling on paper using different stipple brushes.
Envelopes - Simple envelope folding from single sheets of paper to start with. Great for sending letters in envelopes that are made from the stationery the letter is written on. Great for when you want to send a short letter to someone on pretty paper, and then create the envelope from the paper you wrote the letter on.
Pop-up Box - Great for gift giving small items. Great tips for covering chipboard for embellishments, book covers, etc.
Sliding Box - Looks likes a match box - you can custom made it to the size you need based on the size of paper you start with.
Folded Box - A very unusual box - you use 4 pieces of paper for the top and 4 for the bottom of the box. If you use different patterns of paper for each side of box, it would make a great box for gift giving along with being a conversation piece. It looks difficult to make, but is quite easy to make.
Gift Bag - creating a cute little gift bag. You can use any size paper to start with to make larger gift bags also. The little ones would be wonderful to use at each place setting for holidays.
Little Kimono - Can be used for a pin or make it larger to use on a card or Scrapbook page.
Folded Shoes - These would make cute earrings or a cute pin. You could also use them on a card or Scrapbook page, or even as cute Christmas Tree Ornaments.
Folded Earrings - Makes very interesting lightweight earrings. If you make them larger they would be very nice Christmas Ornaments.
Crane Card - nice change from the "normal" origami crane" that you always see.
Accordion Book - nice little double sided accordion book in the shape of a house.
Signature Book - This would be great to make as an autograph collection book! Reminded me of the autograph book I used when I graduated from high school!
House Box - A box shaped like a house - great to "house" the signature book or to just use as a gift box or storage box.
Extras include
Tips from Projects - lists the tips used in the projects so you can go directly to the tip/technique quickly. Great if you want to get a refresher on a particular technique.
Bloopers - great bloopers here and the on screen comments make them even funnier.
Stamps used in Projects - tells you what company makes the stamps used in the projects
Supplies used in Projects - tells you what company makes the supplies used in the projects
Metric Conversions - a great help for those of us who sometimes can't remember the conversion from inches to centimeters.
More Karen Thomas
PageSage DVDs - Tells about other DVDs that are available from PageSage.
Interactive Gallery
One of the "trademarks" for PageSage DVDs is while the gallery is paging by you are able to go from the projects you see directly to the how-to section of the DVD for the technique used. Karen Thomas talks about how she got started in paper, paper folding and origami, and then talks about general paper folding/origami.
