pop-ups

Marvellous Makers

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Selection of work from my mini tour of Greenwich libraries in August delivering workshops in pop-up design in conjunction with the Summer Reading Challenge 2024  #summerreadingchallenge

I had the pleasure of talking to families about books and reading before working together on a pop-up activity – with moving parts! We used the lovely characters created by @natelledrawsstuff for Summer Reading Challenge 2024 #marvellousmakers as a starting point for our designs – some children used other characters and some created their own.

Thank you to all children and adults who took part + library staff – for your enthusiasm and creativity.

#PlumsteadLibrary #WoolwichLibrary #Greenwich #Libraries #CharltonLibrary #WestGreenwichLibrary #sladelibrary #thamesmerelibrary @Greenwichlibs

It’s Magic

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Flashback Friday – It’s Magic, published by Tango Books (2007).

The video is a special request from a magician friend in France.

Concept, text, illustration and paper engineering by John O’Leary.

Sadly, now out of print, ‘It’s Magic’ features eight magic tricks presented by Carlos the Chameleon. Use the text as your banter as you put on a show for your family and friends.
A second shorter video without the text is also available.

Waltham Forest Half Term Workshops

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All last week I criss-crossed Waltham Forest to deliver workshops in pop-up design, character creation and story development to all the borough’s libraries. Many thanks to Waltham Forest Libraries and London Borough of Waltham Forest for inviting me to work with them over the half-term and to all the families who participated. The montage shows just a small selection of the wonderfully creative work that was produced.

Storytelling

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I really enjoyed my visit to Harlowbury Primary School on Wednesday where I talked to the children about storytelling and ran workshops in pop-up book making. During my initial talk we discussed how stories from different places can enrich our lives, help us explore our similarities and differences, and teach us to respect and value each other.

Picture shows the demo I did for Y5 and Y6. After the children make a pop-up mechanism, I usually demonstrate how to translate that into a 3D illustration and how to assemble the finished book. By the end of each session, the children have enough information to complete their books. I look forward to seeing pictures of some of the finished work.

Robot Hug

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This tutorial is a special request from someone who wants to send a Covid compliant, pop-up hug to a friend. You’ll need 2 sheets of A5 light card for this, as well as glue-stick, scissors, ruler, something to draw with and craft knife…plus an adult to help with the craft knife if you’re very young. Difficulty rating, I’d say middling. On a technical note, this one uses tube post armature for the main sections and moving straps attached to the gutter or central fold for the arms.

Pop-up Tutorials

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I’m very grateful to the schools that have invited me in over the years to talk about my work, run workshops and share my pop-up skills. I wanted to offer them something during this difficult time so I’ve been creating a series of online pop-up tutorials.

I’m currently editing video number 4. Each one deals with an aspect of paper-engineering – parallel fold, v fold, platform fold and so forth and the designs will become more complicated over time. My intention is to continue to make the videos even after everything turns back to normal – whenever that might be. Also, I’ve always wanted to provide people with a resource after they’ve done my workshops and now seemed as good a time as any to create it.

Quite rightly, no comments are allowed on the YouTube videos intended for families and kids but if you have any questions about the techniques, feel free to ask me here.

‘And So She Did’- large-scale pop-up workshops

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My recent three-day residency at the new St Albans Museum was part of the ‘And So She Did’ programme and looked at three women with some connection to St Albans – Constance Lytton, Sarah Churchill and Boudicca. 

The brief was to work with visiting families and adults to produce large-scale pop-up constructions featuring the three women. I aimed to give the feel of a picture frame combined with stage set and to create a narrative for each of the women using elements from their lives along with the use of text.  Preparation was key but also important was an understanding that the participants would ultimately determine the direction and look of the final pieces. Week two of the project had further workshops with textile artist Flea Cooke creating banners about Margaret Wix, Syeda Momotaz Rahim and Muriel Green.