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.

Waltham Forest Pop-up Workshops

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Next week, I’ll be touring Waltham Forest Libraries – 8 workshops at 8 libraries over 4 days starting Monday 24 Oct. Come and learn pop-up design, character illustration, and book-making in my hands-on, half-term sessions in partnership with @walthamforestlibraries and London Borough of Waltham Forest @lbwalthamforest. Look forward to seeing you all there.

To guarantee your place go to the Eventbrite link for the event, all listed here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj0GVLwNq-t/

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.

Surrey Explorers

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Kicking off the half-term week on Monday with a full-day workshop in Putney with Surrey Explorers (Potential Plus UK). The children produced amazing work including Joss who created the piece in the video, and Daniel, Sebastian and Almaz who created the examples below.

School visits during Covid

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I managed to squeeze in a school visit to Bredhurst Primary in Gillingham at the beginning of October but now with current restrictions these events have become rare.

I was aware of the need to make the visit Covid-compliant. Due to class bubbles a whole-school assembly was out of the question so instead I produced a mini version of my talk in video form (see below) in order to give some insight into my practice. It had the happy consequence of my being greeted by children on the day who seemed to know me already.

The card for the workshops was pre-packaged and then only handed out by the teaching staff. During the workshops, I did my usual thing, but at a distance, teachers did all the close up checking and helping. I made more of the demo part of the session where I turn a pop-up mechanism into a finished 3D spread using the children’s story ideas. And I made sure everyone had all the information they needed to finish the group pop-up books after I had moved on to the next class.

The school felt surprisingly normal but they had clearly put in many important measures to keep everyone safe – no sharing of equipment (I had to keep reminding myself not to borrow scissors or gluesticks), staggered playtimes and hand sanitiser everywhere. I also had to exit the building and make my way around the outside of the school to get from class to class.

It’s not clear when things will go back to normal but it’s been an opportunity to explore new ways of interacting with schools. Things like Zoom, for example, seem to work well and will be a useful addition going forward, especially for schools further afield. However, it can never replace the wonderful feeling of interacting live with the children that I experienced at Bredhurst and all the other schools I’ve visited in the past.