
I’ve been cutting up my stashes of beautiful papers to design/make structures that borrow liberally from what I’ve learned about the Chinese Thread Book structure that I’ve been posting about over the last few months.

Rather than strictly mimicking traditional Chinese structures, of which there are countless variations, I’ve been making variations of my own. Basically, I’ve been repeating one design with different combinations of paper, but mostly featuring Chiyogami papers. So far I’ve made five distinct compositions of papers. This one, with the indigo cover, and the red/gold paper inside, is the most romantic looking of them all.

Inside, instead of going the traditional route and placing collapsible boxes on the verso and recto sides, I’ve chosen to place pamphlet on the left, and rectangular trays on the right.
Still, inside the pamphlet there is a traditionally made, collapsed origami box.
Here it is, that little box (a 2″ square), opened.
Next layer down is a machine-made paper, which contains real flower petals, a paper that is one of just a few pieces of paper I have left from the now extinct Kate’s Paperie.
Finally, here’s the big interior box, made from handmade paper from India, containing leave skeletons. Also, you can see there’s a copper Stardream Metallic on the right, which is a slim pocket.

All closed up.
Nice! I use to work in clay but found Paper more forgiving and more fun. I’ve made a lot of paper in my day but find it hard work. I think I’d rather buy my papers instead. I make paper baskets, bookarts and paper sculptures. Beryl
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Yeah, making the paper becomes a whole other thing, even if it’s just decorating it (which, BTW, is something I love). When I’m focusing on assembling a structure(book, box, whatever) I don’t want to be thinking about creating the papers first. But I do have to bow to the expense of papers, which is why I’m trying get myself to offer some things for sale. Wish I didn’t have such a block about this….
I wish I could sign up for all your workshops!!!
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Lovely! I need to use up lots of paper too. I really enjoy your blog.
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Just looked at your website WOW, yes, looks like you have lots of beautiful papers! Is that a purple Zhen Xian Bao in the center of your gallery page?
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Love these, Paula!
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thanks Leslie, I will be posting more variations shortly!
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Great! Thanks…looking forward to that.
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Just love this box! I will try one when I have a moment
Thanks for sharing
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