The holidays are absorbing some of our audience but there are readers who might not be gathering, shopping, cooking, conversing and socializing with others. For you and all those who might be interested in some ancient arts easily entered into (though perhaps not mastered immediately), we present MIT's Origami Club, OrigaMIT, as well as a list of favorite paper craft-dominated books we've collected this year that can be considered as gifts:

History of Origami - How origami came about - Origami Instructions

www.origami-instructions.com/history-of-origami.html‎

The exact origin of the art of origami is unknown. But paper was ... References: 1) Origami: A Brief History of the Ancient Art of Paperfolding, by Joseph Wu.

Into the Fold | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine

www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/origami.html‎

Physicist Robert Lang has taken the ancient art of origami to new dimensions. By Beth Jensen; Smithsonian magazine, June ...

Background and history of origami with some extraordinary ...

This form of art became part of the cultural heritage of the Japanese people. One major problem of ancient origami was that the techniques and designs were all ... www.papertheworld.org/about.html

Now to the Books:

We'll start off with The Paper Architect; Fold-It-Yourself Buildings and Structures, With 20 Ready-to-Use Templates by Maria Victoria Gerrio Bianchhini, Ingrid Siliakus and Joyce Aysta, published by Potter Craft.  

Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed-Media Mapmaking; 21 mixed-media map projects feature techniques with alcohol inks and pochoir, painting on a black surface and carving custom stamps.

Stencil Style 101 by Ed Roth, published by Chronicle Books. Be your own fashion designer with 20 stencils for customizing clothing and accessories: Argyle, houndstooth, chevron, leopard print, polka dots, etc.

Sit back and just read Seven Classic Stories from the Enchanted Forest by Su Blackwell, Published by Thames & Hudson. "Ms. Blackwell's well-known paper sculptures evoke a magical world of beauty and mischief, and are accompanied by Wendy Jones' lyrical retellings of seven classic stories." Perfect for gift-giving as well as the other books cited above.

 

Photograph at top depicts Mens et Manus II, copyright 2007 Brian Chan

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