My Catalog of Spirals ...so far

I spent a few days last week organizing and making detailed drawings of the spirals I have created based on Tomoko Fuse's in her book Spirals. Here are the results. I have paired the sketches with the samples so you can see how they look folded. I hope you try one or a few. Let me know which one is your favorite. (Mine is #2.)

Enjoy!

1. Basic spiral.

2. My addition to the basic spiral. It makes a leaf shape that I like.

3. This combines two spirals and kind of looks like a ram's head when collapsed.

#3 Open

4. Long skinny trapezoid has more turns than the regular one.

5. This is a different spiral, based on Fuse's Naval shell with modifications by me.

6. Naval shell with a twist.

7 a & b. Variations on collapsing a spiral result in different effects. 

7a is locked in the closed position. 7b opens into a complex corkscrew shape.

8. Note that in this sample the  parallel lines are angles up slightly towards the center fold. This creates the openness in the center of the spiral. (see the picture below)

Folding in Curved Space

If you follow this blog you know I was recently away at Penland for a two week workshop with Matt Shlian. He is an extraordinary teacher and master paper engineer (in my humble opinion). He nudged me in new creative directions by planting seemingly simple ideas in my head where they flowered and started to bear fruit. I hope the harvest will continue now that I am home. One of the ideas he suggested was folding spirals from curved paper. This idea may sound simple, but it is a challenge. Here are some pictures of my explorations in curved space...

Enjoy!

The spiral is concave and looks more shell-like than ones folded with straight lines.

A diagram of how I created the curves and fold lines.

Another view of the spiral shell showing some of the internal folds.

Compare the spiral on this shell with the one below. This one is folded with straight lines throughout and is convex.

This shell has a concave spiral when folded from a curved piece of paper.

The paper pre-creased and ready to collapse.

Penland and Paper

I have been away from the blog and home for a while, but I am newly inspired thanks to an amazing trip to Penland School of Crafts. I was encouraged to take this trip by two good friends and it was worth every second and every aching muscle. I am back home and more inspired than ever by paper and its possibilities when it comes to folding, cutting and shaping it. A huge thank you to Matt Shlian our teacher and all the wonderful people in the Paper Sculpture class.

Here's a look at some of the things I played with over the two weeks. Enjoy!

-Gina

Experiments with pleat folds that radiate out from the corners.

Finished Class group project. Matt's design.

The gem shapes I cut out for our group project.

Dramatic lighting on the class project.

Preparing to fold a spiral. I wonder how the gold will turn out?

Spiral with gilding.

Another spiral with sewn edge.

A foggy morning before class.

A small bit of 4 sided pleat folding with a twist in the center.

Tomoko Fuse spiral from Mel's book.

Matt's sample radial fold. I am still working out how to do this.

The Fibonacci spiral using Matt's technique for creating a curve. Translate it to a large sheet and fold the pleats.

Alternating angles create an arch.

The Books classroom at Penland. We were lucky to be on the ground floor where it was relatively cool most days.

A deer welcomed me on the first evening.

Space Dynamics Altered Book

I have been playing all weekend with pages for my latest altered math book. This one is titled Space Dynamics. I used some of the ideas I developed recently for folding curves and spirals on page spreads. I think the results are dynamic, just like the title says.

Enjoy!

-Gina

New page design folded on the diagonal.

Nesting pages to see how they interact.

More nested page samples.

Space Dynamics altered book finished.

Side view of the five nested pages.

Space Dynamics with her sister Vector Analysis.

Altering Old Math Books

If you follow my blog, you know that I have been working with spirals recently (okay, obsessively). I took a break to clean out the studio, but now I am back to work on altering a set of math textbooks using spirals. Yesterday I played with some new ideas for keeping the spirals attached to a two page spread. I plan to alter the pages, nest them into 2-3 page signatures, and sew them on tapes. Then I can glue the tapes back into the covers and create dynamic books. The pictures below show my experiments so far.

Enjoy!

-Gina

Three pages nested into a signature.

Back to Work

I have been away from the blog and creating paper art for a while, partly because I decided to completely redo my studio so that I can teach in the space and partly because I haven't had any creative ideas recently. I spent lots of time going through all my 16 years of collected bits, keeping some and donating the rest. Then I had to select a new storage unit and teaching table for the space. Here are some pictures of the before and after. I am sure in another 16 years I will need to do this again, but for now I have space to create and teach!

Enjoy,

Gina

A reflection of the old crowded office.

The new arrangement with one work desk and a teaching table.

The new table and storage unit.

This storage unit replaces all the boxes I used to store under my work tables as well as much of the paper from the closet. It feels great to tidy up!

Spiral Play

The more spirals I make the more ideas I have for modifying Tomoko Fuse's original designs. Here are a few samples I recently created and my notes on them.

Enjoy!

-Gina

Lots of sample spirals.

Variation #8 and a dress idea.

Variation #9. I really like this one.

I haven't made #10 yet, just described it. #11 has two forms shown here. One is flat (11b) and one pops up (11a) depending on how I treat the center of the spiral.