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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Announcing my Craft Book, Party Origami

I've been keeping a secret for quite sometime now and I'm so glad I can finally share it with all of you.  I created a craft book with Chronicle Books called Party Origami!  The book includes 14 origami ideas specifically created to use for parties.  What sets this book apart from other origami books is that the pieces are designed to serve a function, such as hold a place card or rest a pair of chopsticks. Included with the book are 75 sheets of origami paper. Party Origami will be available March 26, 2013.  You can currently pre-order it on Amazon.  I'm also told it will be carried everywhere books are sold in April.  

If you're curious, here's a little background about the making of the book:

A little over a year ago I was contacted by Laura Lee Mattingly (Chronicle Books Editor) about creating a party themed origami book.  Of course, I was over the moon about it, Chronicle Books creates some of the most beautiful craft books around.  Plus, a lot of their books are Japanese related which appeals to me.  I've always enjoyed origami since I was a small child and you know I like planning parties so it was a perfect fit.

The first step in the process was creating some thumbnails (tiny sketches) of my ideas for the book.   Pictured above are the first sketches I created, some ideas made it into the book, others didn't. 

After the list of projects were finalized, I had to create the instructions and illustrations for all the steps.  This was by far the most challenging part of the book process for me.  Thankfully I had two things going for me.  One I have a graphic design background and was formally trained in Adobe Illustrator.  Two, I've been writing craft directions for the past five years.  Without these key skills, I'm not sure if I could have pulled it off. 

The book comes in a cute little package that unfolds revealing the origami booklet with the origami paper sitting behind it.  Here's something you may or may not know.  Before a book is created, a prototype of the outside cover is created (imagine a book without the pages).  It's a blank white cover and it's designed to give you an idea of what the book will look like. 

Hillary Caudle designed the book layout and the origami paper.  Pictured above is a sample of some of the origami paper you will find in the book. Isn't it gorgeous?!  What's unique about this paper is that it's double sided; there's a print on one side and a solid on the other.  One of my favorite prints are the sprinkles which unfortunately I didn't get a picture of. 

If you would like to see a sneak peek of one of the projects, the Chronicle Books blog shared a post about it earlier this month, click here.



18 comments:

Pilgrim said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!! what a fantastic concept for a book, and well done on bringing it to life in such a cute package.

Joy said...

Aaaaaaah! How exciting! Congratulations! I am so excited for you!

Abby Glassenberg said...

I love origami! This book looks wonderful! Congratulations to you! I can't wait to get a copy. So exciting!!

Michelle Frae Cummings said...

So excited for you! Yea! I will definitely get this book as my son loves origami!

Swedish Scrapper said...

Congrats! Looks like a wonderful book! That you include paper with it is a real bonus too :D

OMIYAGE said...

Congratulations! What exciting news & the book looks wonderful!

Michelle L. said...

THAT is AWESOME. It looks amazing and gorgeous. Woooooooot!!!!!

Kimber said...

Found you via crafty pod on Twitter! The book looks awesome! Congratulations on your big accomplishment!

Rin@SewinLove said...

Omedetou Gozaimasu! That's wonderful, I'm so inspired :)

kasey said...

Congratulations! :) I'm very excited for this book!

KJ@letsgoflyakite said...

I am so happy for you!! And Chronicle is such great publisher. Your readers are so proud. I bought a ton of origami paper at Daiso, looking forward to project ideas!

Unknown said...

I'm SO excited about your book. It looks beautiful and what a great party idea, Jessica! Yay!!!

Caca said...

great work Jessica. You finally published a book!

Anonymous said...

What wonderful news! Congratulations...
Kris

Deb Baker said...

Wow - we love origami here in our household. We also love having parties. What a brilliant concept!

Patricia said...

Love it! Congratulations it looks amazing!

LimeRiot said...

Oh my gosh!! You were keeping a giant secret!! How wonderfully exciting! I will definitely be adding your book to my library. Yay!!!

Lindsay Conner said...

I'm going to get a copy of this--so exciting!

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