Archive for April, 2010

Sakura Hanami (Cherry Blossom Flower Viewing)

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

Cherry Blossoms - High Park, April 21st, 2010

The Japanese tradition of Sakura Hanami (Cherry Blossom Flower Viewing) dates back to the Nara Period (710-794). In Japan, the cherry blossom symbolizes the transient nature of life and is featured heavily in our beautiful Chiyogami papers.

For those of us in Toronto, we can enjoy the splendor of the cherry blossom trees for a few short days each year at High Park. Earlier this morning I was lucky enough to catch the trees in bloom and was able to appreciate why the Japanese are so inspired by these delicate flowers.

Cherry Blossoms - High Park, April 21st, 2010

The collection of cherry blossom trees at High Park began with a donation of Somei-Yoshino trees made to citizens of Toronto in 1959 by the Japanese ambassador to Canada, Toru-Hagiwara. For more information, please visit High Park’s website.

Tags: cherry blossom, chiyogami, high park, toronto
Posted in Inspiration | 1 Comment »

Inspirational Origami!

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

We are always excited when we talk to people who are doing really innovative things with origami. One such person is Shaun McCormick. He is always folding and his inspiration ranges from traditional projects to recreating characters from games like Super Mario Brothers or Final Fantasy. His attention to detail is awe-inspiring and we all wish we had his patience to work with the hundreds of small pieces he needs to create his final works. The Crab and The Heart Container are just two examples of his creativity. We encourage you to check out his work on his flickr page.

Crab by Shaun McCormick

The Heart Container by Shaun McCormick

Tags: Origami, Shaun McCormick
Posted in Art to Inspire | 1 Comment »

Our first guest blog – Artwork that inspires Arounna Khounnoraj

Friday, April 16th, 2010

We are delighted to have Arounna Khounnoraj of bookhou as our guest here in “blog-land”. We hope to host more of Arounna’s paper musings in the future…

Letterpress by bookhou

I have been working with paper for 15 years and am always interested in how artists use paper in different ways to express themselves and how forms are created.

I recently came across Anna-Wili Highfield a Sydney based artist currently making sculptures of animals from copper pipe and from torn paper. The paper sculptures are created from archival cotton paper, that is torn then sewn together, to create the figure of an animal.

Mangrove Fantail 2009 18cm x 15cm x 8cm Ink, water colour, sewn water colour paper, brass rod timber pieces

Magpie 2009 28cm x 24cm x 10cm Ink, archival cotton paper, cotton thread, brass rod, timber block

Sewn Horse 2008 14cm x 10cm x 3cm Sewn paper, pins, wood block

Posted in Art to Inspire, Guest Blog | 1 Comment »

R-Glue!

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

One of the most versatile adhesives we have is the Yamato R-Glue, a removable glue stick. You can make your own post-notes with it by applying a strip of paste across the top of a small piece of paper, giving it a few minutes to “dry” before pressing it to a surface. Use up all those scraps you’ve created! It’s also great for planning your paper collage – lightly stick down each piece to check your composition. Reposition the elements until you’re ready to commit to a more permanent glue for your final work. Another unique product available at The Paper Place.