Fun With Paper Sculpture

Rating:
Summary: An excellent, inexpensive intro to the craft.
Review: Take a good look at the picture of the book's front cover because it conveys the spectrum of projects in the book. From the simple, nearly cartoonish jet plane to the more complex flower arrangement to the very elgant grapevine piece that depends on layering and texturing white paper to great effect. The author even covers painting techniques like sponging and spattering to enhance plainer papers.

Projects are based on diagrams that can be enlarged or reduced with a scanner or copier. You could also copy the diagrams with tracing paper or transfer paper, but resulting projects will be about 4x4 inches in size. The diagrams are used as templates to cut the necessary shapes from construction paper and step by step photos guide you through assembling the pieces together. You'll be amazed at what can be created with just glue and construction paper! I really like paper scultpure because I can easily build an an object that I would otherwise have problems drawing realistically. The duck on the book's cover is a great example. If you don't have great drawing or painting skills, paper sculpture offers an alternative way to express yourself visually.

There are some other great paper sculpture books at three times the price of this one. They're mostly filled with examples of the featured artists' work, and while pretty to look at, may not justify the higher price to some. Buy this book and spend the money saved on some beautiful papers instead.