Beginner’s Guide to Kirigami: 24 Skill-Building Projects Using Origami and Papercrafting Skills

Descamps, creative designer for the magazine Marie Claire Idées, delivers an inviting and well-organized introduction to the Japanese art of paper cutting and folding. Kirigami, she explains, combines the better-known practice of origami with an intricate form of paper cutting in order to create delicate three-dimensional objects. Keeping newbies firmly in mind, Descamps provides detailed instructions on everything from choosing the right kind of paper to properly holding the various cutting tools. Helpfully, she organizes the projects by difficulty level, from easy to highly intricate, starting with a star-filled Christmas tree and working up to lanterns, 3-D greeting cards, an “Asian temple,” and a “Parisian bridge.” This structure allows crafters to build up their skills while still tackling appealing projects at every step of the way. Descamps also makes a winning case for kirigami as a mindfulness aid, “an inner journey very much like meditation, an opportunity to breathe in a turbulent world.” This detailed road map to creating a world of artful and calming designs should create many new kirigami devotees in the American crafting community. (Sept.)