Chronicle Books Blog

The Chronicle community is heartbroken over the loss of one of our beloved authors today. Kathreen Ricketson was an incredibly talented quilter, pillar of the online craft community, inspiring blogger, and devoted wife and mother.

Kathreen dedicated her work to fostering community. As she says in Little Bits Quilting Bee, the craft community is about “learning together, sharing ideas, and helping each other.”

Let’s all continue to be inspired by Kathreen. Let’s make stuff and share it. Learn and connect. Tap into the power of craft and creativity to bring us together.

In the spirit of helping each other, an education fund is being created for Kathreen’s children. Follow along at WhipUp.net for more details.

We thank Kathreen for her important contributions to the publishing and craft community. I will remember her for her easy-going attitude, collaborative spirit, and sharp creative vision.

Laura Lee Mattingly
Editor, Lifestyle

I love a DIY project. That’s why I’m so excited about Put Your Stamp On It, the new book from author Meagan Lewis.

In addition to providing all the information you need to learn how to carve your very own handmade rubber stamps, this book is filled with fun, step-by-step project ideas for creating hand-stamped gift wrap, tea towels, totes, aprons, and even hair accessories. One of my favorites is the charming pencil-printed bow tie hair clip, and we’re sharing the project instructions from the book right here today!

Pencil-Printed Bow Tie Hair Clip

Materials
Craft knife
Pencil with a new eraser
Fabric paint
Paper plate
Sponge dauber
Fabric, solid color, at least 6 x 10 in/15 x 25.5 cm
Fabric scissors
Hot glue
Hair clip

Step 1: With the flat edge of the craft knife (not the point), carefully slice a groove about halfway into the eraser. Make about three grooves into the eraser on the pencil for a striped design.

Step 2: Pour a small amount of fabric paint onto the paper plate. Sponge the paint into an even consistency with the dauber. You want the paint to be smoothed out so you can dip the pencil into the paint without paint getting into the grooves cut into the eraser and then bleeding onto the fabric.

Step 3: When you have an even consistency of paint, dab the eraser into the paint and then onto the fabric. Be random with the printing and have fun. Be sure to re-ink the eraser before each print. Let the fabric dry completely before moving onto the next step.

Step 4: Trim fabric into two pieces: 8 x 6 in/20 x 15 cm, and 1½ x 6 in/4 x 15 cm.

Step 5: Fold the smaller fabric piece into thirds lengthwise and secure with two small dots of glue. It’s okay if it does not lay completely flat.

Step 6: Flip the larger piece of fabric over so the unprinted side is face up. Fold the long ends into the center, then the short ends into the center.

Step 7: With your fingers positioned at the top and bottom of the folds, scrunch the fabric together and pick it up, holding the folds in place. You can now see the bow coming together.

Step 8: Take the long folded strip and wrap it around the center of the bow tie. The piece will be much longer than you need. Wrap one side of the strip inward toward the center of the bow.

Step 9: Slide hair clip onto the other extended side of the strip and glue it into place so that the clip is fastened to the center back of the bow.

Step 10: Finish the bow by trimming the strip down to about 1⁄2 in/12.5 mm from the center, then folding it under and gluing it into place. You want to make sure that the strip covers the hair clip and is hidden from the front view of the bow. Once the hot glue dries, your bow is ready to be worn!

Are you ready to Put Your Stamp On It? Leave a comment for a chance to win a signed copy of the book, plus an amazing Put Your Stamp On It starter kit, complete with a stamp, ink pad, materials to put your stamp on and more! We’ll randomly select a winner on Thursday, May 16.

Purchase Put Your Stamp On It: 20 Adorable Projects Plus Instructions for Hand-Carving Beautiful Stamps.

This week’s guest blogger is Jessica Okui, the wonderful author of Party Origami.

Can you remember the first origami piece you folded? I can, it was a paper toy cootie catcher also known as a fortune teller. In elementary school, someone brought one to school and of course I just had to have one. I told my mom about it and kept my fingers crossed that she could recreate it. She got out a piece of paper and started to manipulate it with folds. I can remember feeling impatient with her that she wasn’t making it quickly enough. After a total of probably five minutes (felt like hours), she figured out how to fold it. That was the day I learned how to fold my first origami piece.

After folding that first cootie catcher, I caught the origami bug. I began making origami notes for friends. At camp I made some paper balloons as a decoration for my camp leader’s birthday. Even as an adult, origami would seep into my everyday life. For my wedding I folded heart place card holders for the reception.

Now I make origami pieces for my children. A couple years back I made my daughter origami heart valentines to give to her friends. That valentine ended up being one of the first projects that was approved for Party Origami. But instead of valentines, you’ll see how the hearts can be used as party favors in the book. That’s what Party Origami is about, incorporating creativity and origami into everyday life whether it’s a birthday party or a casual get together with friends.

Since I’ve been talking about cootie catchers, I thought I would share how to fold one. But instead of using it as a childhood game, I’m showing how it can double as a snack container.

Cootie Catcher Folding Directions

1. Fold paper in half on dotted lines. Unfold paper.

2. Fold outside corners to the center of the paper.

3. Your paper will now look like Fig. 3. Turn paper over.

4. Fold outer right corner to the center of the paper.

5. Continue to do this for the remaining three corners.

6. Your paper should now look like Fig. 6.

7. Fold paper in half in direction of arrow.

8. Open up the corners where you see the arrows on each side of the paper.

9. Once shaped, your paper should look like Fig. 9. To use as a snack bowl, turn the origami piece upside down.

Purchase Party Origami: Paper and Instructions for 14 Party Decorations.

Of course I was excited to illustrate Parenthood Listography. Published April 2013, the journal is 8th in the esteemed Listography series, each authored by Lisa Nola and published by Chronicle Books.

As an illustrator, I was eager to work through a large quantity of illustrations—69! Lisa’s text suggested very unique situations and things; determining how to represent each visually while maintaining consistency throughout the book was a welcome challenge. Each drawing informed the next: from subject and composition to line quality and color. Ultimately, we all wanted drawings that were whimsical and fun, at times poignant. After all, many of the best parenting moments are exactly that.

A list of character traits or features most like a relative: Aunt Bea’s fearlessness.

A list of things you gave us: When we dressed you as Andy Warhol for guests.

A list of TV shows and characters you loved: Gary from SpongeBob SquarePants.

A list of your talents: Knitting.

I didn’t look far for inspiration. As the father of two boys (ages 5 and 6 at the time), our home in San Francisco is littered with so many of the things you’ll find in this book. That “first potty” (page 132) was ours. As were the stuffed animals (pages 32 and 60), doll (page 102), xylophone (page 112), and socks (page 108). (Kids, a late apology from dad for unpairing them, throwing them to the floor and leaving them there for days. But I let you wear Crocs to school! I know, sorry, it was raining.) The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe (page 48) and Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree (page 96) grace our bookshelves. The Lego house (page 78) didn’t last long; the blocks were quickly repurposed as a series of fighter planes (piloted by ninjas). Even our cat, Louie, made appearances (pages 114 and 116).

A list of things you pretended to do and to be: A teacher for your stuffed animals.

A list of things you destroyed: Your dolls.

A list of chores you had to do: Match all of the socks after laundry.

A list of books and movies you should experience: The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe.

A list of your favorite children’s books: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.

A list of your friends (real and imaginary) over the years: Jose, who lives in the Lego house you made.

A list of things you gave us: A homemade pet rock family.

We aren’t short on experience either. Our now seven-year-old would be proud to tell you he’s lost 7 teeth—none yet from an accident, but it is only a matter of time (page 74). And, as I cut their hair myself, I’m not sure their bangs have ever actually been straight (page 50). We’ve said goodbye to our share of pet fish (page 90) and I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen Bedknobs and Broomsticks (page 94). It was the first movie my British-born mother ever took me to see and a likely source of inspiration for the mash-up of illustration and photography I often make today. And I don’t need to tell you what happens at dinner when the peas roll too close to the ravioli (page 82). x2 if that’s red sauce.

A list of your injuries and accidents: Roller rink tooth loss.

A list of advice for your future: Don’t ever cut your own bangs.

A list of your favorite movies: Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

A list of your little peccadilloes: You liked segregated food.

I count myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to capture and celebrate parenthood in this way. Being a father has been an awesome experience. I’ve gained a new perspective on my own childhood (and the lives of my parents) while creating a family of my own. And suddenly I’m so necessary! Children don’t just want, but need to be fed, burped, changed, loved, taught how to ride a bike, read to, taken to the beach, consoled, celebrated, raced home early for, taken camping, lathered in sun lotion, hugged, bathed, clothed, gotten down for a nap, rocked, deloused, taken to the potty, played with, listened to, protected, supported, emboldened, stimulated, encouraged, respected, challenged… And really, when was the last time you literally introduced someone to the WORLD?

In turn, parents get to learn and be loved; be both exhausted and rewarded (in amounts heretofore unknown); and enjoy a life that is so much bigger than it was before.

To PARENTHOOD!

Kyle Pierce / Illustrator

Purchase: Parenthood Listography: My Kid in Lists.

At long last, plants you can’t kill! Port-a-Plant is a flat pack of punch-out paper plants you can build in minutes to create your own tabletop garden. To celebrate its release, I had a chat with the man behind the paper—Ben Laramie, our in-house industrial designer.

Port-a-Plant punch-out sheets

AW: By the time you worked on Port-a-Plant, you had already designed other paper construction products, like Port-a-Pug and Port-a-Menorah. How did those projects inform the design of this one?

BL: My previous involvement/experience designing other paper-punch-out things greatly informed the development of this one. By now I’ve become reasonably familiar with the possibilities/limitations of different kinds of paper and board, different construction and connection methods, packaging solutions, and, hopefully, a balance of complexity/simplicity when it comes to the assembly process. Those previous projects, each having their own very specific challenges, helped me start this project from a kind of informed place.

Ben’s original prototypes

AW: At our second meeting, you had the basic construction down—the cardboard stems that slot together in an x-shape and create the structure, the paper leaves, the wraparound pots. How did you get to that point? Were there other construction ideas you tried that didn’t pan out?

BL: That prototype I made for that second meeting was actually the first (and, as it [rarely] happens last) basic version of the original interpretation of the brief from meeting number one—from then on it was mostly minor tweaks. The wraparound pots are a [simplified] direct relative of the decorative crowns we did for Princess Cupcakes (and also Fortune Cupcakes). The leaf and stem concept are descendent from a freelance project I did awhile ago for a Dwell magazine feature on modern planters where I was asked to make dozens of paper flora to fill the collection of pots. So I guess I had already established a kind of vocabulary for making stylized paper plants and applied all those experiences to this new brief—arriving rather quickly at the essential construction.

spread from Dwell magazine

AW: One of my favorite things about Port-a-Plant is that it packs flat. Why was that important and how did it influence the design?

BL: The flat-pack aspect of this kind of thing is extremely important—mostly for practical packaging reasons. Paper is at once an incredibly durable material (think of a sheaf of standard printer paper, which you can easily stand on) and also very prone to crushing or tearing (think of all those crumpled first-drafts of things). When making things out of paper—things that need to be shipped all over the place—the first goal is to keep it safe. One of the best ways I know is to keep things flat like that sheaf of printer paper or like a deck of cards. Then, with everything flat and trim, you can make a simple envelope for the contents as opposed to more elaborate and unnecessary packaging if, for example, we wanted to have things pre-assembled (imagine trying to package playing cards as a house-of-cards rather than a deck—not to mention the importance we place on the experience of user-assembled things).

AW: We had to go back and forth with the printer a few rounds before their mock-ups were right. What was the biggest challenge in getting the output you wanted?

BL: The biggest challenge was the connection/assembly method between the leaves and stems. Since I handmade the first prototype I was able to make tiny wedge-shaped cuts in the stems which made inserting the paper leaves very easy and secure. Once in production—where die-cutting is employed (basically a steel ribbon with a knife edge is laid out in an exact pattern and slammed into the paper stock)—those wedge shaped cuts were impossible to make. The best we could do is a straight cut, which meant that the thickness of the cut had to match the thickness of the paper stock we were using for the leaves. Figuring out the right combination of blade thickness and paper thickness took several attempts.

a packaging die in its intermediate stage

AW: Many of the products you work on at Chronicle involve paper engineering. Do you get many paper cuts? What are some of the challenges inherent in working with paper?

BL: I’ve cut myself so often (with a knife though, not so much paper) that not only can I remember the way it hurts, but I can call to mind the sensation so vividly that when I do my instinct is to go to immediately to the first-aid kit. Thankfully though I got the majority of those injuries when I was still in school—the worst of which was only three weeks into my freshmen year and I was sent by my RA, along with another cut-fingered freshman (same exact finger, left pointer—mine’s still scarred) to the emergency room where we both eventually received some skin-glue instead of stitches since we had been waiting for about four hours with our fingers wrapped in paper towels and kept above heart-level before being looked at—and so I think I’ve learned since how to be more careful. Thankfully I’ve only gotten a few very minor cuts since working here.

The non-physically-painful challenges working with paper are things like not having the exact paper stock that will be used in final production, which can have a pretty significant effect on whether or not we can determine whether the idea will actually work. There are some types of board that are so difficult to cut through that it takes many multiple blade changes just to make one cut. Sometimes individual pieces are so small that they are really easy to lose. Simple things like that make working with paper a constant challenge.

AW: Pugs, menorahs, plants . . . what else would you like to make out of paper?

BL: For better or worse I’ve come to believe that if you allow for enough abstraction, anything can be made out of paper. So it’s a difficult question for me to answer. Since Port-a-Plant I’ve been working on a punch-out paper chess set that I’m particularly excited about, disposable cake stands, hanging ornaments, iconic cartoon characters, trophies, and most recently a water-tight paper vase for real plants and flowers. So, there seems to be a lot of room for growth (pun willfully intended).

Allison Weiner
Designer