Look mummy, no glue!

A number of years ago I came across a book. It was about architecture and paper, which attracted my attention. How could complicated  architectural buildings be made from paper?

It turned out to be a wonderfull guide to cutting and folding paper and automagically creating beautiful impressions of the most famous buildings in The Netherlands and Belgium. Here is an example, the first thing I ever made out of paper.

Jachthuis St. Hubertus

These models don't need glue, but the cutting and folding is challenging, especially with all the small windows and different levels. Great about these models is the way the light plays around and through them.
The book has nine models for you, ready to cut out, as well as an introduction on how to craft paper and a desciption of the architectual aspects of the original buildings.


If you want to try it for yourself, the details of the book are
Silakius, I Papierarchitectuur van gebouw tot kaart, 2002 Cantecleer Baarn
ISBN 90213 3138 1
I'm not sure if they are still in print, but you can always contact the author Ingrid Siliakus to buy a copy. They are 25 euro, I was told.

The book is in the Dutch language, though, and you won't really recognize the buildings if you are from abroad. You can ask for an English translation of the Dutch text if you order the book, though, which is nice.

But there is good news! An international book based on the same principle has been published, called The Paper Architect. It descibes 20 world famous buildings, both modern and classical and even better: it has separate pages with the models printed and ready for you to make yourself! Even Gaudi's monumental cathedral Sagrada Familia is in the book in a beautiful impression.

The book is suited for starters and advanced paper cutters. In fact you can regard it as a coursebook that takes you to proficency in a gentle way. The first model can succesfully be made by a 9-year old, but once you finished the final Hagia Sophia, you can consider yourself advanced.

And the models are pieces of art themselves. If you look at the flat print of the model on paper, you can hardly imagine how beautiful the result will be. I like the model of the Hagia Sophia even better than the buidling itself.

More information on the book here and you can order it here or mail one of the authors, Ingrid Siliakus.

Have zen!