The Art of Surprise with Joy Allison

Surprise!! Pages that go Pop!

Many people love surprises that amuse, celebrate or intrigue! Pop-up cards and books are an ideal medium for providing fun, pleasure, the unexpected as well as learning.

When we open the seemingly dormant and flattened page/s of a pop-up card or book, in a moment of touch, structures, shapes and images appear to move, be transformed and occupy space. Magic appears to happen.

Imaginative and interactive elements such as floating layers, tabs, flaps, rivets, folds, cut paper and spinning wheels immerse us in a tactile, kinetic and memorable experience, which often gives the reader a good feeling and leave us questioning ‘Wow, HOW did they do that?!”

The aim of this workshop is to do just that. It provides an opportunity to adventure into learning how to “unpack” various pop-up techniques, as well as creating, designing and modifying mechanisms that add both dimension and produce movement within a two-dimensional format (i.e., book or card).

Your pages will flip, flop and flap!

Let’s have fun making your ideas and images come to life using pop-up elements. The art of surprise is waiting for you!

This workshop is held over three Sundays (2, 16 & 30 October) from 10am-3pm.

Lilac-breasted roller © Joy Allison

We will experiment with various pop-up features, including movements on separate pages/pieces of paper. These may look like cards before they are assembled. When you construct your book format, you have the flexibility to omit, change and rearrange the pages (cards) in the order that you like. Some “pages” may remain as cards and not find themselves in your actual book.

On the last day/session, we will make the book covers to suit the shape and number of your pages. Some people may work on a square format whilst others may prefer the portrait orientation.

It’s important that you come on day one prepared with a theme and collage pieces to work on. These will act as starting points and prompts on your various pages.

You might have a holiday or a journey that you think needs assembling in a creative way, memories that you wish to collate and cherish or something purely imaginative that will unfold. It’s up to you.

The theme is yours! It is important you have images/elements to “play” or experiment with, which are of interest you.

You will need to bring

• Card/card stock – 220 to 300 gsm (A4 or 30 X 30 cm) various types and amounts. They will be used as your base pages, for constructing pop-up mechanisms as well as decorating. You can generally get these at Spotlight and Shiploads.
  • White – approx. 20 sheets. These will be the base and the support for the mechanisms.
  • Plain colours – colours of your choice, may include silver and gold
  • Patterned
  • Printed images

• Collage material – e.g. photographs, maps, small pieces of coloured paper (i.e. offcuts) – visit your stash! These can be focal, interest points or background elements on your pages.

• Book-making materials
  • box-board or mount-board for covers x 2 (each 25 x 20 cm)
  • book cloth (or alternative cloth/paper) for covers (1m x 30cm)
  • bone folder

• Drawing and colouring tools/media
  • sketchbook for planning and experimenting
  • pencils – HB, 2B, 4B
  • eraser
  • sharpener
  • ruler and/or metal ruler
  • compass
  • protractor
  • set square
  • embossing tool (fine)
  • black biro/pen
  • coloured pencils
  • markers – e.g. sharpies
  • small coloured stamp pads – ( e.g. black, navy blue, sepia and colours to go with your papers (Kaisercraft)
  • white gel pen

• Cutting and pasting tools
  • scissors
  • stanley knife and/or stencil knife
  • circle (compass) cutter (Shiploads)
  • cutting board/mat
  • glue – PVA or EVA glue & brushes for gluing
  • glue stick
  • double-sided tape
  • low-tack masking tape (eg. purple painters tape at Bunnings)
  • small split pins (approx. 10)
  • paper clips

• Various other bits
  • plastic sheet to protect table-top
  • small bag for your rubbish
  • hand wipes
  • newspaper or junk mail
  • container for water (to clean glue brushes)

If you are not currently a financial member of Stitching and Beyond, you can join us, pay the small membership fee and then login to purchase your ticket.

Workshop bookings are subject to our refund policy.

Please note: Attendees will be emailed the venue address closer to the workshop.