Included among the books I brought out for last month's Handmade Crafternoon was one that I've been slow to return to the shelves because I want to try my hand at so many projects within it. The book in question is Kenneth Ody's Paper Folding and Paper Sculpture, and I'm a fan because it contains a really broad range of projects--from cute little projects like dog scuptures to some seriously elegant lacy paper globes.

I've tried just one project so far, a goldfish that gets its three-dimentional structure through a simple woven tail that helps to form the fish's cupped body.  Here's how Ody explains how to make the fish:

I'm impressed with the simplicity of execution and the means of creating a paper sculpture without the use of adhesives.  I always enjoy finding unexpected inspiration (like this fish pattern) in the stacks when preparing book offerings for each month's Handmade Crafternoon.  I hope that you enjoy browsing through the books too--if you ever have questions about them just let me know.  At March 20th's Handmade Crafternoon I will have ready a spread of books all about handsewn toys and puppets, so do keep an eye out here for more details about the event later this week.