Littlefly Literary Jewels

Jewelry fashioned from books never fails to attract attention.

True, that attention is occasionally not of the most flattering type, as some believe cutting apart a still-readable book is a sacrilege.

For those who are fine with the idea of bringing new life to an old tome though, enjoy a look at these handsome art objects made by UK paper artist, Jeremy May of Littlefly Literary Jewels.

Jeremy cuts hundreds of pages from the core of well-read books and laminates them, creating one-of-a-kind rings, necklace pendants, earrings, and bracelets.

Each piece is given a high gloss coating as the finishing touch before it is delivered inside the book... actually within the same cavity from which it originated.

I find it intriguing that text - albeit blurry - is visible in some of the pieces.

Jeremy accepts custom orders... send him a favorite book and he will turn it into an eye-catching/conversation-starter piece of jewelry.

Thanks to Joel Ng, @jocundist, for introducing me to Littlefly Literary Jewels via one of his always interesting tweets.

If you'd like to see more of Jeremy's work, there are many additional pieces in the Littlefly Literary Jewels galleries.

By the way, giveaway winners of the Wizard of Oz iPad app were selected on Friday by the random number generator at mathgoodies.com. Congrats to lizardek and komnatachista, the delighted winners!

And for those of you who are interested in quilling, a blog hop was launched this past weekend. It starts at The Sweet Spot, takes you all around the world, and huzzah!... there are a few giveaways along the way.

Paper Cutting - Gail McCormick

I came across the work of Gail McCormick, aka @scissorsfiend, via Twitter. She recently graduated from college in Michigan where she studied ecology, evolutionary biology, and theatre arts. Gail plans to pursue ecology as a grad student... if she doesn't get sidetracked by an art career, that is.


She is immensely interested in paper cutting - all types of paper art really, and has only fairly recently accepted the notion that she has artistic talent. Oh yes, I'd say so.

Batman - scissor cut card

Gail began making collage-like birthday cards while in college and was hooked. This led to more complex designs...


She has made many paper cut mandalas which she enjoys because they're composed of only two colors. This means she can work on a piece for short periods of time and then set it aside without getting mixed up about the layering, as compared to her multi-layered, photo-based cuts such as the portrait of Woman, above. Gail calls her mandalas "exercises in dexterity" as the knife cuts are exceedingly small.


She admits her unique paper cutting style has been influenced by her mother's quilting. Happily this works both ways, as her mother, Ruth McCormick, made this award-winning quilt (below) based on Gail's paper cut elephant. Very nice!


Gail enjoys doing photo-based cuts, but these take a great deal of focus and stamina. Although the cuts are not as intricate as mandalas, the trade-off is that it's difficult to plan out the colored layers and to keep them straight in her mind, especially if interrupted.

For this reason Gail prefers to do them in one sitting... eek, anywhere from several to eleven hours.

I think it's pretty incredible Gail can capture so much expression by layering cut pieces of paper. Keep in mind these photo-cuts are not as large as they appear here... in most cases just 5 x 7 inches or even 4 x 6 inches!

Gail also has a flair for animals and birds... such a sense of movement.

You'll find lots more paper cuts at Gail's website Gallery.

Just a reminder, the Wizard of Oz iPad app giveaway ends tonight!

Wizard of Oz iPad App / Giveaway!

Jackie Huang is a university grad student who is studying illustration and enjoys paper sculpture, paper cutting, and classic children's books. Recently she brought all of these interests together in a very clever way... as an iPad app. More about that in a moment, as first I'd like to show you a few of Jackie's other paper projects.


She likes to quill too! Here's a fairy tale scene... check out Rapunzel's long hair.


A lovely graphic Jackie designed as her website logo... she also made a quilled version - not easy to do!


Now, about that new iPad app...

Jackie's latest semester project synched her illustration and paper talents with the very latest in technology. She and two contemporaries teamed up to create what must be the first of its kind... a Wizard of Oz iPad app featuring interactive paper art.


On every one of the colorful Oz-related pages, a child will be able to enjoy a variety of activities.


From the website: ...interactions have a cause-and-effect action, creating a sense of discovery and strengthening problem-solving skills. For instance, tossing water on the witch causes her to melt, and oiling the Tin Woodman’s joints frees him from rust. These unique interactions make the audience an active part of the storytelling, while delightful animations and sound effects fully enhance the immersive experience.


Because I have two young nephews who are just the right ages to enjoy the story, I was very interested to see the paper art version on my iPad. Thanks to Jackie for giving me the opportunity to preview the app.

Here's a sneak peek:



The Wizard of Oz app is available from iTunes for $5.99, but two lucky readers will each receive a free app... just leave a comment to enter. The winners will be chosen by a random number generator at the end of this Thursday, January 27th. A code and instructions to download the app will be emailed. If you don't have an iPad personally, but know someone who would enjoy the app, you'll be able to forward the details to them.

Last but not least, here's something very timely that caught my eye on Facebook. Amna Al Fardh of the United Arab Emirates created the Wizard of Oz characters in fabulous rolled paper detail! You can see many more photos of Amna's ingenious quilling on her website, Mannayah.

Quilled Marriage Certificate

calligraphy: Living Letters Studio

Earlier this week I mentioned having had the pleasure of creating a marriage certificate for a Virginia couple. Kristyn, the bride-to-be, contacted me several months before the wedding. We worked closely to obtain exactly the look she had in mind.

image: Jeff Greenough Photographers

Kristyn told me she has always loved chandeliers and that their invitation would feature one... she asked if I could quill a chandelier as part of the design. By coincidence, I'd been thinking it would be fun to quill an ornate light fixture someday, but until this opportunity came along, thoughts were as far as it had gone.

invitation: Kristy Rice of Momental Designs

Using the invitation's graphic as inspiration, I enjoyed creating a chandelier in ivory, pearlized silver, and silver-edged ivory, and placed it top and center on the certificate.


For the remainder of the design, Kristyn liked the idea of graceful scrolls to complement the chandelier's structure. I positioned large S scrolls at the sides of the hand-calligraphed wedding vows, and embellished each with smaller scrolls and leaves.


The wedding's elegant color palette was ivory, grey, lamb's ear green, and silver... all of these were used in the design.


For those of you who love to quill, read on about a new tool (to me, at least) that helped a great deal in the making of this project.

As much as I enjoy creating large designs and doing the actual quilling, when it comes time to glue the coils to a surface... well, let's just say placement is key and it can make for a pretty challenging situation.


Because I do the final gluing on marriage certificates after the vows have been lettered, everything has to be in perfect position from the start. There are no do-overs without extra expense and inconvenience.


In the past I've measured, measured, and measured again, dotting the certificate with nearly invisible pencil marks that are later erased, but this time I tried what turned out to be a fabulous device - a laser level. Ordinarily one is used as a guide when hanging art work, but what a huge help it is for a project like this.


The level shot a clear, red line of light across the entire thirty inch width of the piece, which helped ensure that the curves of the large scrolls were identical. Of course a lot of careful measuring was still required, but the level was just like having an extra pair of hands, and unlike a yardstick, did not get in the way.


I enjoyed collaborating with other artists for this wedding... Riva Brown who lettered the marriage certificate so beautifully, and also Jenny Jafek-Jones of The Crimson Poppy, who helped create a floral hair accessory that was exactly what Kristyn had in mind.

image: Jeff Greenough Photographers

If you have found your way here via What Junebug Loves, welcome! I hope you will contact me about quilling a marriage certificate for your wedding.

Bridal Hair Accessory - Paper Flower

Recently I quilled a marriage certificate for a lovely couple in Virginia. Kristyn, the bride-to-be, asked if I would also design a flower with quilled embellishments that she could wear in her hair. It wasn't something I had done before, but there's nothing like the desire to please someone who has confidence in your abilities!


You might remember Jenny Jafek-Jones of The Crimson Poppy, who was featured on All Things Paper last spring. Since Jenny creates beautiful paper flowers and had immediate access to high quality crepe paper, I recommended that Kristyn contact her to make the ivory blossom.

Jeff Greenough Photographers

I then added single and double scrolls in silver and silver-edged ivory quilling paper, and alternate side loop leaves in silver-edged green. The colors coordinated with the couple's marriage certificate.

Jeff Greenough Photographers

Here's Kristyn on her wedding day... I love this picture. There are additional images at the website of photographer, Jeff Greenough. (Go see! I think you'll enjoy them.) If you look closely at the very last one, you can catch a glimpse of an easel holding the certificate... more about it later in the week.

Anatomical Quilling - Sarah Yakawonis

From fingerprints earlier in the week to human anatomy today... one might wonder if the name of this blog should be changed to CSI: Paper Art!



Sarah Yakawonis is a young graphic designer who has been featuring an intriguing series of quilled work on her blog for several months. I love coming across unusual uses of rolled paper and Sarah's pieces certainly fill the bill. She quills in the same vein (sorry, couldn't resist yet another body part) as Greek artist, Pavlos. Very dense coils define her style.

Sarah has answered questions for us about her quilling, and especially her impetus for this anatomical series.



How did you happen to get started quilling?

I noticed packs of quilling paper at my local art supply store and got a rush of inspiration. Bought a few, and subsequently I bought out the store's small selection of paper! I had never heard of quilling, so I did some research into the techniques and history. It took some time to get good at it, especially figuring out just the right amount of glue to use, but it was really fun learning through playing.

I love the dimensionality of quilling... how it looks different from various angles, and the play of shadows as the daylight changes. I like how the quilling I do lives between 2D and 3D. I'm also into all of the textures that can be achieved. Because I love repetitive tasks, there's a real meditative quality to doing the same task over and over.

What was your motivation for quilling the human body?

I wanted to make quilling that was different than traditional flowers, letterforms, and nature motifs. While I find these subjects enchanting, I felt that designs like that wouldn't hold my interest. I wanted to quill a series that was macabre in juxtaposition to more traditional quilling.



The idea came to me while I was vacationing with my mom on Monhegan Island in Maine (my home state). Monhegan has had an art colony for over a century because of its astounding beauty and seclusion. It's a truly magical place where you can see all of the stars at night and really hear what silence sounds like. It was in this rich atmosphere of creativity that my mom (who is also an artist) and I were having a conversation about my hunt for an unusual subject to quill.

Through the winding course of our conversation, I mentioned the fact that my friend was taking an anatomy class. Like a flash the idea came to me... quilling based on the anatomy of the human body would be so cool! There's a visual correlation between the ribbon-like quality of quilling paper and human muscles that just works in such a nice way.

What will be your next project?

I'm still really interested in anatomical quilling, so I plan to do more organs, and will continue to experiment with life-like color combinations. I'll also keep going with muscle studies... there's so much of the body left to explore!



What is your educational background and are you currently working as an artist?

I have my BFA from the Maine College of Art with a focus in graphic design. I work at Blue Design in Portland, Maine, which is a publication design studio. We make books... I love designing books! I also teach Adobe Illustrator one on one, and have been a guest lecturer at Maine College of Art.

What other artistic mediums do you practice?

I love drawing and tend toward abstract rather than life drawings. I also really love Adobe Illustrator, making both vector drawings and information design.

Thanks for sharing your quillwork and thoughts, Sarah. Best wishes!