Making Books with Kids: 25 Paper Projects to Fold, Sew, Paste, Pop, and Draw

Esther K. Smith

Feb 2016 · Quarto Publishing Group USA

About this ebook

This illustrated guide features twenty-five projects to share with crafty kids who love to read—with simple techniques for book binding, pop-up books and more!

In Making Books with Kids, master book artist Esther K.¬†Smith shares kid-friendly, easy-to-follow instructions for a variety of fun and creative bookmaking projects—all supported with step-by-step, full-color photographs and illustrations. Each sequence is accompanied by finished samples and variations as well as Smith's own inspiring work.

Full of paper crafting techniques, including sewing, collage, pop-up assemblage and more, the lessons in this book are both practical and open-ended, offering plenty of room for exploration and variation. Colorful photos illustrate how different people using the same lesson will yield different results, exemplifying the way the lesson brings out each artist's personal style. Children of all ages and experience levels can be guided by adults and will enjoy these engaging exercises.

About the author

Esther K. Smith creates artists' books and limited editions at Purgatory Pie Press, collaborating with hand-typographer Dikko Faust and other artists and writers. Her work has been exhibited at such prestigious venues as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), and is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Tate Gallery (London), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), and the Whitney Museum. Esther teaches throughout the United States, Canada, and England, taught Artist Books to adults at Cooper Union for more than fifteen years, and has been a visiting artist working with children at the Museum of Arts and Design and the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Esther is also the author of two books on book arts, How to Make Books (2007)and Magic Books & Paper Toys (2008), and contributed a foreword to Little Book of Book Making by Charlotte Rivers (August 2014), all published by Potter Craft/Random House. An active promoter who supports her titles with hands-on workshops, Esther is a fixture at the Brooklyn Book Festival (typically held in September), and has children's events scheduled at the independent bookstores WORD in Jersey City, New Jersey, and McNally Jackson Books in New York City.