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oa-d Digest Volume 00 : Issue 4
Today's Topics:
[OA] BIG NEWS! from Gallery 91 Paper [ KSelena@aol.com ]
[OA] Japanese Punch Tool Info [ KSelena@aol.com ]
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 14:53:22 EST
From: KSelena@aol.com
To: oa@evermore.com
CC: ndavid@istar.ca (N. David Martin), caro@amc.com.ar (Marivi),
miyanoyuko@hawaii.rr.com (Lois Miyashiro),
u981145@studbo.hit.no (Alexandra Husdal), Kalaninui@aol.com,
Moze604376@aol.com, BAUDBUI@aol.com
Subject: [OA] BIG NEWS! from Gallery 91 Paper Show
Message-ID: <46.271294d.25f6b832@aol.com>
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Note: If you get this e-mail 2x, please delete one. I thought you'd be
interested in this latest news, and not being 100% sure if you're on the OA
MailList, I sent a copy to your e-mail too. If you're not on the list,
please join! go to http://evermore.com/oa. Previous postings are in the Evermore OA Archive. My posting to the
MailList dated 2/21/00, subj: FYI -- Exhibit Including Some MC Cards in NYC
is there if you'd like to read it. FYI, information about the Gallery 91
Paper Show can be found at: http://www.gallery91.com/2000paper.html .
Hi OA fans!
I attended the Paper Show at Gallery 91 in NYC and it was OA heaven!
Although the gallery is small and many different paper items were on display,
there were enough OA models to make this visit definitely worthwhile. The
display included some handmade cards, a number of the die-cut commercial
cards, and around 20 cards from Prof. Masahiro Chatani's personal collection
with autographs from famous architects. I was really pleasantly surprised by
this exhibit. For one thing, there were more OA cards on display than I
expected. I only had time to do a general overview, so I'll be returning
sometime this week before the show ends on Saturday, March 11. For another,
there were a number of OA designs I hadn't seen before. I own almost every
MC/KN book and I thought I knew just about every design that's been
published. I was expecting to browse among cards I already knew, so it was
really wonderful to see these different cards.
Ok, first the scoop on what was at the show, then the BIG NEWS. If you
want to skip the info about the Paper Show, just scroll down to the BIG
SURPRISE part.
Almost all of the mass-produced commercial Chatani cards I've ever come
across were on display. Usually, Gallery 91 carries maybe 6 to 8 of his
cards, but for the show, they had (I think) around 18 to 20+ of these cards.
Maybe they had the entire line, I'm not sure. Some of the cards were
available for sale, and some were display only. As I mentioned, there were
cards I didn't recognize, some of which had a deep aqua background printed on
the cards around the OA. This is the same effect as when you glue colored
paper on top of the OA, with the outline of the OA design cut out.
Also on display was one of MC's 180º string globe models. It was
definitely hands-on and you could see that it had been handled many times as
the white cardstock was quite grubby. Oh! -- it just strikes me that I
didn't pay enough attention to this cardstock. I vaguely recall it being
sort of a watercolor paper, but it could have been that elusive Kent paper
that we've all heard about but no one's ever found. Well, I'll have to pay
closer attention on the next visit. I'm not sure if Prof. Chatani made the
card himself or if it was one of his assistants, but whoever it was, they are
a MASTER at attaching the strings -- I looked VERY carefully and just could
NOT see how the string was attached to the model. I have a suspicion that it
may have been looped over a slotted area and hidden by the intersected
section, but I'm not sure.
Further along the wall were around 8 to 10 of Keiko Nakazawa's die-cut
commercial cards. A few of her Buddha cards were there -- those of you who
have "Tour of Nara" or Paul Jackson's "The Pop-Up Book" would recognize these
cards (p. 154 in PJ's book). The backgrounds on several of KN's cards were
also color printed to look as if they had an overlay of colored paper. Some
of the cards also had beautiful Chinese calligraphy printed on them, which
makes them attractive as ready-made cards for us OA'ers since most of us
probably can't reproduce that at home. Also on display was a commercially
produced Dragon card with gold foil backing. This is from KN's "OA Cards for
All Seasons" book, but I think most of her other cards were from the "Tour of
Nara" book.
I was very happy to finally see some commercial KN cards. I'd seen some
of MC's die-cut cards before and own a couple of them, but I'd only seen KN's
cards in photos before. I didn't have the time to look very carefully, but I
think that with her designs being of a different style, there's less chance
of the cards having creases in the wrong places and problems with the folds.
This happens with too many of the mass-produced MC cards, especially those
with the multiple thin strips next to each other; when you buy his cards, you
need to be a little careful to pick out one in mint condition.
The next fun part of the Paper Show was seeing MC's personal collection
of autographed cards. There were about 20 cards protected under an acrylic
display case (the other cards were out in the open on regular shelves). You
can see signatures of famous architects such as James Stirling. Besides the
architects' signatures, there was also correspondence from U.S. presidents --
Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. One little anecdote: there was an OA of the
White House in the case and I was particularly drawn to this OA because it
looked as though MC had sent it to the President with a gold embossed
Presidential Seal on the bottom part of the card. I kept staring at this
card, wondering how MC had been able to put that on his card -- it looked so
professionally printed. I was also trying to figure out how I could do that
on MY cards. THEN, I realized that the gold embossed Seal was NOT on the
CARD, but on the NOTE from the President which was laying over the card. Ms.
Ebihara had laid the white presidential stationery on top of the white card
and they had blended together for a sort of trompe l'oeil effect!
You can view a photo of the show at http://www.gallery91.com/2000paper.html .
Unfortunately, you can't see any details, but you can get a
general idea of what the show is like. This photo shows almost all of the
gallery (as I said, it's a small space), and you are facing the entrance.
Along the wall on the left, just below the row of hanging calendars, are the
OA cards. KN's cards are the cluster in the lower left corner of the photo
(you'll see a bit of purple, blue, & green from her cards). MC's cards are
the white cards that go back further along that wall. Towards the center of
the photo, you'll see a patch of blue and white, this is the display case
which holds MC's personal collection. Overall, I'd guess that there were
about 50 OA pieces on display.
Ms. Ebihara was in the store when I was there and she was gracious enough
to spend a few minutes chatting with me. I asked her if she knew why MC/KN
had not published any books since 1995 and she said that MC was very busy in
China for a year working on Chinese architecture. I don't know why KN
didn't publish anything on her own during that time and I'm quite curious
about that. Ms. Ebihara also mentioned that Prof. Chatani's daughter is now
involved in the OA card business, not as a designer, but in managing the
business, so maybe we'll see more commercial OA cards in the future.
OK, now we get to the BIG SURPRISE: why didn't I recognize many of the
cards on display? Because they're NEW designs from a NEW BOOK! Yes! After
4 to 5 years of no new OA books (at least to my knowledge), Prof. Chatani has
just published a new OA book! How about that, OA fans? And it's a winner in
my opinion.
The book is called, OA Goes World-Famous Buildings, ISBN 4-395-27046-8.
As you may guess from the title, this book is similar to his "OA Goes Modern
Building Masterpieces" in that it is almost all buildings. The book was
published just this past December 1999 by Shokokusha. Another surprise is
that MC has a new co-author for this book, Takaaki Kihara, who according to
the info in the book, has a background in architectural construction and met
MC about 8 years ago at a program in Tokyo where MC was teaching how to make
OA. Have any of you heard of Takaaki Kihara before?
Kihara's designs feature an interesting new twist on the 180º cards.
Instead of using a separate sheet to cut out the OA part, he designs the
pattern so that the OA is cut directly from the base of the card and lifted
(i.e., folded) up in place. So on the finished card, you see the cutout
area, which seems kind of strange, but adds an interesting design element to
the card. Kihara's patterns also utilize new threading arrangements which
look very complicated and confusing to me, but that may clear up after I make
one of these cards.
There are 66 patterns in this book, and as far as I can tell, 60 are new
and 6 are repeats from other books, these include the White House, National
Air & Space Museum, Sagrada Familia, and the Sydney Opera House (a pattern MC
published in his first book). Some of my favorites among the new designs
are: St. Giorgio Maggiore Cathedral, Fish Dance Restaurant, Shonandai
Cultural Center Corridor Roof, and Kihara's new 180º cutout version of the
Sydney Opera House (I hate to sound disloyal, but I have to admit that TK's
version is more graceful and lovelier than MC's version; it's almost
lyrical).
About 53 of the patterns seem to be by MC, 9 are by Kihara, and there are
4 credited to other people (also new names). Fish Dance Restaurant is by one
of these new designers and it's very interesting. It's a sort of
globe/trellis string structure, but in the shape of a fish arcing into the
air -- sort of like a "J" shape with the thick head part at the top and a
tail shape at the small curved end. It's quite amazing to see some simple
interlocking disks of paper form such a remarkable representation of a
"dancing fish."
Another OA which will be of much interest to MC fans is "The Bible
House" -- this Tokyo building was designed by MC & Toshiaki Nakazawa --
could this be KN's husband? Overall, there are many Japanese buildings in
this book, a small series of them appear to have been made as holiday
greeting cards for an architectural company called "Nikken Sekkai."
There are also some new and useful tips in this book. One is where they
tell you to cut the eye of a sewing needle to make a sort of tiny prong, sand
it down smooth, then -- and this is the ABSOLUTELY ingenious part -- replace
the lead of a mechanical pencil with the needle and you have yourself a
threading tool for getting the string through the pinhole on the card base.
When I read that, I had a "why didn't I think of that!" moment. Not that
I've been searching for a threading tool, but I HAVE been searching for a
better needle tool to do the creases and if I'd just thought of putting a
needle into a mechanical pencil ... oh, the beautiful simplicity of this idea!
They also finally mention -- for the first time, I think -- not using a
washi hinge on the central fold line for the 180º's, but just a crease or
half-cut. I can't remember if my friend Gerry Stormer told me about this or
if we came up with it independently, but we've both been using the half-cut
technique for a long time and have been waiting for MC to mention it. I can
report zero problems with this technique and I don't know why he didn't
mention it sooner. Actually, I use this half-cut technique to replace the
washi hinges on more than the central fold and it works fine.
Another useful item in this book is the photo of the advanced OAer's
tools at the end. There's a good photo of a punch tool with changeable heads
for punching out little circles starting from 1mm diameter. It's shaped like
a thick stylus and has six different size circle tips in the set. I've been
looking for such a tool and I'm very glad to have this photo so I can take it
to Japanese stationery stores and see if they can help me get one. If anyone
knows of a source for such a tool, would you please let me know or post to
the MailList?
Gallery 91 is selling this new book for $28 USD. I was lucky enough to
get the very last book Gallery 91 had for sale, but I think they're ordering
more. The book is in Japanese with English translations, but I don't think
it's being sold in the U.S. yet. I've called Barnes & Nobles & searched
online at bn.com, amazon.com, sasugabooks.com, & kinokuniya.com and it's not
listed on any of them. I've just e-mailed Sasuga and Kinokuniya to see if
they can get it. I'll keep you posted when I receive an answer. If you
can't find it and you want me to get it for you at Gallery 91, let me know
and I'll see what I can do. You'll have to be patient, as I have no idea
when they'll get more books. Also, if anyone on the list finds a source for
these books, please be sure to share that info with the rest of the List,
thanks.
Well, that's the report on my first MC OA show. I had a great day,
angels in the heavens were smiling down on me -- great weather, I got into
New York City in record time, no traffic jams, and I even found a good
parking spot -- that's a small miracle in the City! I'm really looking
forward to seeing the show again with a camera and a notebook in my hand. If
I get some good photos, I'll post them where you can see them.
Best regards,
K. Selena Kim
Bridgewater, NJ USA
http://members.aol.c
om/kselena/OA/oamainpg.html
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 01:50:32 EST
From: KSelena@aol.com
To: oa@evermore.com
Subject: [OA] Japanese Punch Tool Info
Message-ID: <99.2400716.25fb46b8@aol.com>
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Thanks to Barbara Valenta, a fellow subscriber of this MailList, I was able
to locate a Japanese punch at Talas -- which is a well-known bookbinding
supplier in New York City . It looked very similiar, if not identical, to
the one pictured in the new Chatani book and had 7 tips, from maybe 0.5mm to
maybe 3-4mm. Unfortunately, it wasn't cheap, priced at $62.50. I was able
to try it out and it's got an interesting mechanism, you push down on the top
of the tool and it rotates internally to make the circular punch on your
cardstock -- sort of like some old toy tops you pushed down on to make spin.
It also returns the cutout dot through an internal "flue," so you don't have
to dig out little dots of paper to clear the tip. The hole it makes is nice
and clean, and the "lip" it produces on the reverse side is not too
pronounced.
However, this punch isn't good for cutting little arcs -- which I believe are
part of some flower patterns I've seen. The rotating mechanism does not
allow you to tip the tool at an angle in order to cut just a partial circle;
well you can, but you end up with a messy half circle.
Paper artist, Béatrice Coron, once showed me some simple pen-shaped point
cutters she had special ordered from Japan via a website. They also cut out
tiny holes, but don't have any moving parts, you hold the cutter like a pen
and apply pressure, pressing a little hard as if you're using a ball point
pen on a triplicate form. I think it produced a "lip" that was a little
more pronounced, although that may have been because I tested it on a heavier
cardstock than the paper I tested the Japanese punch tool on today. I think
these point cutters do allow you to tip the tool at an angle and make arcs,
although my memory is a little fuzzy. They were around $15 USD each, but the
tips are not changeable, so you have to buy a different cutter to cut a
different sized hole. I guess if you want 7 different sized tips, it would
be cheaper to go with the Japanese punch -- but you wouldn't be able to do
the arcs.
As I was leaving Talas, I happened to notice some cutters similiar to
Béatrice's tools, there was a set made up of a stylus and some 6 or 7 tips,
priced at $20-something -- I think for the set, although I guess it could
have been per stylus & tip. It looked like they were made of either some
kind of metal or black plastic. I can't imagine it's plastic, but $20 sounds
cheap if it's for the set. Well, maybe if the Japanese punch tool didn't
rotate, it wouldn't be $60 either. From what I could gather from a fairly
quick look, it looked like the tips were of comparable sizes, going from
maybe 0.5mm or 1mm and up. I had to run out of there to get to Gallery 91
before they closed, so I will have to check this out further next time I have
a chance to get back into NYC during Talas' business hours (which are Monday
- Friday 9:00AM to 5:30PM, which makes it difficult, so I don't know when it
will be).
If that $20 set looks good, I intend to buy it and test it out, and I'll
report again if it's any good. If you would be interested in having me get
it for you and send it to you, let me know. Maybe if I tell him we intend to
buy several sets, we might get an even better price?
Regards,
Selena Kim
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