Gallery Thirteen
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Popsicle Exoskeleton
With Signage
This new design helps the present to avoid being lost in a pile of presents. Your architect friends will be amused, too. The package is wrapped in a scrap of foil paper. Popsicle sticks have then been glued on with hot glue. Black paper triangles, cut from a corporate pocket folder, went on next. A tiny billboard of red foil christmas paper adds counterpoint to the blue foil wrap. Lastly, a white name sign is glued perpendicularly to the package surface.
Contrast: Contrast of papers. Contrast of expected plain package and unexpected superstructure.
Easy: Mid-level degree of difficulty. Popsicle-stick gluing is not that difficult. Improvised design of all elements is a bit more difficult.
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Feather the Ribbon
Wrap Materials are Everywhere
While walking in the park this summer I came upon the aftermath of a woodpecker's bad day. The bird was gone, but I gathered up a substantial pile of feathers, which had remained.
This wrap is a two-paper using brown rough wrap and blue construction paper. I glued on the feather pairs, then ran a small fragment of dull-green ribbon down the center. I finished with three small wooden spheres from my box of random useful things. The label consists of messy, quick handwriting consistent with the rough brown paper.
Contrast: Blue & green vs. orange feathers. Contrast of textures. Simple paper surfaces vs. feathers, spheres and ribbon.
Easy: If you have the materials, this goes together very quickly.
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Dental Wrap
Wrap Materials are Everywhere
While at the dentist I noticed what a delightful purple paper they had placed upon my chest. I asked for a sample, which they gave me along with some dental floss. I used them both. The green ribbon is a scrap of actual ribbon.
Contrast: Contrast of textures. Contrast pain of dentistry and the pleasure of giving.
Easy: very.
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Image Collage
Angles
Magazines and mailers offer a wealth of wrapping paper with delightful image textures. This collage uses a magazine image, a fund-raisers map, and a scrap of seasonal foil paper, along with red and black scraps.
The angled composition places the five pieces in 2 groups: tilted pieces and not-tilted pieces.
Contrast: Contrast of image textures. Foil and flat. Photo and map (image and abstraction.)
Easy: Yes.
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Ribbon Cross
On Shopping Bag
Sometimes a more traditional approach is requisite. This wrap starts with the disassembly of a pewter shopping bag from a major retailer. Then I added a brown-paper band with folded edges. Black ribbon is next, bold on top of the developing low-key palate of colors. I wanted to add some transparent gold ribbon and should have done it first. I passed it twice under the brown band, taping it on the back (for easy recycling). Then I took a small fragment of red wire-edge ribbon, folding it back and forth like ribbon candy, shaping its curves. It is fastened to the black ribbon with a paper clip (again, for easy recycling). Last of all I made the label, a rhomboid of white paper, and hot-glued it at an angle, to cast a shadow and more dimensionality.
Contrast: Ascending levels of color/texture contrast from pewter/gold/brown to red, black, white.
Easy: This is one is pretty easy.
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Image Collage
Simplicity
One magazine image and one marketing flyer image combine with ribbon and black paper to make a unique chord of feeling in low-key color.
Contrast: Nature and factory. Ribbon and photography,
Easy: Yes.
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Bottle Wrap
The Recycler's Gift Box
For the avid recycler, here is a wrap with a smooth shiny modern feel. The white wrap is a facial cream bottle. The clear plastic labels can be completely removed. The bottle has had its neck removed and it has been cut almost in half to make a hinged container. The short ribbon hides the cut. The gold ribbon is stuffed into the neck hole.
Contrast: Smooth plastic, frilly gold ribbon. Contrast of the materials and purpose: everyday product vs. unique gift
Easy: This is one for the avid crafter. The bottle needs a bit of preparation, including the use of cutting devices.
How to: Click here for a page on technique.
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