Step into the enchanted world of tunnel books

Have you heard of tunnel books? I saw my first tunnel books at The Milwaukee Art Museum recently. Each tunnel book was made from a series of paper layers, tied at their sides.

Then, a light was cast down from above to illuminate the whole scene. There is a lot going on here in these intricately cut layers. There are all sorts of critters and skulls. One skull is even growing like a plant. It's like an enchanted forest, luring this girl in. But you get the idea that it has lured other people in and kept them there.

That photo above is actually the wallpaper on my computer now. You can see a bit of the light above the paper here and the thread/twine holding the papers together:

A second tunnel book showed a more vertical scene.

You can really see the way this is held together in this photo.

You can also see the quality of the paper, which is nice and thick. It would have to be. Imagine how difficult it would be to cut out these details and not mess up with thin paper. I'm sure this was a challenge too, but the high quality paper had to help. If you're interested in the specific paper, I read that the artist used high-quality Japanese Kozo paper on this one.

And as an added bit of trivia, Kozo paper is made from the bark of the Mulberry bush. I just watched a video about the making of Kozo paper, from Mulberry bush to the final product. Wow. What a lot of work. I'd really feel the pressure to cut this paper just right after seeing how much effort goes into making it.

Kozo Paper making:

Back to the tunnel books. Here's the view from above. I read that these can also be lit from below.

The artist is Andrea Dezsö. If you'd like to see more of the artist's tunnel books, here's a link: Andrea Dezsö's Tunnel Books

Tunnel books were pretty popular during Victorian times. According to what I read in the exhibit, this artist likes to work with fairytale themes that are similar to those in the old time tunnel books. What kind of fairytale do you think is being shown here? I'm reminded of Snow White a little because of the forest creatures.

And the skulls make me think of the poison apple:

The first tunnel book I showed you was titled "Enchanted Forest: Girl with Bee" and the second was "Bird and Girl Resting". So if she was going for a theme related to a fairytale we know, I can't guess it from the titles. You might also be interested to know that the first tunnel book wasn't made from Kozo paper, but a paper called Shojoshi. I looked that up too and was surprised to see that it's traditionally used for calligraphy and watercolor painting.

In looking at videos about tunnel books on YouTube, I ran across an awesome tutorial:

It just so happens that I have a wood box/wide frame on hand that I cut for another project years ago! Just yesterday, I was staring at it, hoping that some idea would come to mind for how I could reuse it. No idea came to mind at that time, but who would think that one day later an idea has presented itself? What timing!

So, what do you guys think? Does this look like a fun project? Just think of what you could design around a Halloween theme!

Halloween crafts for any budget and location

Recently, I've been collecting a lot of Halloween craft ideas on Pinterest and storing them on this board: Halloween Craft Inspiration

I decided to share some favorite Pinterest craft finds with all of you, but I wanted to focus on projects that nearly everyone could do. I know that outside of The United States, Halloween merchandise is a little more difficult to find. So I looked for the projects that involve materials that can be found everywhere, things like glass jars, natural materials, and paper. These also turned out to be fairly inexpensive projects. Here are 10 favorites of mine.

This first project comes from Martha Stewart. These spooky silhouettes can be cut out of cardstock from the templates Martha was nice enough to provide on her web site. The silhouettes hover above the candles on wires. Here's a link to the project and Martha's templates: Shocking Silhouettes

This skeletal hand project comes from the Formal Fringe blog and full instructions can be found here. This project requires latex gloves, a permanent marker and little LED candles inside a jar or candle holder.

 If anyone knows the source of the next image, please let me know. The link on Pinterest didn't lead to any instructions. Still, I'd say this project is as simple as spray painting any wine bottles you happen to have. I like the mixture of glossy and matte finishes.

This next project is from Country Living and it's something I've been doing for years. You simply cut masks, horns, hats, etc. out of black construction paper and tape them to the photos you already have in your house! It's simple and adds a mysterious look to what you see every day.

Also from Country Living, are the instructions on how to make these decorative candle holders. Basically, what you're doing is printing a spooky image onto vellum and wrapping it around a glass candle holder.

I found this project on the Page Turners Hollow blog. These Halloween Silhouette Lanterns require a glass jar, some bright paint, and a cut paper silhouette. The blogger who made these jars found her silhouettes on The Graphics Fairy blog. I think they'd look cool with many other shapes too, like the silhouette of a bat or a raven.

These spiderwebs are made from black trash bags! I found this idea on the How About Orange blog. Here's the blog post with detailed instructions: Trash Bag Spider Webs

Here's another spiderweb cutout, this time from black construction paper. This is from the Green Baby Guide blog: Template for spider cutout

These rocks were another Pinterest find with a link that led to nowhere, so I can't give you a source. The type looks so perfect that I wouldn't be surprised if there are scrapbooking letters Mod Podged onto the rocks. I collected quite a few rocks this year by the lake, and I plan to paint them for Halloween. I'll probably do more spooky faces than type, but I really like the look of these!

This last project is super simple and I think it could make a cool porch decoration! Or better yet, set them on the ground as if they're emerging from the earth. This idea comes from the Family Chic by Camilla Fabbri blog. Although, the Pinterest link didn't take me to the how-to, I think we can guess how these glowing hands were made. Trace your hand on a brown paper bag and cut out the shape. Then rubber band the hand to a glass votive candle holder. These remind me of zombie hands reaching from a grave!

Sometime this week I should have some photos of the finished projects I've been working on. These upcoming projects had their start with Dollar Tree products. I learned from assembling this list of crafts, how much I rely on Dollar Tree and local craft stores. This little experiment helped to give me the perspective of people who don't have tons of Halloween craft supplies readily available. I hope to try some of the projects in this post, and I'll share the results if I do!

The Justine's Halloween Blog Party is planned for Friday October 26th, and of course you're all invited! So if you have a photo of yourself in costume from any time in your life, please email it to me at this address to be included in the fun: contactartgirl@gmail.com

If you participated last year, I'd prefer a different photo this year. So get digging through those old albums, or create something new! 

Here's a reminder of the festivities from last year's party: Justine's Halloween Blog Party 2011