Kaleidoscope Folding
By Hanny Vlaar

      Surely no Dutch paper craft has taken hold of the public’s imagination quite like teabag folding. To start with, you don’t need much equipment to do it; just some printed-paper squares, scissors and glue and you are away. This new book has its text in both English and Dutch, but it is the diagrams that count for they show how to fold four new patterned sheets into ten different folds, plus many illustrations on how they can be adapted further. In keeping with its magazine format this slim publication only uses these four sheets and has obviously been created to advertise them and their versatility, which is considerable. They depict sea creatures, ladybirds/bumblebees, strawberries/blackberries and birds/butterflies and here too are instructions on cutting out the individual motifs and four colored sheets (the covers) to show how the cards look when made up. The staged instructions themselves are all in black and white, which is not as user-friendly as the usual Forte books that are colored on every page. It keeps the price down (though not by very much) but as the squares are so intricate it makes following the diagrams harder, especially for beginners. This is a shame, for the large pages and diagrams in numerous stages are otherwise perfect. I would have liked a few pictures of other teabag sheets made up into the new folds but in order to see these you will have to purchase some and have a go yourself. If you enjoy this craft and have done some before then this is a good intermediate book.