The origami forum with the image of Laurent Sui’s gift for Madame Burgos (see previous post) mentioned a book by Maying Soong, The Art of Chinese Paper Folding. It even provided a link to an …

Thanks to the delightful kindness of Kit Tyrrell, one of my blog readers in the UK, I have received two booklets by Ruth Smith about folded books that can contain many compartments. One such book i…

Hello everyone, it’s Chinese New Year tomorrow so I have another Chinese inspired project to share with you all. Chinese Thread Book These date back hundreds of years and show off the art of…

I can’t believe my good luck. I’ve been reading about the Chinese Thread Book, devouring anything in print that I could find about it, scouring the internet then just thinking about and…

This beautiful, detailed, origami book is a culmination of hours of research, practice, design, and yes even math. I hope that I can save you hours of pain and frustration as you make this amazing and intricate Chinese Thread Book (Zhen Xian Bao). This idea popped into my head after seeing a random project on Pinterest. It had such an impact on me that I had to click. I then spent hours looking at all sorts of origami boxes and thread books. It is a book of folded paper boxes that are glued…

A Chinese Thread Book or Zhen Xian Bao is an origami book made by the Miao people of China for the purpose of storing thread and needles. I've made mine with paper like they are traditionally and I've decorated the front and back covers with paper embroidered motifs. The inside is simple in comparison. I wanted the clever little origami pockets to take center stage so I kept the embellishments to a minimum. There are seven pockets in all. I've read that they go up to as many as fifteen…

Last call for this Chinese Thread Book Workshop in Hexham this Sunday (17th November) We are making the full version of the Chinese Thread Book with six pockets (two of them are hidden) The workshop will take place in my cosy shop in Hexham. There’s just a couple of spaces left. To book: Call into Hanji on St Mary’s Chare Book online at my link in bio. No experience necessary. All materials provided. Tag anyone who you think will love this make.

I first heard about the Chinese Thread Book from my sister-in-law in early February, 2013. Apparently textile collectors had known about them for some time before that, but this was probably about …

When I began all this —the trip down an internet wormhole chasing a particular origami folding pattern— I had no idea where it would all lead. The hunt for that set of instructions led me to an eno…