A Meeting of Artists at Yuletide

That day when @STUDIO.Badelles met Amy Lopez Nayve of Pumapapel Crafts was magic! 

So happy to have touched based with Amy after the lockdown. 

Looking forward to collaborative projects with these two amazing people!

@zarahg_08 That day when @STUDIO.Badelles ♬ Pieces (Solo Piano Version) - Danilo Stankovic

National Children's Book Day is Children's Day

A friend from work, Mayen Lopez sent me a photo of a newspaper clipping from the Inquirer circa 2006. It is an article written by Neni Sta. Romana Cruz on the 2006 National Children's Book Day (NCBD). 

The article narrates the program of the NCBD that year as spearheded by the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY). As far back as I can remember, children are always given the time to shine during NCBD. Back then, we had children perform songs, dances and storytelling presenttaions or excerpts from school musicals. Mayen's daughter, Amy Nayve beloned to a group of grade school students from St, Scholastica's College who perfomed an excerpt of the musical May Alaga Akong Puno at the NCBD that year. 

At the time, I was the librarian in Xavier School and nurturing a writing career with the help of friends and fellows in KUTING. Who would have thought that years later, Mayen and I would cross paths in the Beacon Academy without the knowledge of being at one place in one event years ago? The discovery of the article clipping is proof. This is history and it is not chismis. What a pleasant surprise!

Now here's the more amazing news. Amy Nayve is now all grown up and is a professional artist and paper engineer. I interviewed her in the blog. Read about her paper craft and paper engineering projects in School Librarian In Action.

Over the years, the PBBY has pursued the cause for literacy, development of children's books and the right of each and every child to read and have access to books and reading materials. One program to make this a reality is the Kids' Choice Award. Children read books that were published in a period of two years and they pick the best among the rest. 

This year, the PBBY in partenrship with the National Book Development Board (NBDB) will be awarding the Kids Choice Award and the National Children's Book Award on National Children's Book Day, Tuesday, July 19, 2022. 

I am excited to be this year's emcee and witness to the awarding of winners!

Pumapapel Crafts’ Paper Engineering Workshop

Interested in making pop-up books? Know the art and the science behind paper engineering! Attend the Pop-Up Books Workshop of Ms. Amy Lopez Nayve.

 Read the details in the e-poster and visit Pumapapel Crafts for information on registration to the workshop.

Amy Lopez Nayve is an entreprenuer and paper engineer. She has done numerous workshops on pop-up books making and paper engineering. She has appeared on television ans her works have been features in numerous blogs and social media. Amy has been to the US last month as presentor and speaker in The Movable Book Society Conference 2018. 

Visit her Facebook Page, 

Pumapapel Crafts 

Amy Lopez Nayve, Paper Engineer

Here is a true to life story about following one's passion and how it can lead to a full and blessed life. Amy Lopez Nayve, Paper Engineer and entreprenuer, has stories to tell. She unfolds and pops it up one paper craft and moveable book at a time. Having achieved recognition and awards for her pop-up books, Amy shares with us where she began, where she is right now and where she plans to go.

It is one exciting journey and I am personally honored to have seen slivers and glimpses of Amy's talent grow into the amazing artist that she is!

Amy with David Carter, Pop-Up Book Master

How did you become a Paper Engineer?
I grew up with pop-up books. When I was little, my grandparents would send me pop-up books from the US. I loved to peek between the pages and try to figure out how they worked. Eventually, I learned how to build them myself. I didn't think of it as a career path back then; I just liked making pop-ups for my school projects. It came as a natural complement to my abilities. But I loved the art form so much that I decided to utilize it wherever I could throughout my college years. The peak of this happened when I designed my portfolio as a pop up book, which I call "Popfolio". This is the same book I entered into the international competition for the Emerging Paper Engineer Prize 2018 held by the Movable Book Society. It went on to win an Honorable Mention, and I even got to show it to big-name paper engineers at their biennial conference. I was inspired to pursue paper engineer as a career after I felt so at home with the people in the industry. It felt like I had found my place in the world.

What are the must-have traits and characteristics of a Paper Engineer? I say this a lot when I hold workshops: "Paper Engineers are some of the greatest storytellers in the world." This is because they have all the skills needed to capture a moment in a story and turn it into a beautiful piece of art which can then be experienced by the reader. Keyword here is "experience" - one common quality paper engineers have is the ability to involve the reader in the show. Our work involves a heaping cup of geometry, a bowl of physics, and a generous sprinkling of storytelling. To paraphrase collector Ellen Rubin aka The Pop-Up Lady, Paper Engineers are puppetmasters who hand the strings to the readers. The readers make everything come alive.

Where do you go from where you are now?
As I'm writing this, I'm actually getting my business registered at city hall.

Some things that I'm looking forward to:
- going to Singapore to meet a fellow paper engineer. We are going to collaborate on a pop-up book.
- making my own pop-up book. I've been percolating for months with ideas for a pop-up book about Philippine mythology. I'm definitely going to do that.
- holding more workshops

For more information on Amy Lopez Nayve and the workshops she conducts visit her FB Page, Pumapapel Crafts. Come back to the blog for details of her workshop this coming November 10, 2018. I will be posting links and posters this weekend.