Photo Karen Graham
Millbrook Market Vendors now include craft designers. Judi Obey’s displays a variety of items carefully created using discarded books.
Maybe it’s because she works at the library that Judi felt compelled to give old books a second lease on life.
Applying folding techniques associated with origami, she takes discarded books headed for oblivion and uses them to create elaborate paper sculptures, often keeping the majority of the book components intact. She selects source material that often has a beauty of its own, with decorative script and pages with a slight patina reflecting their past lives.
Her work involves meticulous cutting and folding paper by hand, and moulding it into decorative items which can be mounted on a stand or hung on the wall. Some smaller items have practical uses as well as decorative ones, such as her bookmarks. She also produces paper corsages detailed enough to be used in wedding decorations and accessories.
For some of her smaller pieces she prints patterns onto cardstock on her computer or uses colourful pages from magazines. Her work demonstrates a unique resourcefulness as well as patience and precision as she transforms pieces of paper into three dimensional items.
Judi Obey is one of the new vendors at the Millbrook Market this year, as vendor offerings have expanded to include some craft items. Exhibiting a keen eye and obvious attention to detail, her work is original, beautiful and environmentally responsible. For more information or to see a catalogue of her work, contact her at jocrafts@outlook.com or at 705-760-9694. KG
