It’s been a while since I posted anything! Apologies!
It’s not for the lack of anything happening, quite the contrary. I’ve been working on a number of new projects but I don’t want to jinx them by talking about them in detail yet. I’ve just completed a corporate pop-up for a launch party that happened in San Francisco last night. It was a short fuse deadline and we produced 360 pop-ups LOCALLY here in the Bay Area. We all feel really proud of this achievement because it was a fairly complex pop-up and we pulled it off in less than three weeks!
Separate to that, I have been developing a product that I want to launch that isn’t a pop-up book. It’s still a paper engineered piece but somewhat different to my usual work. After designing the prototype I’ve been out sourcing the components and seeking production estimates. It’s incredible how many details there are to figure out before I can step into production! Once I have all that information together I will be posting pictures! That I can’t wait for!
In addition to that, I’m just about to begin work on a new book. I’ve been researching that project as well!
On the back burner is another book that I’m almost ready to pitch. So all in all I’ve been busy, just none of it visible to the outside world!
Which reminds me, I need to think of a new downloadable pop-up to add to the site!
As a side note, today I went to the “Bouquets To Art” exhibit at the San Francisco De Young Museum. A truly amazing display of flower arrangements inspired by art works in the museum’s collection. Click here to view some photos I took there.
Paper Blossoms in Prominent Display!
Tags: Events, Paper Blossoms, Paper Engineering, Pop-Up Books, Pop-Ups
Posted by Ray Marshall on Dec 27, 2011 in
Make Your Own Pop-Ups,
Making Pop-ups,
Pop-Ups 
A wonderful collection of Dragons!
The children of the Lutheran Elementary School in Brooklyn, New York sent me this great picture of their completed Dragons. Their very cool teacher Janet had them download my Dragon pop-up for a school art project. The range of their ideas is incredible! I especially like the one in the middle near the back in what appears to be a harlequin pattern. Being a history fan, I also like the Dragon over the castle in the front, looks like a scene from the Lord of the Rings!
Thanks everyone, they’re great!!
If anyone else has made one of my downloads and would like to send me a photo, I will post it for the world to see!
Tags: make your own pop-ups, Pop-Ups
Posted by Ray Marshall on Dec 26, 2011 in
Making Pop-ups,
Paper Blossoms,
Pop-Up Books I just want to say a big THANK YOU! to everyone who bought a copy of Paper Blossoms this Holiday Season! I would also like to thank all the people that have taken the time to write to me saying how much they or their recipients like the book. Some of the letters have been very personal and clearly Paper Blossoms has touched the hearts of many. I never expected this response!
And to those that have asked, yes, I am working on another pop-up book, but I just can’t say what yet! Also there are other projects that I’m currently involved in and I will let you know what those are nearer the release date.
Have a safe and Happy New Year!
Tags: Making Pop-ups, Paper Blossoms, Pop-Up Books
Posted by Ray Marshall on Dec 12, 2011 in
eBooks 
No, I’m not taking a swipe at another pop-up book!
This is in reference to a recent distraction that I’ve been involved in after a friend asked me to illustrate an ebook concept she had. What we thought we could do in a couple of weeks took us many months!!
The Worst Book Ever! is now available on iTunes for a massive 99¢! Worth every penny just to hear my best Granny voice!
Here’s the pitch:
Does your child love to eat mushrooms, apply sunscreen, do chores, and go to bed early? We didn’t think so. But they’ll still love this highly misguided story, filled with all the things your kids dread doing. The interactive format allows them to experience:
* the excitement of extracting splinters
* the exhilaration of flossing teeth
* the thrill of portable potties
* the adrenaline rush of a piano recital
* the hilarity of visiting the doctor
* and so much more!
And the reviews are in, take a look at what readers are saying:
“Whatever you do, don’t buy this book.”
“I thought it would be bad, but I had no idea.”
“Lives up to its title.”
“If you’re looking for fine children’s literature, keep looking.”
“It was worse than even my very lowest expectations.”
Tags: eBook
Posted by Ray Marshall on Dec 11, 2011 in
Make Your Own Pop-Ups,
Making Pop-ups,
Pop-Ups 
Make this fun Gift Box pop-up!
The Holidays are always such a rush, but I managed to get my Gift Boxes ready to send just in time!
If you’re looking for a last minute, fun card to send, try your hand at making this one. Decorate it with your own creative patterns, pictures, or color schemes, and then cut-out and assemble. Get really festive by spreading some glue or Modge Podge on to the card and sprinkle with glitter, fake snow flakes, or anything else that comes to mind!
Happy Holidays!
Tags: Christmas cards, Christmas crafts, Holiday cards, make your own pop-ups, Making Pop-ups, Pop-Ups
Posted by Ray Marshall on Oct 19, 2011 in
Make Your Own Pop-Ups,
Making Pop-ups If you’ve downloaded any of my pop-ups from the “Things To Make” section and decorated them I’d love to see them. Maybe we could post a few here?
Tags: Halloween Crafts, Halloween Pop-up, make your own pop-ups, Making Pop-ups
I’ve added this new downloadable Sinister Witch pop-up to my “Things To Make” page. Mix in some ghoulish light to bring out her finer points. Or even better, conjure up some other scary creatures by tracing the sheets and creating new features and shapes. I hope they’re a howling success my dears! Cackle, cackle!
Make this Sinister Witch for Halloween!
Tags: Halloween, Halloween Crafts, Halloween Pop-up, make your own pop-ups, Pop-Ups
Posted by Ray Marshall on Sep 22, 2011 in
Events,
Paper Engineering,
Pop-Ups 
Otter Award
I feel honored to again be asked to produce the award for the 2012 Otter Gala held here in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is an annual event hosted by the Northern California Children’s Booksellers’ Association in recognition of people who have made a significant contribution towards children’s literature in Northern California during the past year. This year’s event will be held on November 5th., location TBD.
Last year was the first year that I had made the award, although we had been planning it for a while. These are one off, custom made pop-ups, made from metallic board featuring one of our local sea otters. Each one is hand made for the event.
Anyone who has seen these charming creatures knows what a delight they to watch. One of their skills is diving to the sea floor to forage for sea urchins, molluscs, etc. I liked the notion of my sea otter retrieving a sea star and holding it aloft, I thought this was an apt metaphor for success. Sea otters also like to wrap themselves up in kelp which I felt was yet another great visual metaphor for the laurel leaves that victory wreaths used to be made.
Tags: Paper Engineering, Pop-Ups
Posted by Ray Marshall on Sep 12, 2011 in
Make Your Own Pop-Ups,
Pop-Ups This pop-up was inspired by our recent rescue adoption of a Lab pup.
Download it from my things “Things To Make” page and send it to all your dog loving friends!
I thought it might speed things up a bit by including the instructions on one of the print outs instead of a separate sheet. Please let me know whether you think they’re easy to follow!
Make this fun Lab pop-up card and send it to a friend!
Tags: make your own pop-ups, Pop-Ups
Posted by Ray Marshall on Sep 7, 2011 in
Uncategorized Apologies, I’m finally updating my blog after a series of busy events. Firstly, in late June my family and I took a fun vacation in Europe for three weeks spending some of it in Paris. When we returned I needed to move my studio after ten years! That required a lot of sorting out before I could actually move anything. I dumped twenty years of accumulated junk and e-cycled six computers, keyboards, monitors, and assorted paraphernalia. That felt GREAT!
All of that coincided with an endless list of jobs that needed doing around our home – like tackling the rats that had taken up residency whilst we were away (!!!), and organizing the rest of the school summer break. On top of that we decided to jump at the chance of fostering two rescue Labrador pups with a view to keeping one! What were we thinking! Consequently it has been a crazy, non-productive paper-engineering time.
Well, hopefully things have calmed down a tad now and I can get on with some work. As a gentle way of stepping back into things I’m working on another downloadable pop-up that I’ll be posting soon – so stay tune tuned!
