Gift Wrapping Workshop Archives

FINAL DAY OF POSTING FOR CHRISTMAS PAPERS MONDAY 16 DECEMBER!!!

Today 17 May finds me on a one on one wrapping assignment, working with the wonderful Malin on her gift wrapping skills. Malin is a very smart lady (think ER doctor), she has a great eye for colour and she loves buying ribbon. So we were off to a strong start. but the great thing about gift wrapping is that there is always more to learn – be it techniques, looks or personal touches.

Malin and I worked through double sided tape ( a revelation) , wrapping a rectangular prism ( the basis for most wrapping), crisp edges, tying bows ( unlearning the shoe lace bow) as well as matching ribbon colour and width to the gift being wrapped.

What a fun time. And if I could give any piece of advice, it would be to think about the paper you are choosing and how it works with the shape of the gift you are wrapping. Malin had a large cookery book to wrap – for those interested it was actually Larousse Gastrronomuique: The World’s Greatest Culinary Encyclopaedia Revised and Updated. It’s a big book. She also chose a big pattern of water colour blooms. The big print worked with the big book but equally the big print would not have worked so well with a smaller gift as there would have been no way to appreciate the pattern. With single sheet gift wrapping going the way of almost poster art, this is something to look out for.

We also had a bit of a think about the ribbon and bow. Our first choice was actually brown ribbon to esteem the leaf and twig of the pattern in the paper but in the absence of said brown ribbon (and let’s face it, not many of us have a secret stash of ribbon that colour) we tried a black ribbon. Good but not great. Who would have thought that a gold ribbon would work…but it did..both the colour and the width popped while also providing lots of opportunity for Malin to learn how to tie a bow.

The time absolutely flew as we practised and discussed and questioned why some things looked better than others. And the result is quite stunning- a major statement for a major gift. One (on one) to remember.