FOBA 2026 - Shawn Sheehy - Paper Engineering Boot Camp

Focus on Book Arts 2026

Shawn Sheehy
Paper Engineering Boot Camp - Friday-Saturday, June 26-27, 2026

Read more about FOBA 2026 on their website!
https://focusonbookarts.org/2026-foba-conference/

Workshop Description:

A student may have an idea for a pop-up artist book. The student even has a theme...maybe a story line, maybe  illustrations and text? Is that student ready to take the first step toward bringing dimension and movement to their ideas?

In Paper Engineering Boot Camp, students will build a handful of foundational paper-engineering structures—some pop-ups, some movables—that will serve as physical warm-ups and creative building blocks. Following that, students will receive a series of problem-solving prompts that will help them apply their specific idea to the foundational structures. If a
student doesn’t have a specific idea but would simply like to play with pop-ups, they will find the experience to be useful and engaging. This workshop will involve creative expression, experimentation, open-ended time for problem solving, and PLAY. We will consider a range of approaches, some favoring math/geometry and others favoring intuition. Let’s invent!

Materials/equipment to be provided by students:

• Bone folder
• Steel ruler
• X-Acto knife/blades
• Self-healing mat
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Awl
• Microspatula
• Tweezers

Optional:

• Screw punch
• Other punches of various sizes and shapes
• Dry mark making tools: colored pencils, markers, pastels
• Alternative materials: decorative papers, fabric, stickers, etc.