What’s Popped Up: Snowflakes

It’s cold here in New York and we have had our fair share of snow so far this season. While it is widely known that I am no fan of the cold, I do love snowflakes (on an individual basis only). I don’t love them as much as Wilson A. Bentley, who made it a singular goal to photographs as many unique snow crystals he could get his mitts on. Bentley’s images are fascinating and diverse and I treasure his many collections, so you can imagine my excitement when I learned that there was a new pop-up book inspired by his work.

Snowflakes: A Pop-up Book was released by Jumping Jack Press, an imprint of Up With Paper. (Check out the excellent video of the book here.) The seven spread book was written by Jennifer Chushcoff, with illustration and paper engineering by Yevgeniya Yeretskaya. Each page explodes in a three-dimensional sparkling winter scene complete with contemplative prose and tidbits about “Snowflake” Bentley. I had the good fortune to meet Ms. Yeretskaya shortly after her book’s release. After showing the lovely constructions she also shared her appreciation for Bentley’s work. I’ll let this promising young paper engineer have the last word. “It was wonderful to explore the beauty and the science behind these unique individual pieces of art known as snowflakes. I hope that I've succeeded in conveying the wonder and awe of the season through to the pop-up pages of this book, and that anyone who opens it will share in the magic that lies within."

~Kyle