By Alex Oliveira
Hometown Weekly Reporter
It goes without saying that Medfield is dreaming of a white Christmas, but at the Public Library on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Medfielders were learning how to make a green one.
Bri leads the crew in bag making she called “basically origami.” Photos by Alex Oliveira
In the middle of the room was a heaping stack of paper: People Magazines with the Obamas on the cover, Entertainment Magazine featuring the cast of “Stranger Things,” National Geographic issues featuring Neanderthals, koalas and cowboys on the covers, plus more than a few road maps and old pads of sketch paper. It was this pile of refuse that the class spent the night learning to recycle into holiday cheer.
The first station was for bow making, where pieces of paper were selected from the stack, cut down into narrow strips, then stapled at the base and looped around to form a classic gift bow shape.
Table two: bow making with stripped magazine pages. Photos by Alex Oliveira
Finally, the last table was a guided lesson from Ozanne on taking whole pieces of paper and folding them up into classic shaped gift bags. “It’s origami basically,” Ozanne said, “it’s easy once you figure it out.”
General surprise was voiced when after ten minutes of folding and gluing, participants’ street maps of Manhattan suddenly took the shape of Hallmark gift bags. “Who’d a’thunk!” somebody exclaimed, “oh its cute little bag!” another said. “Now that I know how their made, I’ll probably never buy another.”
The class drew parents, grandparents, children, and a number of teachers who intended to take their newfound skills back to the classroom. “Yeah, I’ll be taking these ideas to class this month, but being a teacher means I love to learn too, these classes are great,” said a Dedham preschool teacher, “plus Bri is just the best teacher!”
The coming weeks will tell whether snow is on the way, but one thing is for sure – the holidays in Medfield will be a bit greener this year thanks to the Public Library.
