The wrap artist is not immediately drawn to the gift bag. It can seem like cheating. But one has to admit the colossal practicality of the gift bag. It is just so quick.
I needed to use one recently because of two reasons: my studio was a mess and I had run out of time to carve out a wrapping space.
But using a giftbag does not necessarily mean abandoning the the wrap artist’s improvisational mission.
I removed the long rectangular boxed gift from it’s shopping bag. After a quick review of a large box containing odd materials that are candidates for induction into the wrap artist’s hall of innovation, I turned instead to two sheets of tissue paper that had been wrapped around the bouquet of flowers I was also giving.
Placing the tissue at an angle, with the box at the bottom, I rolled the gift quickly into a very loose and open column, which both revealed the two colors of the tissue and created gradations as the tissues made contact and then parted ways. I stuffed this assembly into the bag.
The angle wrap created a quasi-floral form which offered up canyons into which I immediately wanted to plant with something stick-like and colorful. Amid the clutter on my larger drawing table I saw a packet of recently-discovered and colorful chenille “pipe cleaners” left over from a thanksgiving turkey-craft session I conducted sometime in the previous century.
I began tucking them in the folds. It took a bit of arranging to get them looking good. And they did tend to rearrange themselves. But I was still ready in time for the breakfast presentation. Haste makes waste useful.