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Last updated 23/6/2025

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This article, by Alber-Graves, contains diagrams for the Bonnet de Police / Bourse (The Turban) / Le Chapeau de Gendarme (The Pyramidal Hat) / Le Casque Moyen Age (The Medieval Helmet)

The introduction says, roughly, 'Today I am starting to explain to the readers of Mon Journal the interesting things that can be made from a single sheet of paper. In France we know how to fold paper to make trinkets and animals; the few objects that we know almost all derive from a single fold, which is the 'cocotte', and which can be modified to make trousers, a simple boat, a double boat etc. But there is a country where paperfolds are held in more honour: Which is Japan.

I have to explain to our young friends that the life of the Japanese is, or once was, very different from theirs. Instead of playing outdoor games, young Japanese concentrate mostly on inside amusements: painting, folding paper. Also they have invented many things that are unknown to us. At the 1889 Exposition, Japan has covered a complete wall with the work of school children. Today this kind of occupation is more neglected, the Japanese acquiring more and more European habits.

Unable to travel to this faraway country to study what, from any point of view, may interest you, I consulted, especially for you, a young Japanese woman, Mlle Kalawa, who lives in Paris, and was kind enough to reveal to me for Mon Journal her little paperfolding secrets, do them before my eyes and explain them to me. Unfortunately I cannot show you the rapidity with which Mlle Kalawa cuts, folds her papers and makes before my eyes, in an absolutely extraordinary way, complete collections of storks which stir their wings, cranes of all sizes, lotus flowers, magic boxes, cicadas etc. But I am able, thanks to her explanations, to explain to you how to make the same objects, perhaps not so quickly, but equally well, if you take a little care'

About the Turban the author says, roughly, 'This headwear being unknown to the Japanese, they invert it and make a flat purse or a wallet. You can also crush the bottom and obtain a sort of cup.'

The date of the issue of Mon Journal in which this article appeared was kindly provided to me by Michel Grand.

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