zaterdag 23 juli 2011
maandag 11 juli 2011
Look mummy, no glue!
A number of years ago I came across a book. It was about architecture and paper, which attracted my attention. How could complicated architectural buildings be made from paper?
It turned out to be a wonderfull guide to cutting and folding paper and automagically creating beautiful impressions of the most famous buildings in The Netherlands and Belgium. Here is an example, the first thing I ever made out of paper.
These models don't need glue, but the cutting and folding is challenging, especially with all the small windows and different levels. Great about these models is the way the light plays around and through them.
The book has nine models for you, ready to cut out, as well as an introduction on how to craft paper and a desciption of the architectual aspects of the original buildings.
If you want to try it for yourself, the details of the book are
Silakius, I Papierarchitectuur van gebouw tot kaart, 2002 Cantecleer Baarn
ISBN 90213 3138 1
I'm not sure if they are still in print, but you can always contact the author Ingrid Siliakus to buy a copy. They are 25 euro, I was told.
The book is in the Dutch language, though, and you won't really recognize the buildings if you are from abroad. You can ask for an English translation of the Dutch text if you order the book, though, which is nice.
But there is good news! An international book based on the same principle has been published, called The Paper Architect. It descibes 20 world famous buildings, both modern and classical and even better: it has separate pages with the models printed and ready for you to make yourself! Even Gaudi's monumental cathedral Sagrada Familia is in the book in a beautiful impression.
The book is suited for starters and advanced paper cutters. In fact you can regard it as a coursebook that takes you to proficency in a gentle way. The first model can succesfully be made by a 9-year old, but once you finished the final Hagia Sophia, you can consider yourself advanced.
And the models are pieces of art themselves. If you look at the flat print of the model on paper, you can hardly imagine how beautiful the result will be. I like the model of the Hagia Sophia even better than the buidling itself.
More information on the book here and you can order it here or mail one of the authors, Ingrid Siliakus.
Have zen!
It turned out to be a wonderfull guide to cutting and folding paper and automagically creating beautiful impressions of the most famous buildings in The Netherlands and Belgium. Here is an example, the first thing I ever made out of paper.
 | ||
| Jachthuis St. Hubertus |
The book has nine models for you, ready to cut out, as well as an introduction on how to craft paper and a desciption of the architectual aspects of the original buildings.
If you want to try it for yourself, the details of the book are
Silakius, I Papierarchitectuur van gebouw tot kaart, 2002 Cantecleer Baarn
ISBN 90213 3138 1
I'm not sure if they are still in print, but you can always contact the author Ingrid Siliakus to buy a copy. They are 25 euro, I was told.
The book is in the Dutch language, though, and you won't really recognize the buildings if you are from abroad. You can ask for an English translation of the Dutch text if you order the book, though, which is nice.
But there is good news! An international book based on the same principle has been published, called The Paper Architect. It descibes 20 world famous buildings, both modern and classical and even better: it has separate pages with the models printed and ready for you to make yourself! Even Gaudi's monumental cathedral Sagrada Familia is in the book in a beautiful impression.
The book is suited for starters and advanced paper cutters. In fact you can regard it as a coursebook that takes you to proficency in a gentle way. The first model can succesfully be made by a 9-year old, but once you finished the final Hagia Sophia, you can consider yourself advanced.
And the models are pieces of art themselves. If you look at the flat print of the model on paper, you can hardly imagine how beautiful the result will be. I like the model of the Hagia Sophia even better than the buidling itself.
More information on the book here and you can order it here or mail one of the authors, Ingrid Siliakus.
Have zen!
maandag 4 juli 2011
Tools
The nice thing about paper crafting is that you don't need a lot of tools. Obviously, you will need a design on paper. In most cases you will download the design in pdf format and print it on paper yourself.
I will talk about paper and printing later, for now I assume that you have a printed model.
A flat surface to work on comes in quite handy. Use a table, I would suggest. If you care about the table top, you can put a cutting pad on it. These pads are not expensive and the nice thing is that they 'repair' themselves if you cut into it.
Now I can hear you think 'I don't need that, I'm going to use scissors'. Don't! Scissors are too thick and they obscure your view so you can't see where you are cutting. And it's very difficult to stop scissoring at the right moment, so you will be cutting into your model. But feel free to be hardheaded and experience scissoring yourself.
Instead of scissors use a knife like this
Cheap, sharp and easy to replace if they get blunt. It takes a bit getting used to hold it, as you have to put your index finger on the top, so you can push it a bit.
If you prefer holding your knife like a pencil, you can use a X-acto knife like this.
My advice is not to use the opaque white paper or wood glue. It takes ages to dry.
And then there are the handy extras. Very personal choice, so I will just tell you what I use it for and you can make up your mind what to use or not.
Scissors
Surprise! After telling you not to use scissors, I have to admit I do use them once in a while. Mostly for long straight stretches at the edge.
A round tube-like thingy
Great if you have to make cylinder shaped things. Just wrap it around the round tube-like thingy and you will have the perfect tube, without folds.
Pliers
I couldn't live without them. To hold tiny parts when putting glue on, but mostly for pressing glued pieces together. Take pliers with a shap point.
Scoring knife
I blunted it trying to cut a stone in half and now it's perfect. Pointed, but not sharp.
Clamps
I think these are originally meant to hold tablecloths on tables in stormy weather, but they are great for pressing glued pieces together. Saves you from cramp and waiting: just clamp it and put it aside.
Hedgehog spine
It has a very very fine pointy end on one side and a little less sharp point on the other side. It's tough and very smooth. I use it to punch holes and to apply glue. A nice but not very necessary tool, a toothpick or sateh-skewer will be fine too.
Needle in a lump of modelling clay
The clay is just to hold the needle and keep it from wandering into painfull places. The needle is to make holes (duh) and to unblock the exit of the glue tube.
Needles are good if you have to make a valley fold, where you have to score the back side of the paper. Since there are no lines at the back side, you can make small holes from front to back to indicate where the folding lines are. Nice needle.
That's it. Of course you need food, drinks, music and sleep too. But that's up to you.
Have zen!
I will talk about paper and printing later, for now I assume that you have a printed model.
A flat surface to work on comes in quite handy. Use a table, I would suggest. If you care about the table top, you can put a cutting pad on it. These pads are not expensive and the nice thing is that they 'repair' themselves if you cut into it.
 | ||
| (The pad is square, it's my camera that makes it funny) |
Now I can hear you think 'I don't need that, I'm going to use scissors'. Don't! Scissors are too thick and they obscure your view so you can't see where you are cutting. And it's very difficult to stop scissoring at the right moment, so you will be cutting into your model. But feel free to be hardheaded and experience scissoring yourself.
Instead of scissors use a knife like this
Cheap, sharp and easy to replace if they get blunt. It takes a bit getting used to hold it, as you have to put your index finger on the top, so you can push it a bit.
If you prefer holding your knife like a pencil, you can use a X-acto knife like this.
Very sharp and good for cutting small circles, but a bit more expensive.
'Score after you cut, but before you fold'. This is not about playing poker, but about modelling paper. 'Scoring' is tracing the folding lines with a blunt point. If you don't score, the folds will be as straight as a drunken sailor's walk.
For scoring I use a knife that I made blunt on purpose. It's the orange thing in the picture at the bottom of this page. But you can use a dried out roller ballpoint or the back side of your knife too.
After scoring and folding is where the glue steps in. I could probably write a blog about glue alone, but I will restrict myself. I tried out quite a few glue types, but I stuck (lol) with the transparent, multi-purpose glue that comes in tubes. In the old days it was called Velpon, but there will be many brand varieties around the world. For the Dutchies: 'Hema lijm'.
My advice is not to use the opaque white paper or wood glue. It takes ages to dry.
And then there are the handy extras. Very personal choice, so I will just tell you what I use it for and you can make up your mind what to use or not.
Scissors
Surprise! After telling you not to use scissors, I have to admit I do use them once in a while. Mostly for long straight stretches at the edge.
A round tube-like thingy
Great if you have to make cylinder shaped things. Just wrap it around the round tube-like thingy and you will have the perfect tube, without folds.
Pliers
I couldn't live without them. To hold tiny parts when putting glue on, but mostly for pressing glued pieces together. Take pliers with a shap point.
Scoring knife
I blunted it trying to cut a stone in half and now it's perfect. Pointed, but not sharp.
Clamps
I think these are originally meant to hold tablecloths on tables in stormy weather, but they are great for pressing glued pieces together. Saves you from cramp and waiting: just clamp it and put it aside.
Hedgehog spine
It has a very very fine pointy end on one side and a little less sharp point on the other side. It's tough and very smooth. I use it to punch holes and to apply glue. A nice but not very necessary tool, a toothpick or sateh-skewer will be fine too.
Needle in a lump of modelling clay
The clay is just to hold the needle and keep it from wandering into painfull places. The needle is to make holes (duh) and to unblock the exit of the glue tube.
Needles are good if you have to make a valley fold, where you have to score the back side of the paper. Since there are no lines at the back side, you can make small holes from front to back to indicate where the folding lines are. Nice needle.
That's it. Of course you need food, drinks, music and sleep too. But that's up to you.
Have zen!
zondag 3 juli 2011
Console 3: Quite perfect
As designs evolved from 1 to 3, they got better. So in my opinion this should be the best. And it is. Apart from the somewhat dull shape it is more sturdy and less deformable than its family. It passed the pocketbook stress test with ease.
And more than a single Shakespeare. It carried an even bigger stack than shown here before collapsing. A staggering 7,5 kg was needed to defeat it!
In case you wondered: I don't read those books. I just have them to do tests with consoles.
And wall-mounted it stays straight as... well, a console.
If you want to try it out: the link to the template for console 3 is here
and this is what it looks like upside down, when finished
Let me know what you think of it.
Have zen!
And more than a single Shakespeare. It carried an even bigger stack than shown here before collapsing. A staggering 7,5 kg was needed to defeat it!
In case you wondered: I don't read those books. I just have them to do tests with consoles.
And wall-mounted it stays straight as... well, a console.
 |
| Model: Happy holidays, by Marshall Alexander |
If you want to try it out: the link to the template for console 3 is here
and this is what it looks like upside down, when finished
Let me know what you think of it.
Have zen!
Console 2: Wide and light
This console can't take too big a load. It is good in keeping a flat shape, though.
If you want to try it out: the link to the template for console 2 is here
and this is what it looks like upside down, when finished
Let me know what you think of it.
Have zen!
 |
| Model: GoldDiggers by 3EyedBear |
And just like its brothers and sisters it can take a load when on a flat surface: 1 kg of Shakespeare!!
If you want to try it out: the link to the template for console 2 is here
and this is what it looks like upside down, when finished
Let me know what you think of it.
Have zen!
Console 1: Big and strong
This console is meant for objects that are quite heavy and not too wide. If you fix the back firmly to the wall, it can take a small paperback book (150 grs) without too much deformation. The one on the picture is fixed with two thumbtacks.
It is sagging a bit if you put weight on the sides only, as you can see here
A real hero if standing on a flat surface
If you want to try it out: the link to the template for console 1 is here
and this is what it looks like upside down, when finished
Let me know what you think of it.
Have zen!
It is sagging a bit if you put weight on the sides only, as you can see here
 |
| Model: But is it art? by Marshall Alexander |
A real hero if standing on a flat surface
If you want to try it out: the link to the template for console 1 is here
and this is what it looks like upside down, when finished
Let me know what you think of it.
Have zen!
Simple start: Consoles
Todays world on internet is all about showing and sharing. So that is what I'm going to do here. My first three designs are simple and probably usefull.
The idea came from the problem that I don;t know where to put my finished paper toys anymore. So I wanted to put a few consoles to the wall, where I could display them. The challenge was to make paper consoles.
I made three varieties, all of them fit on a single A4 and are constructed in 5 minutes. Here is an overview of all of them. By the way: the models on top are
Using the consoles
The idea came from the problem that I don;t know where to put my finished paper toys anymore. So I wanted to put a few consoles to the wall, where I could display them. The challenge was to make paper consoles.
I made three varieties, all of them fit on a single A4 and are constructed in 5 minutes. Here is an overview of all of them. By the way: the models on top are
- But is it art? by Marshall Alexander on the green console
- Golddiggers by 3EyedBear on the blue console
- Happy holidays by Marshall Alexander on the yellow console
Using the consoles
- You can put the console on a table or floor as a kind of stage for your model. They are remarkable sturdy: the yellow variety (console 3) takes 7,5 kilos before collapsing. The other two can take 1 kilo. Pretty amazing if you think that the weight of the console is about 10 grammes.
- More usefull will be to stick them to a wall. Probably the best way is to use two thumbtacks, but it is possible to reinforce the hole in the back a bit and mount them on a hook or screw sticking out of the wall. Or tack a few on a board and fix the board to the wall. Or use double-sided sticking tape.
- Modular, so you can vary. You can glue as many as you like side to side in any color you like.
Papercrafting
Papercrafting is as old as paper and everybody has tried it, if not just by folding a paper airplane.
In Asia it's quite a big thing. Origami (making paper models by folding paper) is not just a hobby, but an Art. Just like growing mini-trees is an Art.
Therefor I don't think it's a coincidence that the biggest sites for paper models are hosted by Japanese companies: Canon -at least check out the architecture section- and Yamaha. The ultra realistic models of the latter are amazing.
Apart from these models that try to get as close to reality as possible, there is a scene of mostly young independent creators who design 'arty' paper models, mostly called paper toys. See the nice paper toys site for a taste of all the zillions of funny, angry, cute, sad, tiny or beautiful figures.
Up to now I was a happy consumer of paper models that other people created. I work continuously but slowly on a bigger project, like the Sagrada Familia model from Canon, but I do paper toys in between. The bigger projects are taking weeks or months to finish and the paper toys are a nice snack in between.
But things have changed! Yesterday I visited a workshop by 3EyedBear, one of my paper toy design heroes or paper engineer, as he calls himself. Also present at the workshop were Marshall Alexander, MCK and Dolly Oblong, all famous paper toy designers (and very nice guys and dolly's).
Especially the input of Marshall and 3EyedBear have convinced me to start designing myself and, as is the custom, present my work to the world through a blog.
So here goes! Even the longest journey starts with a single piece of paper.
In Asia it's quite a big thing. Origami (making paper models by folding paper) is not just a hobby, but an Art. Just like growing mini-trees is an Art.
Therefor I don't think it's a coincidence that the biggest sites for paper models are hosted by Japanese companies: Canon -at least check out the architecture section- and Yamaha. The ultra realistic models of the latter are amazing.
Apart from these models that try to get as close to reality as possible, there is a scene of mostly young independent creators who design 'arty' paper models, mostly called paper toys. See the nice paper toys site for a taste of all the zillions of funny, angry, cute, sad, tiny or beautiful figures.
Up to now I was a happy consumer of paper models that other people created. I work continuously but slowly on a bigger project, like the Sagrada Familia model from Canon, but I do paper toys in between. The bigger projects are taking weeks or months to finish and the paper toys are a nice snack in between.
But things have changed! Yesterday I visited a workshop by 3EyedBear, one of my paper toy design heroes or paper engineer, as he calls himself. Also present at the workshop were Marshall Alexander, MCK and Dolly Oblong, all famous paper toy designers (and very nice guys and dolly's).
Especially the input of Marshall and 3EyedBear have convinced me to start designing myself and, as is the custom, present my work to the world through a blog.
So here goes! Even the longest journey starts with a single piece of paper.
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