Up until now if you wanted to pay for a download you needed to sign up with PayPal. But no more! I'm pleased to say that orders can now be placed with your normal credit card. 

The prices are quoted in Pounds Sterling but the payment gateway takes care of currency conversions automatically. So, for example, the new Pneumatic Giraffe model, priced at £2.50 in the shop, would cost a US visitor around $3.90. 

I hope you like the new system. Let me know if you have any questions or problem.

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I've been updating the links and entries for the Logic Goats models. You can find out more here.

Just like the Logic Gate in the modern computer, the output of the Logic Goat depends on its input. There are now four different Logic Goats to download and make.

And-Goat - The goat nods if you press the right AND the left button

Or-Goat - The goat nods if you press the right button OR the left button

Xor-Goat (Exclusive Or Goat) The goat nods if you press the left button or the right button but not if you press both.

Not-Goat - The goat nods if you are NOT pressing the button.

Hurry along to the shop and download your own set of Logic Goats now!

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Here's a quick run through of how I created the new Workshop Notes ribbon that runs across the front page. I hope you find it useful/interesting. 

I was aiming to create a cut paper look for the text. As if the words had been cut out from paper and pasted into place.

Starting in Illustrator, type out the word. I've used 50pt American Typewriter font. Convert the text into outlines. This isn't strictly necessary but it does make it easier to move things around as the bounding box (the red rectangle in the picture above) is more accurately placed

Create two more copies of the text by <alt> dragging them. Add an outline to the second copy. I used a 7pt line in a dark green. Notice that the Corner setting in the stroke palette needs to be set to curved otherwise you'll end up with weird pointy bits sticking out of the text!

Set the stroke of the third copy to white and 9pt

Stack these three one on top of the other. Use the arrange menu if necessary to get the stacking order right. Once done, group them all together by selecting them and choosing Object -> Group

Drag the result into your waiting PhotoShop file as a smart object and resize it as appropriate.

Compete the effect by adding a small drop shadow in the layers effect palette.

Save the result - done! This technique will work equally well in your paper models, it's great for titles and labels. Quick and easy but quite effective.

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I've being re-laying the front page round a bit today, as you've probably noticed. 

I really wanted to make a feature of Workshop Notes as I think it is the most important part of the web site. To give it a hands-on look I've taken a photo of my open notebook and used it as a background. Over the top of that I've pasted the latest two entries from Workshop Notes. It is all automated, I just need to add a blog post and the web site takes care placing the picture and extract of the text in place on top of the notebook. It still needs a bit of tweaking but it is getting late so I think I'll call it an evening. Night all. 

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This model was originally available on the Flying Pig website - I've updated the artwork and redone the photographs. I've made it available as a free download, there is a link that anyone can use at the end of this post.

The Snap-Up Heart folds flat and slips into a card ready to be sent to your true love. When opened the heart pops out and the flutter will spin making your love's heart flatter with delight.

Print the parts page out onto thin card. 230 gram card does the job nicely.

Score along all the dotted lines then carefully cut out the parts. Fold along all the dotted lines to make the heart flexible.

Fold the heart in half and glue down the three flaps (1-3) Make sure than no glue comes out from under the flaps!

Cut out the four small triangle on either side of the heart. These are holes for the elastic band to thread through.

Cut a long thin elastic band so that it makes a single length of elastic. Thread both ends through the holes on one side of the heart and out through the holes on the other side. Tweezers are useful here! Pull them tight enough to close the top of the heart then tie them in a double knot.

Fold the last two flaps into place and glue them down making sure that the dotted lines are valley folds. Hold the heart flat until the glue has completely dried.

Flutter! Fold the small heart in half and glue it together. Once the glue has dried carefully cut it out.

Last bit! This bit is a little tricky, think of it as a demonstration of love!

Slide the flutter between the two strands of the elastic band and carefully wind it up. If possible get your dog to check to see if your gluing is okay (!?)

That's it! Keep the heart flat and slip it inside a book or greeting card.

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I'm going to create a gift certificate page for the shop where you'll be able to buy straightforward gift certificates as well as buying annual memberships for crafty friends.

I've created a page for the membership in two sizes; Letter for USA and A4 for the rest of the world, It'll be a single file that anyone can download and look at. 

When you purchase a voucher you'll receive a code which you can then print out and paste to the page. That way you can have a nicely presented gift voucher which you can put in with a birthday / Christmas / Kwanzaa card!

Nearly done now - I just need a couple more designs and a web page then I'll do a proper newsletter about it.

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Experiments! I've been trying out mechanisms that use pneumatic power. 

In this mechanism the top block with the air hole is a valve, below that are two opposing pistons. 

The pistons move the valve, the valves move the pistons and so the whole thing goes back and forth - or that's the theory. Unfortunately is doesn't work. It is really close though. I reckon I need to make the air holes bigger, to let more air flow through. 

So, I'll make some modifications and try another iteration.

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Just so that you you know; the crow model is available for everyone to download for free, members and non-members alike.

Having linked to it from the front page I really thought that I should be make it easily available.

I hope you enjoy it. 

Crow : More details

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 I've made a quick YouTube video of the Pneumatic Giraffe model. It is available for all to view here.

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You'll have noticed, I'm sure, that I've started adding instructions for my models to the blog rather than to the download file. 

There are a couple of reasons that I decided to do this.  Firstly, and mainly, I want the casual visitor to be able to see just what my paper models are and how they work. By making the instructions available I hope to tempt them into either becoming members or paying the small amount to download the file so that they can have a go at making the model themselves.

The second reason for the shift is that I'm aware that once the files are out in the wild as it were they do get shared with friends and colleagues. With the instructions on the website, it give these people a reason to visit and then hopefully buy. 

I have had a few requests that I return to adding instructions to the download file as well as the website so that people don't need to sit in front of the computer whilst making the models. I really want to keep the instructions on the website and while there is only one of me I'm reluctant to repeat my efforts by creating two sets of the same instructions in two different formats. 

So here is my proposed solution. I've added a 'Print' button to blog posts. I've set this up so that it displays a simple view of the blog post with all the headers and side bars stripped away. Once this page is displayed, choose your printer and print out the instructions ready to use.

I hope that you find this a useful compromise! Let me know what you think either in the comments or by email.

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*edit* I've tested in Safari and Firefox browsers where it works fine but there does seem to be a problem with images not printing in Google Chrome. I'm looking into it.

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