My second zine is done and ready to download for free at the link.
The instruction for construction are the same as for the Cam Zine. Blog post here and Video here.
While I am typing this I'm print out twenty copies as a special signed/numbered limited edition. If you would like to receive a copy simply make a donation of at least £2ukp / $3usd at the link above and let me know the address you'd like me to send it too. Hurry though, there are only 20 (All gone!) and the Cam Zines went fast!
This zine is on the subject of levers.
It is packed with all sorts of illustrations and facts belied by its compact size!
The finished zine should be like this where black lines are cut lines, dotted lines are valley folds and dashed lines are hill folds.
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As a special thank you to all the members of robives.com I'm delighted to present this free festive download.
This collapsible tree sits nicely on your desk or mantlepiece and folds flat for easy transportation. I hope that you enjoy the model and the season. Thanks again to all the members, I literally couldn't run this site without you!
Print the parts of the project onto thin card. (230 micron / 230 gsm) Score along the dotted lines then cut out the holes before carefully cutting out the pieces.
Fold up and glue together the base and sides of the box.
Glue the box inners into place lining them up with the hole in the side of the box.
Fold the top down and glue it into place making sure to glue the top tabs on the box inners as well.
The trunk sections are fitted with tabs which are zig-zagged to make double thicknesses of card. Some fold inwards, some outwards, use the dotted and dashed lines and the grey gluing areas to show you which goes where.
These double thickness tabs are glued to the inside of the trunk
Assemble the four trunk pieces.
Curve round and assemble the three branch cones.
Glue the trunk section labeled 'Top' to the inside of the top cone. Make sure that is it straight.
Fit the trunk sections 2 and 3 to their appropriate branch cone at the end opposite to the double thickness tabs.
Fit the last trunk section over trunk section 3. Make sure that the inner and outer double thickness tabs are on matching faces. These will stop the tree expanding too far.
Fit the other two cone sections into place in the same way.
Complete the tree by gluing it into place over the hole in the base.
Once the glue is completely dry you will be able to collapse the tree by pushing it down then restore it to ful height by blowing into the hole in the side of the box.
Festive felicitations!
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A picture is worth a thousand words. Moving pictures must be worth at least twice that. To that end, I'm creating a YouTube video explaining the best techniques for making paper toys from printing and aligning to scoring and cutting. The Agreeable Sheep seemed like the perfect subject for such a video but just needed a few small changes. And so, for your cutting and sticking pleasure, I present here, a slightly updated version for you to follow along with at home. YouTube video soon.
Print out the parts onto thin card (230 micron / 230 gsm is perfect)
Score along the dotted and dashed lines then cut out the holes before carefully cutting out the parts of the model then follow the instructions for construction below.
Not one to stand out of the crowd, our woolly friend agrees with everything you say...
"Is this a good colour scheme?"
"Yes!"
"Would you like to go for a walk?"
"Yes!"
"Are you having a good time?"
"Yes!"
"Does my bum look big in this?" ...probably best not to ask. With this agreeable model you need never get a second opinion again.
Baa baa baa!
Fold up the two triangular sections on the box sides to make right angled triangles.
Glue the two box halves together.
Glue on the lid. Note that the hole in the box top goes to the front of the model.
Fold the two flaps on the base down and glue them into place.
Fold in and glue the four vertical flaps to form triangular tubes one of which is arrowed above.
Fold up and glue together the body inner. Glue it to the inside of the body in the position shown.
Fold round and glue down the other side of the body.
Fold up and assemble the head.
Glue the tab on the neck to the inside of the head.
Fold the coin holder round a single 20mm diameter coin roughly 4 grams in weight (One UK Penny is perfect for the job)
Glue the penny to the inside of the cam follower then glue the cam follower closed.
Assemble the push rod tube. Glue the large tab on the end of the push rod to the inside of the cam follower so that the edge is lined up with the edge of the cam follower arrowed above.
Thread the push rod up through the hole in the top of the box then glue the tab on the back of the cam follower to the back of the box as shown above.
Fold of the cam to make double thickness card then carefully cut it out.
Assemble the axle and thread the cam onto it gluing it down onto the grey areas.
Thread the axle into the box lining up the green ends.
Assemble the handle in three steps. Fold up the two square sections. Glue one section into the other. Roll round and glue down the long tab.
Glue the washers to the axle then glue the handle into place.
Glue the push rod to the head so that the crease in the tab lines up with the end of the neck tab arrowed.
Glue the four feet to the box using the grey pads for alignment.
Complete the model by gluing the neck to the front of the body. Turn the handle to see the sheep nod.
Now that wasn't so bad was it?
What do you mean, "Yes"?
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Daughter #1 told me she was going to read "The Wizard of Oz". I thought it might be nice to have a bookmark with a pair of witch's feet apparently stuck under her book.
With the aid of SketchBook-Pro and Illustrator, I made this bookmark, which I now present so that you can download it for free at the link. It's not animated nor is it any sort of paper engineering apart from the fact that you need to fold it in half to make it thick. Despite that, I hope that you like it.
It turns out that I mis-remembered what book Daughter #1 was reading, it was actually "Alice in Wonderland". She liked the bookmark though.
If she does read Oz again I'll make her a Mock Turtle bookmark.
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S/stan reminded me about the Curious Cuckoo Whistle which I had originally posted on Flying Pig website some time ago. Flying Pig is now entirely dedicated to printed material so I thought that I'd dust off the file and add it to robives.com.
The curious cuckoo whistle is a real novelty in paper engineering. A simple box shaped whistle that produces two distinct notes. The pitch is changed simply by touching the sides of the box.
The file is available for everyone to download for free. Just click on the link. Print the single page out onto thin card (230 micron, 230 gsm) score along the dotted lines then carefully cut out the parts. Accuracy is important on this project, if the parts are mis-aligned or there are holes in the box it probably won't work.
Fold up and glue together the box...
...and glue the tab down
Glue the sides of the box over the top of the box making sure that the parts are aligned.
Glue the saddle into place lining it up with the edge and the base of the box
Let the glue dry completely.
To use the whistle hold it top and bottom between thumb and forefinger of one hand. Touch the burst pattern on the side with finger and thumb from the other hand to change the pitch.
I'm not sure how it works. Anyone got any ideas?
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#1 Daughter has been making creations for an Egyptian themed art project. One of the items she created is this rather attractive gift bag. She has very kindly let me add it to the site for everyone to share.
Print out the two pages (either mono or colour) onto standard printer paper (80gsm). Score along all the dotted lines and pre-crease all the creases. Glue the two pieces together.
Fold round the parts and glue them together to make a rectangular tube.
Fold in the base like this.
Glue the base flaps together. It doesn't need much glue.
Fold the top flap in and fold it over to make a double thickness. Glue the flap down with a thin layer of glue.
The bag can now be folded flat using the pre-creased score lines.
Fold the handles in half and glue them together to make double thickness paper.
Glue the handle to the inside of the of the bag using the grey areas on the handle as a glue guide.
Complete the bag with the second handle.
The file comes in two version, mono and colour. It is free for anyone to download and fully editable with the appropriate software. (We used Adobe Illustrator)
The original hieroglyphic text said something along the lines of, "this is my design for my art project" but has got a little muddled in the editing.
You can still see #1 Daughter's name in the cartouche though. Can you translate what it says?
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robives.com is made possible entirely by the members and shopper on the site. Thank you to everyone who has signed up, bought downloads or made a donation, I couldn't do this without you!
Paper Pop, an animated version of Matt Hawkin's paper toy is now available for everyone to download for free. The model is driven by a coin weighted pendulum. Touch the box and Andy's head sways side to side and his legs swing back and forth. You can see Matt's original model and posts about the model's development at these links.
The model comes on six pages. Print the first page onto standard printer paper (80 gsm) The remaining pages should be printed onto thin card. (230 gsm / 230 micron)
Score along the dotted lines and cut out the holes before cutting out the parts. Both these jobs are easier on whole sheets of card. Dotted lines are valley folds, dashed lines are hill folds. Solid lines show where to cut.
Notice that I've cut round the edges of the glasses with a sharp knife so that they pop out from the side of the head. Fold round and glue together the head.
Glue together the two parts that make up the hair.
Glue the head fixing point into the head so that the triangular face is vertical and running front to back across the centre of the hair piece.
Glue the paper hinge to the top of the neck, make sure that you don't get glue on the crease as this will stiffen it up once the glue has dried.
Glue the hinge to the head fixing point. Let the glue dry completely before the next step.
Assemble the body as shown.
Glue the neck to the body. Use the grey areas and the small red triangles to make sure that the neck is lined up accurately with the body.
Fit the head to the hair with the four tabs. Clip the nose into place.
Fold round and glue together the box.
Slot the body onto the top of the box. Glue the two leg stumps down onto the box.
Fold round and glue down the tabs on the bottom of the box front and box back to make a triangular section tube.
Glue together the box front and box back. Take care to ensure that the parts are accurately lined up.
Glue the box tabs within the square on the box top. Make sure that you line up the two 'fronts'.
Once the glue is dry, cut out the odd shaped in the box top with a sharp knife.
Glue the box top into place, again making sure that the 'fronts' are lined up. Fold the two base flaps round and glue them into place.
Fold the four pairs for vertical flaps on the box sides inward and glue them down to make four triangular tubes. (Not yet done in the picture above.)
Fold round and glue together the box top stiffener and pendulum hanger.
Fit the pendulum hanger first. Note that the large rectangular base is used for alignment by fitting it right into the back corner of the box. Notice that there is a small gap between the triangular piece and the box back.
Glue the box top stiffener across the underside of the box. This will keep the box top level when the weight to the coins is added to the pendulum.
Assemble the two bell cranks as shown above. Don't worry, they are not supposed to be at right angles.
Fit the drive pins to the long sides of the bell cranks as shown.
Glue on the paper hinges. Again, make sure that you don't get glue on the crease line. Notice that there is a half millimetre gap between the crease line and the edge of the bell crank.
Fit the two bell cranks into place in the box. Use the grey areas and small red arrow to make sure that alignment is accurate.
Assemble the pendulum as shown above. I don't need to mention about not getting glue on the hinge crease right?
Glue the pendulum to the pendulum hanger.
Fold the linkage in half and glue it together.
Glue the paper hinges into place. Glue on the crease? No.
Fit the linkage between to two bell cranks. The notch in the linkage should just rest on the pendulum end stop (arrowed). As you move the linkage back and forth the drive pins should move alternately back and forth.
Glue the paper linkages to the drive pins.
Fit Andy to the top of the box with the drive linkages threaded through the hole in his tv box.
Glue paper knee hinges to the top of the legs. (Glue. Creases. Don't)
Fit the lower legs to Andy's leg stumps. That's better!
Glue the linkages to the back of the legs. As you do so make sure that the linkages are not going to catch on the top or bottom of the tv box hole and that the legs aren't going to snag each other.
Take four coins. (I use UK 2p pieces, 25mm diameter 7grams each) Wrap them tightly in pairs with the coin holders.
Glue the coins to the pendulum. Make sure that the coins aren't going to catch anywhere on the box or the mechanism.
That's it. Once the glue is dry whenever you touch the box Andy's head will sway and his legs will swing.
Make your Paper Pop model now. What are you waiting for!? Your fifteen minutes of fame awaits!
Thanks to Matt Hawkins for allowing me to modify his splendid model.
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I'm back from working on the back end of the website, still a bit more to do but I'm give it a break for a day or two. Here, then, is the final shape of the dragonfly wing linkage. Notice how the parts cross over so that the wing pairs move in opposite direction. I've attached a file of the parts that I've used for you to try out if you are interested. The instructions are pretty basic but there are only a few parts and I'm sure you'll be able to work out what is going on
From there it is just a case of gluing the wings to the wing stubs, making sure that they don't catch on each other as they move up and down.
I've then added a couple of linkages to pull the wings up and down.
The next step is to mount this lot onto a blade of grass and connect the linkages to the pendulum.
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My True Love is suffering from an end of school term cold. She's wrapped up in a blanket with a honey and lemon and a box of tissues feeling sorry for her self.
To cheer her up I made her this little Mouse Hug model.
I share it here for anyone else who's true love is ill.
You can download the pdf for free at the link.
Get well soon!
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"What's to stop me becoming a member for a month, downloading everything, then cancelling my membership" went the recent email. And of course he was correct, if he did do that he wouldn't be the only person. It is becoming increasingly obvious, as the back catalogue grows, that whole system is just not right. It seems almost as if monthly members who are regular, loyal payers are missing out compared to those who swoop in and download. I've been thinking about this for a while, looking round, to see if there are any solutions out there. I've found lots of websites that have subscriptions but all seem to have the same problem. After lots of thinking and planning and researching I think I've come up with a solution. Tell me what you think of this. Does it sound fair? This'll be for new subscribers, current subscribers will stay as they are.
For example: On 14th Feb 2011 you sign up for a monthly membership. You pay your £3. This lets you download all the projects produced until 14th March 2011. You can also download all the projects from the archive back to 14th Jan 2011.
The next month, you pay your £3 monthly membership, this gives you access to all the projects until 14th April 2011 but also, you now have access further back in the archive to 14th Dec 2010. (True Love's birthday by the way :-) And so it goes, each month you get access further back into the archive.
If you sign up for an annual membership you'll have immediate access one year back into the archive and if you buy the plus membership you'll have instant access to it all.
I'm really pleased with it as a way forward. What do you think?
Oh, and I've linked the snap up heart model with this post, in case you missed it in the archives. Happy Valentine's Day
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