Here's a quick paper project I put together for #truelove to make up for me being away for a couple of days. I'm sure she won't mind if I share it. The two nesting boxes are just big enough for a treat size choc and once open one box balances on the other making this interesting sculpture.

If you are a member you can download the parts from the link above, thanks for signing up! I printed out sheet one onto white card and sheet two onto pink. Pick the colours you like. 

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Carefully cut out the heart shapes. Keep them to one side and you can pop them in with the chocolate later.

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Score the dotted lines and carefully cut out the pieces. Pre-crease the fold lines for easy, neat assembly.

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Glue the blanking squares onto the back of the heart shaped holes.

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Fold up the inner box and glue together the sides.

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Add chocolate and fold down the lid.

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Make up the outer box in the same way. Drop the inner box into the outer box and fold down the lid.

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That's it! The triangle hole in the base serves two purposes. 

First it lets you push the inner box out...

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...and secondly, it lets you balance the inner box on the inverted outer box. Cute :-)

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I've been working on a new way to create Zines. The current version that I've used for previous zines such at the Lever Zine, here, is based on a single sheet of paper folded and cut. It works well but has some limitations. Firstly as it is to be printed out onto a single sheet, the individual pages are small. Secondly, each zine is restricted to exactly eight pages, no more, no less.

The new layout I have come up with is not restricted in the number of pages in each zine. Also, the page size can be up to almost half of a sheet of standard printer paper though I have used a quarter page size for this prototype. It still maintains the advantage of being easy to print out, printing is required only on one side of the paper. The new design also has the advantage of being make-able with scissors only. No knife is needed.

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Each leaf of the zine, two pages, front and back, is made from a single shape, shown above. The dimensions are shown here, if you are a member you can download a blank template with two of these on a single sheet for you to try out.

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The main page units fold up like this...

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... and are joined together by gluing the long tab to the back of the next page.

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I used a single rub from a glue stick on the back of the sheet...

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...then glued the edge down to the tab.

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With four (or however many you want) of these units glued together the final zine spine is made by folding the last remaining long tab over the edges of the book centre (1) The sheet which will be the back cover of the book is then folded down and glued to the long tab.

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And there you have it. Eight page zine, ten page zine, twenty page, whatever you like. Easy to use, easy to make.

Expect to see a finished zine in this new format soon!

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This pair of connected pop up boxes makes an interesting starting point for your own character designs. Members can download the parts for free at the link above. Print out the pages onto thin card and modify the finished project to make your own unique pop up character.

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Score along the dotted lines, cut out the holes then carefully cut out the two parts.

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Join the two pieces together by carefully gluing the two grey squares face to face. Make sure no glue extends beyond the grey areas. Complete the join by folding the small tab through the hold and gluing to the back of the adjoining piece.

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Fold round each of the two boxes and join the ends by gluing the front faces of the two hooked tabs together.

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On each of the two boxes, join the two sides furthest from the hooked tabs together.

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Hook a long thin elastic band over the smaller of the two hooks, thread it through the small hole and hook the other end onto the larger of the two hooks. A straightened paper clip can be helpful with this.

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Complete the project by gluing the remaining sides together.

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Fold the two sides flat, release and watch it pop up!

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Don't be restricted by keeping your model one way up, make and animal character with the boxes lined up horizontally.

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Make a Character with a fat body...

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...or a large head.

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A paper pudding to download and make. I offer this project as a festive gift to all my subscribers. Thank you all, I couldn't run this site without you!

Print out the parts of the the dodecahedron pudding onto thin card. (230 micron 67lb)

Score along all the dashed lines and carefully cut out the pieces.

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Fold up and glue together the top half of the pudding.

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Glue the second part of the pudding to the corner as shown so that the wavy cream lines match.

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Glue up the rest of the shape until only one flap remains. This allows you to get your fingers inside to to aid with the gluing process. Once done, glue closed the final flap.

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Glue the hanger to the top of the pudding. (The top is marked with a small circle)

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Curve the holly leaves to give them depth and realism then add them to the top of the pudding.

That's it! Hang the decoration proudly from your tree. Festive felicitations one and all!

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Daughter #1 has returned to University in Worcester where she is studying Graphic Design. I wanted to post her some bits and pieces and thought it might be nice to fashion and tear-open envelope for the purpose.

After a quick search around the house I failed to find any unopened rip tabs so I had a look through my favourite packing book to see if there was anything there.

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Sure enough, this layout showed up.

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Without scale I had to guess the dimensions. My first attempt was seven millimeters wide.

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It fell apart at the first pull.

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I changed the dimensions, almost doubling the width and lengthening each individual unit.

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It still ripped. This time, though, I suspected other problems than just the dimensions. Sure enough, when I pulled at the other end of the tab it unzipped perfectly! Not for the first time, the illustration in the book was incorrect.

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I flipped the base units around and tried again.

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Perfect!

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Rather than just making a normal envelope I thought I'd try a diagonal rip tab. It works a treat! And so, without further ado, I present the rip tab envelope. If you are a member you can download it from the link at top of the page and make your own. Print out the parts onto thin card, score the dotted lines and carefully cut along the solid lines before carefully cutting out the pieces. Glue the top and bottom pieces to the centre piece as shown.

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I printed two copies of the page glued together to make more room for writing.

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Fold the envelope round the pages.

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Apply an even layer of glue to the outer triangle as shown. Don't get glue on the rip tab. Fold round and press down.

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This picture shows the front and back view of the envelope ready for an address and stamp.

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Rip the tab to open the envelope!

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After I'd completed the Flying Cow project I had a spare cow head just lying around doing nothing. "Trophy Cow" I thought. And so, without further ado, I present this special, members only download. It fits on a single page and only takes a few minutes to do but the result is quite cute I hope you'll agree.

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Print out the colour or mono version onto a single sheet of thin card (230 micron / 67lb) Score along the dotted and dashed lines then carefully cut out the pieces.

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Starting from the top of the shield, fold over and glue down the tabs to make a right angled triangle. After the top, fold down and glue the two sides then the four sections of the curve.

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Complete the shield by adding the hanger as shown above.

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Fold up and glue together the neck.

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Assemble the head and the horns

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Glue the horns to the head, glue on the eyes then glue the fringe into place.

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Glue the neck to the grey area on the shield.

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Complete the trophy by adding the head to the neck. 

Find a suitable place to hang your trophy cow.

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Which is best, a paper hinge or a hinge balancing on a knife edge. There's only one way to find out. Experiments!

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I've put together three pendulum in box experiments. One with a paper hinge, one with a card hinge and another where the edge of a triangular tube is resting against the side of a box like a knife edge. I then set the pendulums a-swinging to see which would run for the longest. Bet you can't guess which worked best!

If you are a member you can download the parts and try the experiment for yourself. Print the parts out onto thin card (230 micron /67 lb) Score along the dotted lines then carefully cut out the parts then follow the instructions for construction below. Scroll to the end if you can't wait to find out which was best.

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There are two slightly different layouts for the two designs. You'll need two of the first page and one of the second page to make both types. 

The first instructions are for the paper hinge pendulum. There are red circles on the parts specific to this model. 

Cut out the hole in he top of the box following the black line. You can see clearly on the picture below right where the hole is. Fold up the flaps on the sides of the box to make right angled triangle sections as shown above.

Make up the triangle stiffener piece with the red circle and glue it next to the hole so that it runs underneath where the blue lines are.

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Glue the box ends into place.

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The knife edge box is slightly different. Cut out the hole on the top to include the area surrounded by the blue line and cut out the two slots outlined in blue. Glue the two longer triangle pieces long ways along the underside of the box as shown.

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Complete the box in the same way as the other one.

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Assemble the hinge as shown above and add coins to the end. The weight on the coin is not critical so long as they are the same on both models. I used UK 2p coins, roughly 7 grams each.

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Assemble the second pendulum as shown above, this time adding a hinge made of the material of your choice. I tested paper and card.

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Fit the pendulums into place and start them swinging. Which will run the longest?

In mine, the paper hinge was slightly better that the knife edge. That really surprised me. It was close though with one at 75 seconds and the other at 68 seconds. My other test, with the card hinge ran for only 20 seconds.

Let me know what you find out!

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This project is an offshoot from the development of the Flip Face project, it features a pair of gears. One with forty teeth, one with eight teeth. Members can download the parts from the link above, thank you for signing up!

Print out the parts onto thin card (230 microns / 230 gsm) Score along the dotted lines and cut out the holes before carefully cutting out the parts.

Glue the two large gear squares back to back but with one rotated at ninety degrees to the other so that the grey stripes on the back piece on the picture above would be horizontal.

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Glue the teeth to the gear body using the grey areas for alignment.

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Leave the last section of teeth unglued.

Roll round the gear body and glue it together.

Glue the last tooth down. Carefully shape the gear body so that it is as round as possible.

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Apply a thin layer of glue one of the gear sides and fix it to the gear body using the grey gear  outlines for alignment. Press it down on a flat surface for ensure the glue is gripping well.

Slide in the axle.

Fit the other side into place making sure that everything lines up. 

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Glue the stiffening parts to the front face of the large gear.

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Flip the gear over and glue the remaining stiffeners on the back. The combination of vertical and horizontal stiffeners help keep the gear flat as it rotates.

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Fold round and glue together the two side pieces as shown above. Note the the triangle tube sections top and bottom are right-angled triangles.

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Assemble the handle in three steps. 

Fold up the two sections of tube.

Fold them one inside the other  then roll the long tab round and glue it down.

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Glue the axle into the large gear lining it up with the grey centre line. Glue the two axle supports  into place front and back, these will both support the axle and keep it lined up straight.

Glue the two washers into place lining them up with the grey lines on the axle.

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Carefully cut out the teeth to complete the big gear.

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Fit the two box pieces to one of the box sides using the grey areas for alignment and drop the eight toothed gear into place.

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Fit in the second gear then glue the other box side into place.

Glue the handle onto one of the shafts - the choice is yours. If you glue it to the small gear, the large gear will turn only a fifth as fast as the large gear. If you glue it to the large gear then the small gear will spin at five times the speed!

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Here's a quick (faster than light!) model for members to download for free at the usual link. This flying saucer isn't animated but does look cool next to your computer screen. It might even ward off invading aliens! Have fun :-)

Print out the parts (either colour on mono) onto thin card (230 micron / 230 gsm) Score along the dotted and dashed lines then carefully cut out the pieces. Dotted lines are valley folds, dashed lines are hill folds, grey areas show where to glue.  

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Fold up and glue together the dome making sure that all the edges are lined up accurately.

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I tried a couple of different ways of gluing the two sections of the saucer together. This technique seemed to work best.

Fold the tabs inward on the top and bottom of the saucer pieces.

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Apply a thin layer of glue to all the tabs on both the top and bottom. With the two sections flat on the work-surface, join the two halves together to that the tabs are interleaved. Keep the edges lines up as accurately as possible.

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Pull the two ends of the saucer together and glue them.

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Fit the dome into place from the underside of the saucer.

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Glue the three legs to the grey areas.

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Glue the feet to the legs.

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Engage! Make it so! Etc.

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If you are a member, you can download and make the sleeve to hold your shiny new pendulum zine Simply print out the part (there's only one!) onto thin card, cut, fold and glue. Keep your zine pristine. Look out for sleeves for the other zines as well.

Thanks for signing up!

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