25 Feb Makin’ Love Books: February 23, 2013
Makin’ Love Books, with Sally Blakemore!
Demo in Review
The popup session was really fantastic. Lots of people attended, and everyone got really into it and created their own individual 3D explorations. Sally put the demo in a nutshell for us, and here it is. Thanks, Sally!!
1. SCORING and PLACEMENT: After scoring your base page and folding it in the middle, make certain that your pop-up pieces, when folded, meet at the folds. The pointed corner of the folded pieces will touch the center fold of the paper. Otherwise, when the page is opened the tension of the base page pulling against the middle score of the pieces will tear and pull it apart in the middle.
2. PRACTICE FREE-FORM PAPER ENGINEERING. Take a basic format i.e., round out, V-folds, platform or box and just play with ideas on your base page while open. Then close it and crush the paper inside while burnishing. Once you open the base page again, you can examine where the paper wants to fold and use those folds instead of calculating angles. The paper will tell you what it wants to do.
3. WHEN YOU BEGIN A NEW IDEA, REMEMBER YOU CAN’T MAKE A MISTAKE. Everything can be trimmed or altered on the first cut. Refinements can be made on the second cut. Depending on how precise you want the pop-up to be, you can refine it as many times is necessary.
4. EXPECT TO REBUILD YOUR IDEAS AT LEAST 5 TIMES. Once you have built the first pop-up, take a push pin and mark where the pieces glued to the base page by pushing little holes into the base at the corners of the glued tabs for reference. Take photos of your creation, so you can remember how it looked before you disassembled it. Take all the pieces apart and trace them for the second round of cuts. Refine the pieces as you take your creation apart, to rebuild it a second time.
5. FORMATS: Once you absorb the format structures, it will be easy to think ahead of cutting. You will be able to think in terms of the formats you have learned. Play into the paper and balance your illustration or graphic ideas with the format. The visual images and the structure will become one. They will be visually balanced and will create more than the sum of their parts.