What started off as a pose-able elbow joint has morphed into a fully pose-able arm. The last step has been a wrist joint that allows the hand to rotate and move back and forth.
The fingers and thumb need reshaping but overall the result is rather pleasing. A wrist joint where the hand can be moved but once moved, stays where it is put.
The wrist fits into the forearm
The finished arm has three joints, shoulder, elbow and wrist and the flexibility to be posed into a wide range of positions. I'll be building a body round it next. I'm thinking it might make a nice poseable artists mannequin...
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Further experiments with pose-able elbows. I've modified the previous elbow joint. The arm is now tapered along its length. The joint still works well and remains pose-able.
I've also added a rotating wrist joint and hand.
Members can download the parts for this version at the link and play along at home.
The basic assembly is the same so I haven't repeated those instructions, just follow the same assembly as the previous project. I have, however, added further instructions for the hand/wrist below. Print out and cut out in the usual way then follow the guide below.
Thread the tabbed washer though the hole in the cross shaped piece.
Glue the circle of card onto the tabs. Make sure that it is free to turn.
Glue the two hand parts back to back with the semi-circular tabs not glued.
Glue the tabs to the centre of the card circle.
Fit the cross piece into the wrist and glue it into place with the ends of the tabs lined up with the end of the sleeves.
I had glued the arm to this cardboard box so that I could take pictures for the stop-motion animation at the top of this post. The eyes and mouth seemed like a natural addition :-)
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An experiment in pose-able elbow joint technology. The aim of this joint is to create a single axis joint with ninety degrees of movement that will stay in whatever position it is placed. It is intended to be an elbow or knee joint in a pose-able paper character. The result has no holes so can be can out using only scissors.
If you are a member you can download the parts for free at the usual link. Thanks for your support!
Download the single sheet and print it onto thin card (I used 230 micron which is roughly 67lb). Score along the dotted line and cut out the parts.
Fold up and glue the two boxes.
Join the two boxes together so that the hinge runs in a straight line from one box to the other.
Fold over the two semi-circle ended covers and glue them down to make double thickness card.
Glue the covers onto one each side of the box so that the small red cross lines up with the point that the hinge goes from one box to the next
Glue the cover piece into place so that it covers the semi-circular end covers. Make sure that it is free to move!
That's it. Once the glue is dry, the elbow joint should be moveable but should stay in position once you stop moving it.
I'm going to try a slightly tapered arm next with perhaps a rotating wrist at the end.
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Heisenberg. Poseable paper character from the TV series Breaking Bad
The head on the paper character moves up and down and side to side. The arms move with two degrees of freedom.
This project is free to download. Print out the parts on thin card. (230 microns, 67 lb) Notice that the fifth sheet is printed on both sides. Print out the front, flip the card and return it to your printer then print the back. Score all the dotted and dashed lines and cut out the holes before carefully cutting out the pieces.
Roll round and glue together the hat side.
Fit the side into the hat rim with the join at the side as shown.
Glue the second rim into place then glue on the hat top.
Glue the nose to the grey area.
Glue the beard to the grey area.
Let the glue on the nose dry completely then fold round and glue the head together. Glue in the darts at the top of the head to complete the head's shaping.
Glue the glasses to the bridge of the nose and then the ears.
Roll round and glue together the neck so that it lines up with the edge of the coloured area, arrowed.
Glue the lower ring strip into place.
Starting with the wider ring strip so that the end is lined up with the step in the neck tube, roll it around the neck and glue it to itself. The ring needs to be free to turn.
Glue the final ring into place trapping the rotating ring on the neck.
Cut out the two 'U' shaped holes.
Fit the head holder pieces to the tabs as shown so that they are free to rotate.
Fit the head over the neck. Glue the head to the head holders lining up the edge with the shot black lines on the head.
Glue the hat into place.
Fold over and glue down the arm ends to that the card is double thickness.
Once the glue is dry, cut out the hole and the outline of the shoulder ends.
Fold up and glue the arms. Fold the elbow joint and glue it together.
Roll round and glue together the shoulder tube.
Fix the three rings into place at each end of the arm in the same way as you constructed the neck joint.
Glue the tab pieces onto the rotating rings.
Glue together the body.
Line up the lapels with the edge of the back of the neck hole.
Glue the inside edge of the lapels to the body. Lift the edge of the lapel slightly with a pair of tweezers.
Thread the shoulders into the body then glue the shoulder strap to the shoulder tube.
Roll round and glue together the legs.
Glue together the top half of the legs.
Curve the shoes along each of the tapered lines. Glue together the shoes.
Glue the feet to the legs.
Glue the legs to the completed body so that the white line is just inside the body.
Fit the arms over the tabs on the shoulders
Secure the tabs with the washers so that the arms are still free to move.
Shape the hands by curving them gently.
Fit the arms into the sleeves.
Fit the arms into the sleeves.
That completes the model. Wait for the glue to dry completely before the trying out the posing.
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A poseable apatosaurus to print out and make. the project comes in both camouflaged colour and line only forms so you can add your own colour scheme.
Print out the parts onto thin card (230 micron / 67lb) and follow the instructions to make your own papersaurus.
Carefully cut out all the holes and score along the dotted lines before cutting out the pieces.
Assemble the body as shown in the picture above. The rectangular piece in the middle of the body helps stop the sides from squishing inwards once the model is complete. Leave the two flaps on the base open as shown.
Make up the four legs by folding the pieces in half and gluing them together to make double thickness card. Make sure that the tabs on the back aren't glued down.
Once the glue is dry carefully cut out the legs.
Make up the largest tail piece and the largest neck piece. These two parts are identical.
Fit one to each end of the body. Thread the tabs on the body through the holes. Cover the sides with the appropriate cover piece gluing it so that the tabs are free to rotate. Keep the piece moving as the glue dries to ensure that it doesn't stick into one position.
Thread the legs into the appropriate holes in the body. (Use the picture in the next step as a guide) Glue a circle of scrap card to the tabs on the inside of the body. Move the legs to ensure that the glue doesn't bind them.
With the neck, the tail and the four legs in place the model should look like this.
Close up the base and glue it down.
Starting from the end of the tail, add pieces by threading the tabs through the circular holes in the next size piece then gluing the appropriate cover into place.
Work your way along the tail repeating this process.
Glue the completed tail to the tail stump on the body.
The head is made in basically the same way. Start from the neck and work your way down. Add the eyes to the head.
The completed neck should look like this.
Glue the neck to the neck stump to complete the model.
Make a small herd and see if they can take on your paper T.Rex!
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As a partner to the T.Rex model I'm planning a new papersaurus project. Not sure what yet, perhaps a sauropod of some sort. (The ones with the long necks and tails) or maybe a stegosaurus. To that end I've been experimenting with jointed tail design. Rather than over complicate things with a collection of two axis joints I wanted to find out if single axis joints along the length of the tail could still make an organic looking design.
I have spilt the tail into five sections. Each section has a horizontal axis joint at one end and a vertical axis joint at the other.
At each joint along the tail the joint will bend first up and down then side to side alternately.
Here are the five sections joined together.
The result, even with these simple joints and only five sections can be shaped into quite natural looking poses.
I'll be putting these parts up for members to try but it might be Tuesday before I do as I'm off to Yorkshire to visit my parents tomorrow.
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A Poseable Paper T.Rex to download and make. The finished model has moveable arms and legs as well as a head that moves up and down and an opening mouth full of slightly terrifying teeth.
The download comes complete with three duifferent colour T.Rexes and one for you to colour with your own design. The project is free for members. Non-members can download the parts for £2.50
Print the parts onto thin card (230 micron / 67lb) Notice that in the colour versions sheet two is printed on both sides. Print out the front, flip the card and return it to your printer to print out the back. Smaller T.Rexes can be made by printing out at a reduced scale. The young one above is printed at 71% normal size.
Score along the dotted and dashed lines and carefully cut out the holes before cutting out the pieces.
Glue together the four parts of the body carefully lining up all the edges.
Lift the tabs on the rear legs before folding the card in half and gluing it down to make double thickness card.
Carefully cut out both legs.
Glue the leg tabs to the feet. Notice the leg at the ankle slopes back a little. Use this to make sure you have the feet facing the correct way.
Fold up the tabs on the forearms before folding the piece in half and gluing it down. Cut out the forearms. Careful not to cut off the tabs!
Thread the hind leg tabs through the appropriate hole in the body. Glue one of the larger caps to the leg tabs. Make sure you don't get any glue on the inside of the body. A coffee stirring stick is useful for applying glue.
Move the leg as the glue dries to make sure that it is not sticking to the body.
Repeat the same process with the remaining three limbs.
Glue together the head.
Glue the two head inners into place with the tabs sticking out as shown.
Assemble the jaw.
Gently curve the tongue using a round pencil.
Assemble the tongue support.
Glue the tongue support into the mouth lining it up with the back of the jaw.
Glue the tongue to the tongue support. (Use tweezers to help) The tip of the tongue should be just in line with the end of the jaw.
Fit the head to the holes in the top of the body.
Fit the jaw onto the same tabs and glue the last of the caps to the tabs making sure that everything is free to move as the glue dries.
Glue on the eye.
And there it is. The most fearsome of the paper predators!
Try printing them out at different scales to make a family.
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Poseable faerie. Final stages of assembly.
I once saw a mushroom that was this big!
Care to dance?
Taxi!
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After the fun with Surly Jack I'm back on finishing my Faerie project. I think it will probably end up as a static model but with poseable features.
I've used the same poseable head joint as with previous projects but with a slight change. Instead of making the head so that it can nod and rotate, I'm making it so that it can rotate and tilt. Yaw and roll if you like. This is fairly straightforward to achieve, I just fit the joint side to side instead of front to back
After the usually struggle getting the hair design sorted I have a head I'm quite pleased with.
I've mounted the joint across the head and fixed it into place with the chin raised slightly.
The result is this rather coquettish tilt of the head.
Looking good so far, its going to look great on the top of our tree!
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