Let's Talk Pop-Up!!!

Hello everyone! I recently uploaded a video on my YouTube channel on a pop-up book I made. A few of my followers requested for a tutorial post this. When I started editing the raw footage I had, I felt I could not do as much justice with it with a video. I thought it felt very rushed if I were to make a video in my usual style. That got me thinking and I felt it was time I revived this blog and decided to start the tutorial here instead. 

In case you have not seen the video I am talking about do check it out by clicking the link here.  I would recommend watching the video before reading ahead.

 

Disclaimer: I am not an expert in pop-up. This is infact my first experience making one. I followed tutorials by Mr. Duncan Birmingham. Please find the link to his channel here. Anyone who is serious into exploring pop-up might want to consider watching his tutorials as they are quite simple and detailed. The purpose of my post here is only to go into specific details of how I took details of his tutorials to serve my purpose of making an opposites themed book. 

Basic Principles

The actual components that pop up out of the page have to be aligned into the central spine of the page. In the picture below you can see that the giraffe and mouse are pieces that pop out of the page and are aligned into the central spine. The same holds good also for the main barn structure.

Alternatively, pop up pieces can be added into gullies that form by existing components. Check out the horse which is outside the barn. This is stuck into the gully created by the barn. Also, in the kitchen page, the fridge is the main pop up which is aligned into the central spine. The oven is added to the gully created by this.

One other way to add pop up off centre is by the use of a strap. I will discuss this element in detail in future but you can see the picture below where the box of flowers while being a pop up element is not in the central spine or any gully but is shifted away from the centre of the page.

Different combinations of mechanisms used in pop ups. You can have one component which holds up another and so on and so forth. In my book it is relatively straightforward. While each page has different mechanisms, there is no complicated mixture of elements into a single bigger element.

Material

Paper- slightly thicker paper with higher gsm helps the structure of pop up become more stable. In my stock I had different coloured paper in different thicknesses. For sheets that were thinner, where needed I have stuck two sheets together to increase the thickness.

Other stationary supplies- Scale, scissors, blade (with mat if possible) and glue.

For some of the components only we need a protractor and compass.

Paints, colour pencils, sketch pens etc.

Tips!

Try to do trials first if possible. You could use regular A4 size paper for these trials. This is especially recommended if you have limited supplies of the specific colour of thicker paper.

Mistakes are likely especially if you are just entering into pop up work like me. But sometimes you can carefully pull out the component with a mistake and redo it fresh. In the picture below, I initially made a giraffe which ended up being a bit longer and jutted out of the page when the page was closed. In addition to this, since the paper was thinner, it also lacked stability when it was opened and bowed into a side.  

Plan! Plan! Plan! However, these plans are subject to change as you work on the book. It helps to better structure the book and its elements.

Decide on the background elements before you stick the pop-up element (image of colouring the green sheets). However, if there are certain other mechanism like slots and hubs planned it helps to do that first.

Add the details on the surface of pop up prior to sticking to the main page. Such as the windows and doors drawn on the out of the barn and the details on the oven. Because once the pop up is stuck, it will be a bit delicate and adding details would be difficult. This might not hold good for the 2 dimensional components like the shelf which can have details added later on as well.

The folds in every component need to be proper. Fold each fold back and forth a few times so that when it pops up it will take shape.

This is not really a tip but more of a comment- I also prefer to make this kind of interactive books with felt and cloth as you can see in my earlier videos as they end up being sturdier. Making pop up structures with paper give a nice 3D effect though.

Mechanisms

    Only details on mechanisms I have used in my book would be discussed. Some of the names of the mechanisms and terms might sound complicated. But they are here only as an introduction. I will be discussing on the method to make each of these but if you want to learn about each of these in more detail check out the YouTube channel linked at the beginning of this post.

Pull strip- In this mechanism, there is a small window in the upper page and a strip which sticks out of this page. When pulled, we can have the image in the window change. I have used this mechanism three times in the book- on the cover page for the word “opposites”; the section in the barn with the off and on, showing the horse inside the barn; and lastly the flowers in the vase which was a filler.

Slots- Pulling the strip here can move an image in the direction of pulling. In my book, I have used this with the hare and tortoise.

I have made the barn by using the technique used to make a house. Before sticking the barn into the page I added a pull strip to one of the sides. An afterthought to making this pull strip is that when it was stuck to the page, the use of the pull strip was not easy as it was not very sturdy.

Basic parallelogram- This mechanism can be used to make structures pop up either in the central spine or in the gully created. I have a few parallelograms in the book in the kitchen page. I have also propped the horse outside the barn with a parallelogram.

Hubs and Pivots- This creates a circular structure which rotates. The top layer can have windows added into it can reveal different objects. In my book, I have used this with the smiley face in the cover and also the circle for the word ‘small’.

Asymmetrical V fold- This asymmetrical structure is used to make clouds which hold up the helicopter.

Floating plane- The bridge is made by this mechanism.

Strap- This mechanism is used to shift the gully of the pop up away from the central fold. In the example here as you can see the empty box and box full of flowers open out in a section away from the central fold.

Flap- There are different types of flaps. In my book there are two types- one where the pulling the strip makes the tree stand. In the second type pulling the strip makes two flaps of the shelves open.

 Symmetric parallel fold with added creases and counter folded strips are used to make the giraffe and mouse.

Dissolve tab- Pulling on a strip allows the picture to dissolve and change. This is used in my book to change the scene outside the window between day and night.

Open topped shape with lattice work- The box is an open topped square and there is some lattice work inside which prop up the flowers.

This post is just an introduction to the upcoming tutorials of making this book. This tutorial series will perhaps remain a blog post rather than a video.

Stay tuned everyone! I will be back soon.