Pop-Up book of Opposites- Cover Page

Hey everyone! This is the second part of my pop-up book of opposites tutorial. I would sincerely recommend you read part 1 as it is an important introduction to this tutorial series. If you missed it read it here. In this post, I will discuss the method for the cover page.

It is difficult to add any 3-dimensional pop-up components on the cover directly since there is no central fold. In order to compensate I added some fun components using a pull strip and hub and pivot mechanism.

Part 1: “Opposites” Pull Strip

Here I have used half of a blue A4 size sheet of paper as the base to the cover. I left about an inch on the left side of the sheet and drew a line vertically of length 16.5 cm roughly leaving the same amount of space on the top and bottom. Remember to mark this lightly as it will eventually be erased. It is only for an estimate of where to draw out the letters. Divide this line into 9 sections for the 9 letters of the word “opposites”. Now trace out the letters and cut it out from this section using a blade.

For the actual pull strip, I have taken a white A4 size paper. I have folded this in half and cut it to the height of 17.5 cm (keep it folded so it is double layered). Make sure that this strip is slightly bigger than the length of the cut-out letters. Following this, I have altered the strap on one side to make a smaller size pull strip on the end. This pull strip has to be in the centre of the main strip. So from the top and bottom of the strip, mark a point about 6.5 cm away. The length of the strip end is 4.5 cm with a curved edge for ease of pulling it. It might also help to slightly taper the horizontal edges so that this pull strip end will go in and out of the slit made later on. Finally stick the two sides of the folded paper together to form the thicker strip.

Next, we have to turn this sheet and we will work on the back of this sheet. We need to make markings on each side of the letters cut out. This marking is made at a distance of about 1 cm from the cut out letters on each side. Basically, we need to draw rectangles to the height of the letters from this mark. To the left side of the letters, the width of the rectangle is 1 cm. I did the same thing on the right side as well, but this turned out to be a mistake which I corrected later on. The width on the right side needs to be about 2 cm, else when we pull the strip it comes out of the loop and when we push the strip it won’t go back in.

If you have not guessed already, these rectangles marked are for loops that have to be stuck. Now since the length of the strip is long, the strips of paper for the loops need to be over double the size of the strip. So, in this case we need to stick two strips of paper for each loop. The width of the left-side loop is 1 cm and that of the right-side loop is 2 cm. The colours of the paper used for these loops do not really matter as they would not be visible.

Apply glue to the rectangle drawn on the base sheet and stick the lower side of the loops to this. Following this, place the white strip inside the loops to and stick the ends of the loop. Make sure to apply only a small amount of glue else any glue that leaks will end up sticking to the strip.

From the left side loop, mark a spot 7.5 cm away. Then vertically mark the midpoint of the length of the letters cut out. From this midpoint mark about 2.25cm cm on each side to get a line of 4.5cm. Mark two very small inwards tapering cuts as shown in the overview picture. Use a blade with a mat under the paper strip to cut out this slit. The inward tapering cuts are to ensure smooth movement.

The 2 steps above can be done in any order. As you see in my pictures, I have gone a bit back and forth on each step.

Next, insert the end of the pull strip through the slit and turn the sheet around. We need to make a boundary marking of the letters on the inner white strip. Can do it for few letters only for a general estimate as we would erase this mark later on. Next slightly pull out the pull strip (until you don’t see the earlier marks through the opening) and mark the letters again. Now pull the strip out and you will notice that you can make two sections next to each other. I have drawn lines to demarcate these sections. Remember to erase the letter marking before moving on. The second line is not so important, I in fact erase this line later on. For the left side section, place the upper sheet on top of it and mark the lower edge of each letter. This is just to divide into 9 sections so that I can add one colour to each section. If you want the colour added in a different way to what I have done, then you can do it as you please. I then erase the second line as mentioned before.

Put the strip back through the loops and the slit, pull the strip so that the colourful section is visible through the letters. Now carefully turn the sheet back. Here we will add two small strips of paper each side of the strip right next to the loop. This works like a stopper so that the strip cannot be pulled any further. The length of the strip can be a little smaller. When I do the binding of the book, I actually cut the length a little. It just needs to jut out a little beyond the loops. Also, the length it is currently, I do not have any space at the edges of the blue sheet to glue it later on.

There you are, the pull strip is ready. I wrote “Pull me!!” at the corner of the pull strip to draw attention to it.

Part 2: Smiley face Hub and Pivot

I have used yellow card stock for this mechanism. This mechanism is actually quite easy do make. You need four circles. For ease of understanding I have numbered them in the outline picture. I used a radius of 3.5 cm for three of these circles (1-3). Of these three circles, two have a small jutting out section as you see in the picture (2 and 3). These two circles also have a small circular hole in the centre. I stuck these two circles together so that it becomes a thicker layer. This was needed for additional sturdiness so that when the jutting strip is moved there is no folding.

Next, I take the smallest circle (4), which is of a radius of about 1.2cm. Slits are made on opposite sides of this circle as shown below. For reference if you see the outline picture, cut where the dark lines are and fold the dotted line. When these slits are folded they should just about fit through the hole in the bigger circle (stuck 2 + 3, let’s call this circle 5). 

Following this, we need cut out the windows on the opposite ends of circle 1 as shown. This is for the eyes and mouths of the two emotions. Once the windows are cut, place it above the circle 5. Then, draw corresponding eyes and mouths for one emotion each on opposite sides of the circle. Make sure you note that the strip jutting out is at a correct position (preferably at 1 o’clock position when first emotion is drawn and then to 5 o’clock position when second emotion is drawn). Then I used some marker and gel pens to darken the emotions.

When you have pushed the folded slits through the hole of circle 4, stick the upper edges on the lower side of the circle 1. Align the windows with the emotions correctly. Apply glue on the lower edges of circle 4 and stick it to the base blue sheet.

Lastly, I drew a nose for the face just to fill up the empty space in the centre. There you have it your smiley face hub and pivot is now ready. 

Part 3: Background

Once I was stuck the two components on the base sheet, I added some basic lettering with gel pens.

That completes the tutorial of the cover page. Hope this helps. I will return soon with the next blog for the next page. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below. I know this is not my typical video tutorial series. But somehow I felt written with outlines are more important to follow the procedure. The gifs may appear fast but they are technically not required. You can follow the written instructions with the outline pictures easily.

Until next time. Bye!