I showed the cube animals on Paper Box World to my daughter, who was instantly smitten.
My first thought was, "Hmmm, cute, but can I make them fold flat?"
Absolutely! You just need a couple cuts, a couple folds, and the paper hook and rubber band mechanism from Mark Hiner's book, Up-Pops: Paper Engineering With Elastic Bands
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How to make a fold flat cube cat
Download, print, score, and cut out the cat from Paper Box World.
Score and crease two diagonal lines on the cat model where shown by red lines. I usually fold these creases one direction, then reverse the folds and crease them the other direction as well. This will help the model unfold completely.
Lightly pencil two diagonal cut lines as shown by black lines.
Start assembling the cat
Glue the tab of the square with tail attached to the head square.
Allow to dry briefly, then cut on the diagonal penciled line.
Glue the tab of the bottom square (the square with the Paper Box World label on it) to square on the right of the head.
Allow to dry briefly, then cut on the diagonal penciled line. (Hey, what happened to the triangle on the top of the cat's head? Must be tucked underneath!)
Construct and attach hooks
Download and print the rubber band hooks.
Score and crease the red fold lines.
Cut out the hook pieces, on the blue lines.
Glue hook pieces together, only at the hook ends. Apply glue to the backs of the hook pieces, just between the red lines. Fold each piece in half where the hooks meet and adhere halves together.
Allow glued together hooks to dry completely. Cut around the hooks. Cut out the little black triangles and the lines from the triangles to the outside edges of the hooks.
Flip the cat model to the wrong side.
Glue hook pieces to the back of the cat model as shown, lining up the crease of the hook piece with the crease of the cat.
Continue assembling cube, gluing the tabs on the top and bottom squares of the cube. Leave the last, vertical, seam at the back of the cube unglued for now.
Add rubber band pop up mechanism
Scroll down on this post about rubber band pop up cubes for hints on attaching your rubber band.
Choose a rubber band that is slightly shorter than the diagonal of the cube. You can tie an overhand knot in the center of a too-long rubber band to shorten it.
Hook one end of the rubber band to one hook, then attach the other end to the other hook. I like to use needle nose pliers or long tweezers for this.
Glue the last seam on the cube.
Here is a video by elliesnipper showing how to make a mailing sleeve for a pop up cube.
Extreme Cards and Papercrafting: pop up cards, movable and mechanical cards, digital crafts and unusual papercrafts.