Crafting with Paper: Choosing the Right Material for Your Project
Types of Paper: Choosing the Right Thickness: Personal Preferences: Color Options: Crafting Creativity Unleashed: Exploring the Potential of Paper Crafting
What is 3d Papercraft?
3D papercraft is the art of creating three-dimensional objects from paper. The process is simple: you cut out the template pieces, fold them along the designated lines, and use the extra flaps on the template to glue the parts together. Each connecting edge and flap is numbered, so you just need to match the numbers on the edge and flap, then glue them in place. That’s all there is to it!
What you need?
- Paper – For taking printout of our templates. For best results use 180gsm paper. For more details of paper quality refer our blog link.
- Cutting tool – Simple scissors is enough for beginners. You can also choose other cutting tools like cutting knife, scalper, box cutter or any sharp objects.
- Ruler – For cutting with straight lines and make folds in cutting
- Glue – Any papar adherent glues. Do not use high sticking glues that are used in plumbing or quick fixes.
- Cardboard – For supporting the printed paper if you need more support.
- Self-healing cutting mat – Not mandatory for beginners, but good to have.
Printing
You can directly print the pdf format of out template. Most of our templates are coloured/textured. So colour printing is recommended. If the template does not have textures [like lighthouse, teacup etc ] you can print on black and white.
Cutting
Position the ruler along the solid lines, and use a cutting knife or your preferred tool to make straight cuts through the paper. Occasionally, the knife may slip away from the ruler, potentially damaging parts of the model. To prevent this, always angle the ruler so that it points away from the model. Here’s a picture to illustrate the technique.
You can use scissors for cutting the outer lines.
Folding
There are two ways to fold models: with the printed sides facing outward or inward. This guide uses the inward method, so no numbers or lines will show on the final model.
Aside from solid lines, there are Mountain and Valley lines. Mountain lines form a peak, while Valley lines fold downwards like a valley.
In my templates, these lines are based on the printed side. For a Mountain line, fold with the printed line on top. Since the printed sides face inward, the folds will appear reversed on the finished model.
The diagram below shows how these lines appear.
Gluing
When gluing, apply glue only to the “flap”—there’s no need to glue both sides. Each edge is matched by a number, so a flap numbered 182 will connect to an edge with the same number.
Be sure to apply glue to the non-printed side of the flap, as the flaps should be inside the model, hidden from view.
It’s best to assemble most parts individually before attaching them to the rest of the model. Often, the flap and its corresponding edge will be on the same piece.
That’s it. You have assembled and made a perfect papercraft. You can start with out FREE templates.
Happy papercrafting!!!
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