6: Papercraft.

I discovered the art of papercraft accidentally one day about two years ago while I was looking on Google Images for a picture of the Weighted Companion Cube from Portal. Instead of a regular picture of the cube from the game, I found this:

I wanted one. I had to have it. So I downloaded the template and went about trying to cut and glue the pieces together with regular scissors, super glue and a pair of tweezers.

This was a bad candidate for a first papercraft, I soon found. It was tiny and complicated. I learned very quickly that papercraft is not as easy as it looks. My first paper Companion Cube was a failure that got thrown out. But I was determined, so I went on my way, looking for other templates. I soon found myself looking at blogs all about papercraft, and finding that there were more than just paper Companion Cubes. There were all sorts of things - characters, food, animals, toys - you name it, there is probably a papercraft of it.

I read different tips and found that an X-acto knife with a cutting board is generally considered the best method for cutting out pieces of papercrafts, and learned that super glue isn't really your best bet when it comes to putting them together. I bought some good old-fashioned Elmer's and an X-acto knife, and I went crazy. Soon the top shelf of my desk was filled with all sorts of characters, all made out of paper. Eventually that was too full and I had to start putting them on my printer. I got more and more skilled and started making more complicated things.

Two years later, I'm still papercrafting. I've had a few failures here and there, mostly due to poor design on the creator's part. But the top shelf of my desk is now a random pile of papercrafts. You can't even see a lot of them. Some of my favorite ones, or the newer ones, are on my printer so that they are more visible. These include a complicated model of American McGee's Alice and a detailed Companion Cube that's about five inches tall. I've given away papercrafts as gifts to several people. Although the work is not fully mine, I think the effort that goes into it makes it special.

Currently, I am working on this papercraft of Osaka and Chiyo from Azumanga Daioh:

It's fairly complicated, and I've run into a lot of problems along the way, both mine and the designer's faults. I've been working on it for a couple weeks now (I do have other things to get done, you know) but I'm very close to being finished. Osaka has been done for well over a week but Chiyo has been going very slowly. I just have to finish up her arms and legs and I can put her on the base next to Osaka and it will be complete.