Here is the 2024 update for the dino calendar.  For 2024, I have also added a new color scheme for the dino – dark gray with lime green highlights: Dino crafting template – dark gray 2024 edition Here are the downloads: 2024 monthly calendar cards (2 pages) 2024 weekly calendar cards (9 pages) I wish […] Read more

Here is the 2023 update for the dino calendar.  Here are the downloads: 2023 monthly calendar cards (2 pages) 2023 weekly calendar cards (9 pages) I wish all of my dear readers a happy and prosperous year 2023!  And here are the previous installments: 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2022 Read more

Here are the brand new 2022 calendar pages for the dino calendar. My sincere apology for not updating the calendar for 2019 through 2021! This was an extremely busy time for me, with a lot of personal things I had to attend to, and I just didn’t find the time to take care of the […] Read more

Some of you have already asked when the 2018 update for the dino calendar will go online. Well, ask no more, because here it is: The 2018 edition comes as a plain white template – ready to be colored in by you. A lot of you folks have asked recently about black and white templates […] Read more

Now, here is something for scifi movie aficionados: K’s toy horse from Blade Runner 2049, recreated as a papercraft project. Comes complete with the date inscription at the bottom, of course... Read more

For those of you who are fans of Donald Duck and/or papercrafting, here is a huge collection of vintage papercraft templates which were part of the monthly German ‘Mickey Mouse’ magazine. The site’s name is Seite 42, which translates to ‘page no. 42’ – the place in the magazine where the papercrafting projects were to […] Read more

A lot of you have asked for a 2017 update for the dino calendar. Well, finally here it is. In case you don’t know what I am talking about, this is it: A nice little stegosaurus, which holds monthly or weekly cards, where each card’s tab doubles as one the blades of the stegosaurus. The […] Read more

For a kids’ church activity, my wife recently asked me whether I could create a Baal bust (don’t ask!). This is what I came up with: It looks surprisingly good, considering that it is made entirely from cardboard. I used gold-colored acrylic paint, which turned out excellent, and makes it seem very solid. It’s only […] Read more

Remember my miniature airplane display case? Well, I recently received a custom order for the design of new airplanes. Turns out the requested airplanes are some of the most interesting ones ever engineered. It was great fun working on the models and reading up on the background of these planes. First was the Boeing 747, […] Read more

Here is a very nice project in which I took part. It's a new papercraft book, beautifully illustrated by the very great Mina Braun, an incredibly talented illustrator. I was asked to do some papercraft designs for Mina's illustrations, and was very grateful for the enjoyable collaboration. Read more

Some of you may remember the series of business card holders (butler, scientist, sheriff, beaver) I did some time ago. Here is a quick tutorial on how to make them: Start by cutting out along the contours of the template: Fold along the edge of the base, so that the front is at a 90° […] Read more

You always wanted to be the mayor of a sprawling, vibrant city? Here is your chance with this desktop city: A collection of tiny buildings and vehicles that is easy to build and looks great on even the smallest space. Read more

Even if you are not from the UK or US, you probably know the song 12 Days of Christmas. I am somewhat partial to that song, with its very nice, over the top imagery of ever more luscious gifts being piled onto the dearly loved recipient. It lends itself very well to illustration, of course, […] Read more

As promised, here is the 2016 update for the dino calendar. This includes the weekly and monthly cards as well as a brand new color edition: For 2016, I went with a classic beige/gray. But of course, you can build your dino in any of the existing colors – the templates are at the bottom of […] Read more

Everyone loves robots, right? The nice robots of the good old days, of course, not some shape-shifting terminator bent on the destruction of mankind. So since Christmas is drawing near, for those of you who can’t wait, here is a vintage robot advent calendar. You can buy the whole set, but there are also three […] Read more

Want to give your kids something other than candy for an advent calendar? Why not a papercraft project. This one is for a winter village, and it contains 24 easy to make buildings. From a tiny shed to the village church, some are big, some are small, but all are cute and snowy. One reader, Mike, […] Read more

Here is a set of 26 box templates, one for each letter of the alphabet, available from my Etsy store. They make a nice wrapping for a personalized gift. You can use them for initials, spell a whole name or even a little message: Here is a video for a closer look: They are about […] Read more

These 20-sided dice show the numbers 1 to 10 (each two times). By using two, you can easily have your kids practice multiplication tables from 1 to 100. Make two dice, roll them, and calculate the product. Or, if you use three dice, you can practice divisions as well: Roll two for the two digits […] Read more

This is a pop-up book about a very important topic: Vaccines. Vaccination is the most effective measure against preventable infectious diseases. Unfortunately, a lot of people are worried about possible side effects and too few are aware of the very serious consequences of supposedly ‘harmless’ diseases such as measles. Here is a video of the […] Read more

Just in time for Halloween, here is a little skeleton kitty. This one is not difficult to build, so have a go and let the ghost cat gaze deep into your soul. Read more

Low poly design is quite popular these days. Luckily, it’s actually not that difficult to do, since it effectively is the reduction of complex forms into something much simpler and a bit abstract. This is why last weekend I set out to doing a low-poly bullfinch: For my German readers: Den Dompfaff gibt’s auch auf […] Read more

Jonah and the whale is a story almost 3000 years old, but it hasn’t lost its fascination. For a children’s church project, I designed this whale and Jonah, who fits into the whale’s maw: This proejct is not difficult to build. Here are brief instructions on how to do it: All flaps and accompanying opposite […] Read more

Many papercraft printables are not accessible to younger children – they require motor skills that only come with age. At the same time, papercrafts are a perfect pastime for young children: They teach important construction and manual skills in a playful way, let children learn about shapes and geometry, and they provide a lot of space […] Read more

I am currently working on a new project which will be an animated / kinetic model, a bit similar to the multiplication machine. I have to say, a kinetic model with its moving parts is at least an order of magnitude more difficult and time consuming than a static model. Here are pictures of various […] Read more

History, unfortunately, led to two different paper format systems in the US and Europe – US letter and the A series (here is an interesting history of paper sizes). The PDF templates on my website are generally in the A4 format. If you are using US letter format (or any other format, for that matter), you […] Read more

Great news: My papercraft alphabet is coming out as a book! So for those of you who felt that printing and cutting out the 26 letters was a bit too much of a time investment (which, frankly, I absolutely understand), here is your chance of making the alphabet:   The letters in the book are […] Read more

For the aviation fans among you, this might be interesting: I will exhibit paper art at the Aero Expo. The Aero is a global trade show for general aviation, taking place in Friedrichshafen, Germany (near the very beautiful Lake Constance) April 15-18. I will be part of a very nice art show called ‘AEROkunst’ which […] Read more

Prompted by a comment from Marcus (thanks for the great idea!), I have turned the paper planets into Christmas baubles. They actually turned out very nice, and in mid-air from a tree gives off a much more planetary impression than when they sit on a shelf. And they are easy to make, too. When assembling the […] Read more

Upon popular request, I have updated the original dino calendar for the year 2015. Not only that, but I have created a new violet variant for the new year. You can find the new template below, as well as templates for weekly and monthly cards. The original, green, dino can be found here, and there is […] Read more

Something for astronomy geeks: Our solar system as a DIY papercraft kit. The set contains all eight planets, sad little pluto who not too long ago got demoted to 'dwarf planet', and - of course - our home star, the sun. Read more

Today I wanted to share a little prototype I was working on for a charity event. It’s not yet finished, but well on its way. This is a money collecting box with a parrot sitting on top of it. Whenever someone drops money in the box, the parrot says something.   Here is a video: […] Read more

You may remember the paper maneki-neko or lucky cat I made a while ago. Today, I made an update to the design – meet grumpy maneki-neko. (Disclaimer: Although this is an infinite loop, since the model is not motorized, in reality, the arm stops after a few swings). She (did you know grumpy cat is […] Read more

Halloween is coming up in a few days, and here is an appropriately themed pair of models: It’s Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. And since there are still some people out there who think the monster’s name is Frankenstein, the two have donned tee shirts that explicitly make clear who is who. By the way, the name […] Read more

We recently spent a few very nice days at the sea. I knew there would be a beach with very neat sand, and so I prepared some toys for the kids. Before I go into details, I should mention that a short while ago I bought a 3D printer kit (which, by the way, works […] Read more

And finally, after Blam! and Yeah, we end the 3D typography series on a somewhat darker note: Argh, it’s already sinking… This one, as opposed to Blam! and Yeah, consists of six different pieces that need to be set up correctly. If that’s too cumbersome for you, I suggest gluing them to some support. Here […] Read more

Recently, I started experimenting with 3D typography in the form of bold, blocky words. Here is the first result: I have to admit that this model is somewhat difficult to build: The shape of the letters, when extruding into the third dimension, form a lot of nooks and crannies. If you still want to try […] Read more

A free template which you can customize with a QR code pointing to your website (or twitter, facebook, whatever you desire). Just enter a text, click the button and download the PDF. Read more

Here is a silly little idea I had for Easter: Egg hats. They actually turned out quite nicely, and are a nice touch to colored or plain eggs. And they are made completely from paper. We have: … the top hat for the distinguished egg head:       …the fedora, for eggs of fashion: […] Read more

Here is something for kids learning basic math: The groceries game is about going to the supermarket and shopping for everyday groceries. So how does it work? First of all, this is not a competitive game. There is no winner or loser. You just buy and sell items to your co-players. However, I found that […] Read more

    This was a commissioned work I did for a company, as promotional items for a trade show. The idea was to provide easy, precut templates that would fold into origami-like animals effortlessly and without glue. We wanted to give people something they could play with, even if they had never done any kind […] Read more

Even in this day and age of velcro, kids should learn how to tie their shoelaces. You can use a real shoe for that, but depending to what extent that shoe was in use before, this can get a bit messy. I have created a little learning tool for my kids: It’s basically a flat […] Read more

    Ok, here is the third (and possibly final) installement of my three-piece series of elephriend customs: The devil elephriend.   He is the evil (and grumpy) counterpart to the angel elephriend. Here is the template. PS: The third one is the steampunk elephriend. Read more

Here is another custom elephriend, based on the template published by the Urban Paper Collective: The angel. Here is the template PS: Here is the counterpart, the devil elephriend. And here is the first one, a steampunk elephriend. Read more

The Urban Paper Collective has released a ‘platform toy’, the ‘Elephriend’. What they mean by platform toy is that this is a blank papercraft template that you can use as a starting point for your own designs. Well, I did, and the result is this steampunk elephriend:       Here is the printable PDF […] Read more

My daughter’s birthday is coming up, and she asked to have a theme: Under the sea. Today, we started on the invitation cards: Not too shabby, don’t you think? At least my daughter liked it. I will post more on the theme once the party is over.   Read more

  Just made the latest addition to the Cubicity set: A female scientist. This was a custom request by a reader, Trudy, who rightfully felt that women were a bit underrepresented in Cubicity. So, here she is:   She has a beaker in her other hand, which makes her both a chemist and a physicist […] Read more

Here is a set of very educational paper toys: The numbers from 1 to 10. Not just simple numbers, though - these come with a trick: Each number has a length proportional to it's numeric value. So two is double the length of one, three is 1.5 times longer than two, and so on. That means that it's very easy to do math with these numbers, in particular subtractions and additions. It's so easy, in fact, that my 3 year old son (who knows what the numbers look like, but can't actually add or subtract) spontaneously started doing math with them. Read more

I wanted to have a simple, easy to build mascot that I could use in header graphics for Twitter and Google+. It's a shelf sitting cube guy. This one is really easy to make, so feel invited to download the PDF template. Read more

A lot of people have asked me if I will provide 2014 cards for the stegosaurus calendar. Good news: I finally managed to update the cards. (Den Kalender und die Karten gibt’s auch auf Deutsch, und zwar hier) I have made monthly and weekly cards, so you can choose according to your preference. Speaking of […] Read more

A nice little paper toy gun, marrying peaceful hippie style to the lethal force of frontloaded 17th century muskets. Read more

Here is a kind of ‘interactive’ model and actually quite a nice toy: A ‘working’ instant camera made from paper:   So, what do I mean by working? Well, you can turn the crank on the right-hand side and the camera will output a picture you have taken. The mechanism is robust enough to work […] Read more

I haven’t posted in a long while, and the reasons are twofold: First, my job is currently keeping me extremely busy, which hopefully is a temporary problem only. And second, I am currently working on a papercrafting project that is much more complex than originally anticipated. I hope it will soon see the light of […] Read more

Just in time for the end of this year (and Christmas, in case you want to make this as a gift for someone), I have updated the stegosaurus calendar (you will find the template for the stegosaurus itself behind this link). This time, I have decided to make cards for a weekly calendar as well as […] Read more

Another use for the stegosaurus calendar is as a telephone directory. Here are suitable cards: Actually, the use as a directory and calendar is not mutually exclusive: You can put the calendar cards in front, and the directory cards behind them: And here is the PDF.     Read more

You may remember the stegosaurus calendar. In addition to its use as a calendar, you can do all kinds of other things with it. In order to facilitate this ‘hacking’, I have prepared a template for blank cards: Here is the PDF. Read more

Here is a quick photo tutorial for those of you who want to build the stegosaurus calendar. Very importantly, make sure that you use thick enough cardboard. Something in the range of 300 g/sqm is fine. If the cardboard / paper is too light, the model will easily warp and the cards may no longer […] Read more

I had some requests for adding the wisemen to the nativity scene template I posted about a year ago. So right before Advent Sunday, here they are: See the original post for the downloadable PDF template. Read more

Following up on my previous post of a Maneki Neko / Lucky Cat, here is an alternative design courtesy of my five year old daughter (if you are more interested in the original, more traditionally textured model, click here): She decorated a blank test model with a black felt-tip pen. This is probably just a […] Read more

Here is a quick little papercraft project for Halloween – a skeleton for the kids: This one is quite easy to make, however you may need to tweak it a bit in order to have it stand stably. Here is the PDF template: skeleton.pdf Want even more Halloween fun? Here is Frankenstein and his monster. […] Read more

Finally a new model, and  frankly one that I’m a bit proud of – after all, it did require quite some work to get it right in the end. And it’s my first one with movable parts. It’s a  lucky or beckoning cat,  popular in Japan and China (where I got the inspiration, when I […] Read more

I admit this is “somewhat” kitschy, but it can still make for a nice little gift for children, if you want to give them a set of pencils or felt-tip pens (kids love kitsch). It’s a peacock pen-holder: In case you wonder what the golden scribbles mean, and if they maybe are the next Voynich […] Read more

Update: The alphabet is now available as a beautifully printed book. Since it contains the letters already precut, it saves a lot of time. I noticed that the papercraft alphabet created some interest among people who are not (yet) experienced in papercrafting. Therefore, some letters turned out to be a bit too difficult for some, which […] Read more

This is my take on the matryoshka theme: Six women from all walks of line, nested one inside the other: Of course, from a practical point of view, these dolls are somewhat lacking. As opposed to the ‘real’ matryoshka dolls made of wood, the paper version is very fragile and a bit finnicky to open […] Read more

A complete alphabet where each letter visually represents a word starting with that respective letter. The papercraft alphabet bridges the gap between the visual appearance of letters and their phonetic sounds. Read more

Here it is – the last letter of the alphabet. Congratulations if you made all 26 letters!   You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. Here is the template as a PDF file. Read more

This is basically the single one animal starting with the letter ‘Y’ both in English and German. If you have made all 24 letters coming before this one in the alphabet, you will be relieved to fnd that this one is very easy to make. You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft […] Read more

This is what it looks like when you x-ray a letter – you did know that they are made of flesh and bones, right? You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. Here is the template as a PDF file. Read more

Walrus are strange animals, when you look at them closely. Even more so when they are turned into the shape of the letter W. You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. Here is the template as a PDF file. Read more

Vampires seem to be quite en vogue these days. Well, I prefer the old-school ones over their ‘new millenium’ counterparts. I was slightly tempted to include a bit of blood tripping from one of the canines, but then I didn’t want to have to explain to my five year old daughter about the staple diet […] Read more

Turns out there are surprisingly few concrete nouns in English starting with the letter ‘U’. And technically, UFO is not a noun but an acronym. Anyway, I think for the purpose of the papercraft alphabet, this works quite nicely: You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. Here is the template […] Read more

The tiger is again easy to make. I realized soon after having finished the design, that he looks much more clueless and much less fierce than his relative, the lion. Sorry, tiger – you may be in for a redesign in the future. You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. […] Read more

The snake is vaguely modelled after the Garter snake (with different colors, obviously). It is once again somewhat difficult to build, with all the curvatures. Prepare to be patient with this model and glue segment for segment, making sure that each part is solidly sticking before moving on to the next one. You will find […] Read more

What better thing to represent the letter ‘R’ than a colorful rainbow? I have to warn you that the ‘R’ is a bit difficult to build, what with the small inner space and the many angles. You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. Here is the template as a PDF […] Read more

Ok, I admit it wasn’t easy to come up with something representing the letter Q. Quetzalcoatl is the best I could do. Quetzalcoatl is a mesoamerican god whose name means ‘feathered serpent’. He is one of the more important Aztec deities. You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. Here is […] Read more

The parrot is once again an easy template, except maybe for the curvature of the beak. Very importantly, don’t forget to glue a small weight into the base – such as a small coin. Otherwise, the parrot will fall over.   Here is how to make the P (the photos are a slightly updated version […] Read more

Making the orange ‘O’ is a bit difficult because of the inner ring. I suggest you start with gluing it to one side, then the outer ring to the same side, then cover everything with the other side. You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. Here is the template as […] Read more

Congratulation: If you made all other letters in alphabetical order, you are now halfway there – this is the 14th of the 26 letters. In typical ninja fashion, this guy is quite sneaky: If you approach him from the front, he looks just like a plain and inconspicuous letter N. Only if you look at […] Read more

Beware of the fear-inducing monster that is the letter M: You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. Here is the template as a PDF file. Read more

The animal to use for the letter L was obviously quite easy to decide: The majestic lion. You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. Here is the template as a PDF file. Read more

Technically, this letter is actually two animals – mother kangaroo and her joey in the pouch. I should warn you that cutting out and assembling this letter is a bit challenging – the parts around the faces are quite small. You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. Here is the […] Read more

The jester is relatively easy to build, however you should take care to glue a small weight (such as a cent coint) inside the base, otherwise he will fall over on his face. You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. Here is the template as a PDF file. Read more

Enjoy the easiest to build letter – the Indian. He is wearing a sherwani, in case you were wondering. Some people are worried about the ethnic / cultural reference, so in case you need to steer clear of such issues, here is an alternative: I for Insect: You will find the other 25 letters of […] Read more

Probably the most abstract of the papercraft letters – the handshake: I only realized after the fact that these guys have but one hand. Well, I think the letter still works as it is, but maybe this is a good candidate for a revised version sometime in the future. You will find the other 25 […] Read more

The papercraft gorilla for the letter G: You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. Here is the template as a PDF file. Read more

Ok, I admit I had struggled a bit with the animal for the letter F. Flies are not exactly my – or, I imagine, most people’s – favourite pet: No need to even pretend this is cute, but hey – there aren’t too many animal names starting with the letter F both in English and […] Read more

And another letter animal – the elephant: You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here. Here is the template as a PDF file. Read more

The doctor is in: And not only does he administer absolutely painless treatments for all your health-related woes, he is also part of the papercraft alphabet. Here is the template as a PDF file. Read more

This colorful C-shaped chameleon is part of the papercraft alphabet. If you are interested in a more realistic looking chameleon (well, sort of), I have a full-fledged chameleon model as well – look here. Here is the template as a PDF file. Read more

Obviously, this beaver has eaten its share of water lillies. Here is the template as a PDF file. And here is the rest of the alphabet. Read more

So, here it is – the first letter of the papercraft alphabet. The astronaut: Here is the template as a PDF file. Read more

Nothing to see here, just a dinosaur doing science. His biggest weakness? Meteorites and volcanism. His biggest strength? The theory of evolution. He’s a strong believer in white labcoats and safety goggles. Here is the PDF template. Read more

Arrr… yes, mate, your eyes aren’t betraying you – this here is a pirate fish: And not the Somali kind either, but a true buccaneer, navigating the seven seas shipless. This one turned out nicer than I expected, therefore I almost feel inclined to make a whole crew – or should I say, school? – […] Read more

Ok, I’ll admit it: I’m officially an old man. I know Beatlemania is long over, and society has moved on, but what can I do – I’m still a Beatles fan. And as embarrasing as it may be, I especially like their classics. Such as Lucy in the Sky. And when you listen to that […] Read more

Here is something for the science buffs – or, more specifically, the genetic engineers among you: The X and the Y chromosome: Well, Y here lacks an arm and is quite small, but he makes up for it with his charms and not a small dosage of confidence. X, on the other hand, is all […] Read more

This is a valentine card with a special trick – when you rotate the image, it changes. I found this very cool idea and concept on the Extreme Cards and Papercrafting blog, and more specifically on this page – a very nice blog with a wealth of unusual, eye-catching and beautiful papercraft projects. Here is […] Read more

I decided to start a ‘line’ of very, very simple papercraft toys. I’m calling it Cubicity, as these have a, well, rather square shape, and the overall topic is slightly urban. Well, actually the cubicity people come from all walks of life, and if you look closely you will even discover that some are from […] Read more

This is a small cardboard toucan: It can sit on the corner of, say, your NEC monitor. In order to make that work, you have to glue a small weight such as a coin to the inside of the feet, like so: This will give enough balance to keep the bird safely atop of any […] Read more

Another year begins, meaning it’s time for a new calendar. It just so happens I made a weekly-calendar-enabled stegosaurus: Now the most interesting feature of a stegosaurus, on which Wikipedia has to say quite a bit, are the plates. Large scaly disks, of which neither the exact configuration nor the function seems to be entirely […] Read more

Now that I have featured the fox, the crow and the bear finger dolls, I wanted to show you all three together. All three being forest beasts, they go together quite well, the cheeky crow, the sly fox and the relaxed bear. These are extremely easy to make, and should be doable for kids at […] Read more

When it comes to finger dolls, it seems I have a slight bias for northern European forest beasts. Here is a crow: This one goes well with the fox and the bear. Here is the template as a PDF file. Read more