Tag Archives: animal

#133

2015-12

2016 dino calendar

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 […]

#127

2015-10

Halloween Cat

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.

#124

2015-09

Low-poly bullfinch

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 […]

#123

Jonah and the whale

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 […]

Bird Cage Egg

2015-04-02

This is a 3d print I made last minute for Easter: A bird in an egg-shaped cage. The egg is just a little bit smaller than a real chicken egg. I like this one in particular because it is something that would be difficult to do with injection molding – at least in one piece and one step.

The kids like it very much. And it is a fast print – about 20 min.

You can find the model here. I have made two variants, one with a ring to hang it, the other without.

Also, since we are on the topic of Easter trinkets, here is a beautiful model by Mirice on Thingiverse which I printed: An origami bunny in plastic:

#108

2014-09

QR Cat

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.

#88

2012-10

Maneki Neko – Lucky...

Maneki Neko – Lucky cat

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 […]

#87

2012-09

Peacock penholder

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 […]

Z is for Zebra

2012-07-01

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.

Y is for Yak

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 alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

W is for Walrus

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.

T is for Tiger

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.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

P is for Parrot

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 from the Alphabeticals book): First, glue a small weight (such as a 1 cent coin) to the back of the parrot, from the inside, near the bottom. This will allow the parrot to stand up and not fall over:

Next, glue the edge faces to one of the two P sides, following the outline:

Finally, close the shape by gluing the remaining P face to the edge.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

M is for Monster

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.

L is for Lion

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.

K is for Kangaroo

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 template as a PDF file.

G is for Gorilla

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.

F is for Fly

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 German.

When you build this, it is very important that glue a small weight – such as a cent coin – into the base, otherwise the center of gravity will be too far to the right and will make the fly fall over.

You will find the other 25 letters of the papercraft alphabet here.

Here is the template as a PDF file.

E is for Elephant

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.

C is for Chameleon

2012-06-30

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.

B is for Beaver

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.

#58

2012-04

Scientist dino

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.

#57

2012-04

Pirate fish

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? – […]

Cubicity model #012 – Crocodile

2012-01-18

At first glance, you might confuse the crocodile with the swamp monster, both being green and somewhat menacing and all. Crocboy, however, would strongly object. He claims to actually be quite a nice and wellbehaving crocodile, who’d never do anybody harm. Big boyscout promise.

Here is the template.

#29

2012-01

Toucan

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 […]

#28

2011-12

Papercrafted weekly calen...

Papercrafted weekly calendar stegosaurus

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 […]

#27

2011-12

Three finger doll animals

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 […]

#26

2011-12

Finger doll crow

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.

#25

2011-12

Finger doll fox

Following the finger doll bear, here is his good friend the fox: Again, very simple to build, definitely worthwile as a beginner’s project. And here is the PDF template.

#24

2011-12

Finger doll bear

As social creatures, we have the amazing ability to project a soul into virtually anything that has two eyes and a mouth. This opens up a world of possibilities when it comes to dolls. And sometimes the simplest dolls are the most loved ones. So I set out to create a couple of papercrafted […]

#17

2011-11

Office rat

Meet Randy the office rat. He’s a pretty nice guy – if you know him better. In fact, Randy’s the coworker of your dreams. If you dream of coworkers like Randy, that is. And the best thing about Randy? It just so happens you can build him yourself. Here is the template in PDF format.

#13

2011-07

Chameleon

Don’t ask me how it came to pass, but I decided to make a papercraft chameleon. After some tweaking of the color scheme, I settled for a classical B/W and red combination. The daughter dismissed it as a toy, lacking the cuddly factor. So I had to reluctantly move it over to the decorative […]

#11

2011-04

The gentleman dinosaur

May I introduce you to the gentleman dinosaur: He is as distinguished as he is obsolete. That’s the way things go these days. If you want to assemble him, here is the template (see also instructions here): Corel Draw PDF PDF + GSD (Craft Robo) SVG

#10

2011-04

A velociraptor named Herb...

A velociraptor named Herbie

Most of you will be too young to remember Herbie, the sentient Volkswagen Beetle created by Disney in more innocent times. Speaking of innocence, here is a slightly more dangerous version: I give you – the Herbieraptor.

2011-04

Velociraptor bride is out...

Velociraptor bride is out to kill Bill

Aren’t you tired of the run-of-the-mill tame velociraptor? Well, here is a deadly variety – and it’s a lady. She has been wronged, and is now on a rampage to set things straight. How more deadly can it get? And she is armed, as well. With a Hattori Hanzo sword, no less: About time for […]

2011-04

Velociraptors at the race...

Velociraptors at the races

They are called velociraptors for a reason – these guys are fast: And they are dressed to – no, not to kill, but to race. With their primary colors and fancy racing stripes, these guys are the envy of fashionistas all over the world. It’s not getting any more hipsteriffic. And here is the good […]

2011-03

Sheep

What would the world be without sheep? A sad, desolate place, that’s what. And to contribute to the sheepness of our nice little universe, here is a paper sheep: And lo and behold, you can make your very own, just by downloading, printing, cutting and gluing the template below. Admittedly this sheep is not as […]

2011-03

Hippo

Here is company for the dog and the cow: A hippo. This is admittedly somewhat complicated to assemble. The head is curved, and getting the curvature right takes a little bit of patience. The rest of the model is very simple, but the head can give you, well, some headache. Here it is in a […]

2011-03

Five friends

Playing with the fusion of Lego® and paper, I came across a nice way of improving the ubiquitous minifigures. A simple paper layout allows to quickly add new heads, featuring whatever design you come up with. Here is the result: The underlying design is quite simple and doesn’t require any glue. If you cut it […]

Papercraft toy: A cow

2011-02-27

Ok, this is funy: The post was originally titled ‘A cow named Sue’. I thought I’d give the cow a name, for the sake of reinforcing the anthropomorphization. Fast forward a couple of months later, I look at my web stats and more specifically the referrers. Turns out there were two Google searches for the term ‘a cow named sue’. Hm, strange, I think to myself – rather unlikely that somebody came across the post, vaguely remembers it and looks it up in Google under the exact title.

So I did the Google search myself. Surprise, the first hit is not my post, but rather a childrens’ book. As far as I can tell, I was completely unaware of its existence, let alone its title, but somehow it must have crept into my subconscious. The other explanation, that I randomly chose the same – rather randomly picked – name for my cow as Penny Wolf, the author of ‘A cow named Sue’, seems too improbable. Or maybe, there is an archetype hardwired into the human brain… I am sure if you dig deep enough, some Phoenecian god of fertility with a bovine head had a name phonetically vaguely similar to ‘Sue’. Oh well…

Anyway, the cow formerly known as Sue is a happy cow. She really is. She may look a bit wideeyed and startled, but she is completely happy. Trust me.

Here she is standing on her template sheet:

Turn around:

Good girl!

As you can see, I messed up when I constructed the model – I got some water on her face, blotting the inkjet ink. Feel free to do better…

And here is the template (see also instructions here):

Paper Panda

2011-02-21

Who wouldn’t agree that pandas are the most adorable of all huge, vicious animals capable of killing man with one stroke of their paw? Well, and exactly for this reason I have created a panda paper model.

This model features a number of rounded shapes, and therefore is actually quite tricky to assemble. It takes some patience to create a clean version, and unfortunately you can tell from the images that I just don’t have that kind of patience.

If you achieve a better quality, I’d be pleased to see photos and put them up here. The model sure has some potential, and I’d love to see it shine.

Here is the PDF template.

2011-02

Variation on a theme: Jan...

Variation on a theme: Janus dog

As you may or may not know, Janus was the two-faced Roman god responsible for doors, gateway, beginnings, endings – anything transition. One face would look back, and the other into the future. Whooo – the symbolism! Now, for the first time in history, man’s best friend and this mind-blowing concept of ambivalence have been […]

So I hear you want to make a dog

Well, you’ve sure come to the right place. Here is a dog you can make quickly from a sheet of paper. It’s bipedal. though, so technically it’s more a dog deity than a mere mortal dog. But hey, what’s not to like about man’s best friend taking the next evolutionary step?

Ok, this puppy is easy to assemble. Just download the template, print it out (I recommend sturdy >190g/sqm paper), and cut out the three parts. Preferrably with a sharp knife – think Xacto. Then glue them together, following the letter-code hints on the flaps.

Here is what you will get once you have cut out all three parts. These are already roughly folded into their final shape, and now need to be assembled using some glue.

Since this is made of paper and is hollow, it tends to fall over easily. To fix this, I recommend adding a weight to the base. This can be a small coin, like so:

It’s a good idea to glue the weight to the base and in addition secure it with a piece of tape:

Trust me, experience has shown that the weight gets loose all too easily, and turns your dog into a rattle where the coin bounces around inside the hollow base. Which would not be so bad, but it defeats the purpose of the weight, and a bipedal dog falling flat on its face all the time is, well, a bit sad.

Here is a close-up of our doggy:

And here is the template (see also instructions here):