Papercraft Christmas Star Ornament

I like the geometric quality of this papercraft Christmas star ornament. I believe the technical name for this shape is the "first stellation of an icosidodecahedron". Please correct me if I am wrong. :) This papercraft is one of several different star ornaments that may be downloaded at the Brother Creative Center.  This star has 32 points. The other two stars in the series have 8 points and 14 points.

Other Geometric Papercraft:

Tron Bit (3 modes)
Platonic Solid Lanterns
Five Intersecting Tetrahedron Origami
Melting Snowman Paper Toy
Advent Calendar Crystals

Printable Crystal Advent Calendar

This is one of the more unusual Advent calendars I have seen. It takes the form of quartz crystals. At first I thought, "Where are the dates?" But as I looked closer, I found faint numbers near the base of each crystal. As is typical for Advent calendars, treats may be hidden inside. The pointed end of each crystal acts as the lid. The PDF template for this calendar may be downloaded from the Mr. Printables website. While quartz crystals may not have much to do with Christmas, this papercraft definitely has a wintery feel to it!

Other Holiday Papercraft:

Sonic Christmas Tree
Matt Hawkins Santa
Apple Macintosh Ornament
Papercraft City Advent Calendar
Easy Nativity Scene

Ukrainian Easter Egg Papercraft

I wanted to post something to show support for the people of Ukraine. As we are drawing near Easter, it seemed good to post this Ukrainian Easter egg papercraft by Homespun Magixx. These style of decorated eggs are a folk tradition in the Ukraine known as "pysanky". The process of creating a pysanka involves a dye and wax process similar to batik. The process of creating this papercraft egg involves gluing together spiral strips of card stock. This particular egg has, most fittingly, peace doves on it. My prayer for Ukraine is for swift and lasting peace.

Other Papercraft Eggs:

Wonderland Diorama
Faberge Egg

Melting Snowman Paper Toy

Inspired by some novelty melting snowman cookies, Kate at Mini Eco designed this Christmas printable in 2015. Having only two parts, this papercraft is an easy build! For nerds (like me) who care about such things, the snowman's head is a 20-sided geometric shape called an icosahedron. The PDF template for the snowman toy may be downloaded here.

Other Geometric Papercraft:

Platonic Solid Lanterns
Three Tron Bit Models
Colorful Gemstones
Chinese Lanterns
Cubeoctahedron Globe

Polygonal Nike of Samothrace Papercraft

The Nike of Samothrace or "Winged Victory" statue is one of the most famous statues on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris. It is thought to have been sculpted in the 2nd century BC as part of a monument to commemorate a naval victory. This simplified 3D polygonal paper model of the Nike was created by DeviantART member Gedelgo. Downloads of PDF and Pepakura PDO templates may be found here. The finished model stands about 15.75" (40 cm) tall.

Other Polygonal Papercraft:

Bison Skull
Easter Rabbit
Triceratops Skull

Fifth Element Stones Papercraft

Being a long time enthusiast of the 1997 movie, The Fifth Element, I began this papercraft 8 or 9 years ago as a work of fan art. In the movie there are four powerful stones that correspond to the four elements of the ancient world (fire, air, water and earth). The power of these stones can only be activated by the "fifth element" which happens to be a "genetically perfect" human female. My papercraft elemental stones are 1:3 scale and may be downloaded here. The download includes PDF templates for both Letter and A4 size paper. Glad to get this one completed after so long. This is my papercraft release for the month of January as promised here.

Previous Movie Prop Papercraft:

HAL 9000 Interface
Holy Hand Grenade
Transformers Allspark Cubes
Hellraiser Puzzle Cube
Mockingjay Pin

Faceted Papercraft Triceratops Skull

Here's one of those DIY, low-poly paper models like we all see for sale on the Internet these days. Only difference is... this one is free! This faceted papercraft triceratops skull was created by DeviantART member, Gedelgo. The finished model measures about 35 cm long. A printable template for the dino skull may be downloaded here. Triceratops are thought to have roamed the Earth about 68 million years ago.

Other Faceted Papercraft:
American Bison Skull
Easter Rabbit

Disney Cheshire Cat Fortune Teller

This printable Cheshire Cat "fortune teller" toy is the same shape as D12 dice used in RPG games. The toy works on the same principle as the "Magic 8 Ball" toy (only the die inside the Magic 8 Ball has 20 sides instead of just 12). Having only two pieces, the fortune teller is a quick and easy build. The papercraft template for the toy is available here.

Star Dodecahedron Origami

A dodecahedron is a geometric solid with twelve pentagonal sides. This modular origami piece designed by Francesco Mancini "carves" away the faces and interior of the solid to give the look of star shapes on every side. An excellent instructional video may be found here. Build photo by Evan Zodl.

Buckminister Fuller Dymaxion Globe Papercraft

In 1943, Life Magazine featured an article on a new type of world map envisioned by inventor Buckminster Fuller. Fuller's map was called the "Dymaxion World". Once folded, the map forms a cubeoctahedron. Fuller's goal in creating the Dymaxion World was to create a map that, when flat, shows all the land masses as contiguous. A printable template for the globe may be found here. The finished papercraft is roughly 10" (25cm) in diameter.

DIY Transluscent Ghost Treat Boxes

These translucent ghost treat boxes are constructed from wax paper so that the color of the candy inside shows through. There are lots of possibilities for the little guys. Add colored pompoms inside and they may be used as table top or hanging decorations. Add a small light inside along with a single pompom and the ghost will glow the color of the pompom! A free template and detailed instructions for the ghosts are available at Mr. Printables. Oh, and for you math nerds, the geometry of the ghosts is an icosahedron. ;)

Origami Bucky Ball Flower

According to goldennumber.net:

"Bucky Balls are named after Buckminster Fuller, who popularized the geodesic dome.  The shape defined by Bucky Balls is also found in the Carbon 60 molecule, a form of pure carbon with 60 atoms in a nearly spherical configuration, the truncated icosahedron and soccer balls."

This origami flower is based on the same geometry as a Bucky Ball. Ninety individual "petals" are attached together to create the flower. Video instructions to create your own flower are located here. Build photo by DeviantART member Art-in-Murder.

Butterfly Ball Origami

From Jill Britton's website:

"Kenneth Kawamura's butterfly ball is a deceptive (origami) action model. Assembled from twelve water bomb bases, it forms a complex and pleasing geometric shape known as a cubohemioctahedron. The assembly is stable when resting on a surface. However toss it in the air and give it a light smack to see it explode into a cloud of butterflies which flutter prettily to earth. For this reason, it is also referred to as a butterfly bomb."

Instructions for this exploding origami may be downloaded here. Also available are printable patterns to make the individual pieces of the ball look like actual butterflies.

Modular Origami Icosahedron

I'm a fan of geometry and bright colors. This modular origami icosahedron brings them both together in one fun project. Modular origami involves folding multiple numbers of a single unit which are then assembled into a larger piece. An icosahedron is a 20-sided geometric form. Plato associated the icosahedron with the element of water. A video that shows how to make this origami is located here.

Papercraft d12 2013 Desk Calendars

Here's a unique idea: functional calendars in the form of the familiar d12 dice used in role-playing games. Each of the six different dodecahedron calendars is about 4" (10 cm) in diameter when completed. Templates may be downloaded at Kev's Lounge. Hmm, I wonder if these could be used as real dice in a pinch? ;)

ReBoot Papercraft: Medusa Bug

One of my favorite Saturday morning television shows from the 90's is ReBoot. It was the first 30 minute length completely CGI animated TV show. The theme of the show is somewhat Tron-esque in that it takes place inside a computer and the characters are programs. Try as I might, I have never been able to find any ReBoot papercraft, so I took it upon myself to create some. This is a 1:1 scale paper model of the Medusa Bug from Season 1, Episode 4 of ReBoot. The Medusa Bug is a box that when opened turns everything inside a computer to stone (well, almost everything ^^).

The PDF template for the Medusa may be downloaded here. In 2011, the entire ReBoot series was re-released on DVD if you are interested in getting acquainted or re-acquainted with the series. I highly recommend it!

Five Intersecting Tetrahedron Origami

A tetrahedron has a pyramid shape. If five tetrahedra are intersected, a polyhedron is created that is similar in shape to those found in the art of M. C. Escher. This glue-less origami tetrahedron construction was built by Crackpot Papercraft using instructions provided on Thomas Hull's Origami Mathematics website. The tetrahedron origami units used to construct the polyhedron were originally developed by Francis Ow Mun Yin.

Clown Tessellation Dodecahedron Papercraft

My inner geek loves geometric papercraft. And what could be better than a paper dodecahedron but a paper dodecahedron with a 12 clown tessellation on it? ^^ Tessellations are that interlocking art form popularized by artist M. C. Escher. The template for the dodecahedron is available at Tessellations.org, the place to go for everything you ever wanted to know about tessellations. The downside to this project is you have to color it yourself. :(

Printable Chinese Paper Lanterns

The Disney Family Fun website offers these printable paper lanterns as a Chinese New Year item, but I think they would be pretty cool any time of the year. ^^ From the looks of the unfolded pattern, I would estimate the finished lanterns to be only about 2.5" (6.4 cm) tall. The PDF template file for the lanterns may be downloaded here.

Papercraft Gemstones

Here are some simple, but beautiful papercraft gemstones from Kate at the Minieco website. As you can see, Kate loves brilliant colors. ^^ These gems were created by printing a blank template on color cardstock. There are many uses for the gems including Christmas decorations, mobiles, and garlands. Also available at Minieco are templates for platonic solids. The templates for the gems are located here and the templates for the platonic solids are located here.