Hey -- whatcha know? It totally works!! That's Cool!

[capri0mni]

So, remember the other day, and I mentioned watching some YouTube Vids of pop-up paper craft, and discovering some that were totally awesome, and some that were so lame flat?

This is one of the awesome ones, as long as you let your mind skip over the merchandizing pitch, and focus on the mechanics.


I watched this vid many times over, and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how it worked -- there seems to be an extra fold that comes out of nowhere on this thing, and even though I was seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn't piece together the concept with my brain.

But...

I have some 3" X 5" index cards and a pair of scissors on my desk. So I took two of them, just went ahead and made it... not even caring if I got the lines (or cuts) perfectly straight, or not (the smaller card size is eaiser to keep track of, in terms of folding and keeping everything straight, physically and intellectually).

Just to see if my hands could make sense of it, even if my eyes couldn't.

And... It works! It would work better if I had been precise. But it still works. It even catches when you open the "secret compartment" secton, and you have to tug a bit to snap it close. But it does snap, and "click" nicely, too.

I'm now wondering if I can put this together out of two sheets of computer paper, first, and then run it through my printer, or if it would jam. In which case, I could, if I had to, write / draw on it by hand.

I'm thinking in terms of "The medium is the message" -- and how this would be the perfect format for a single short story told from two different points of view (or, you know, a greeting card).

Yes?

Comments

[sqbr]

Hi I came across this post on my network, I haven't seen that particular design before but it's very similar to tetraflexagons, which are both mathematically interesting (kind of like a twisted flattened Mobius strip) and make for cool cards.

Sorry, I get very few chances to expound on my lifelong obsession with flexagons and couldn't resist piping up :)

[capri0mni]

Re: Mobius Strip... I first discovered these "How to make pop-up card X" vids by following the winding path of "recommended for you" links -- that started when I was first searching for Doctor Who, and then, hyperspace geometry demonstrations. :-)

Do you know of Steven Caney's Toy Book? I have the original version around here somewhere, I'm sure... I just can't find it right now. In any case, one of the "Toys" in it is the "Hexaflexagon" which is built on equilateral triangles, instead of squares. Pretty cool. :-)

[sqbr]

I haven't read that particular book, but as a kid I had mathematical puzzles and diversions which introduced me to hexaflexagons. When I was working in a children's science museum I tried to introduce them as a holiday activity but very few of the visiting children (or staff) shared my excitement :D

[capri0mni]

Well, poo to the non-excitement-sharers. They sound boring...

That looks like a fun book. I don't have enough bookshelf space, as it is, to fully enjoy the books I already have... so I'm reluctant to add to my permanent collection. But I may look for that book (or one from the series) at my local library... That way, I can use their bookshelves, when I'm done with it. :-)

[sqbr]

Well, if you want to be efficient look up The Colossal Book of Mathematics, that has all the Martin Gardener columns in one place :)

Weird fact: JUST as I was googling that the line "She's colossal" from "Supermodel" by Presidents of the USA came up on iTunes. Spoooky.

[capri0mni]

Heh.

The iPod knows all. Obey the iPod.