I designed a kirigami Spirals Bookmark last summer, mostly just taking what I did for one of my velvet embossing plates and, using that with minor changes. It was good but, there were a few spots where it was a little fragile – bits of connecting paper less than a millimeter wide.
More recently, I was inspired to redesign the spirals bookmark to make it a bit more robust. While I was at it, I made a few and, made a few of my Celtic key pattern design bookmarks and, put them all up in the new shop section. The designs are available individually, in three-packs and, in a variety pack with all three designs.
Original Celtic key pattern kirigami bookmark.
Original Celtic key pattern kirigami bookmark.
Original Celtic spirals bookmark design.
Collection of three original Celtic kirigami bookmarks.
This kirigami Celtic spirals bookmark is a variant of the pattern I used for embossing the purple velvet for the last dice bag. The gold and the smoke blue ribbon both look really good with the ice gold stock.
This is a quick box I designed to package one of my little drawstring bags.
You can download the plain version below to make your own hexagonal box.
Hexagonal Box Pattern
This file is for personal, non-commercial use only. Note that, by referencing these, you are agreeing to release any variations you create under identical terms.
I played with several variations of this snowflake design back around 2002. There were a couple 180-degree-open card variants that I liked. They were both designed to be cut as four panels that folded together to produce a card with an integrated backing. I had some limited access to a laser cutter for a couple hours to produce the cards. I ended up going with the simpler of the two designs for the production run. That one was less sensitive to smoke deposition and, less fragile.
I always wanted to play with the other design a little more and, in 2020, I finally did a run of those on my own laser.
Smoke deposition was still a challenge, especially on a stock with a pearlescent finish and a little tooth. There is almost always some trade-off with that sort of thing and expedient production. I chose not to apply all of the full repertoire of techniques for these, opting to reduce wear and tear on expensive work-holding mats and, to make production faster.
180-Degree Snowflakes Pop Up Card (2020)
180-Degree Snowflakes Pop Up Card (2020)
180-Degree Snowflakes Pop Up Card (2020)
180-Degree Snowflakes Pop Up Card (2020)
180-Degree Snowflakes Pop Up Card (2020) (back)
180-Degree Snowflakes Pop Up Card (original prototype from 2002)
180-degree-open origamic architecture/kirigami Snowflake Pop Up Card from 2002
180-degree-open origamic architecture/kirigami Snowflake Pop Up Card from 2002
I made a short production video featuring the jig-in-place technique, dry transfer adhesive and removing stray glue.
Someone made a paper craft version of the “Let Glue Dry” block Laura Kampf uses in her shop awhile back. I immediately thought of making a pop up card version that could be stored flat. I did one with a simple block font but, later, made another version where I reproduced the hand lettering from a photo of Laura’s block.
I sent one of these to Laura back in March. I am going to assume that it’s okay to share these unless I hear otherwise.
Although I cut my cards on the laser, you could do this entirely by hand with a craft knife. You can even skip the white stickers. The letters could be cut from white paper and glued on. The letters could be colored in with an opaque white marker or paint.
There are two version of each design. The regular one has everything aligned in one image. That is, the score lines for the back show aligned where they should be on the front like a standard OA pattern. The jig-in-place version has the score lines for the reverse flipped for production on a sign or laser cutter.
I made my cards using the jig-in-place technique. In brief, I:
Stuck the black stock down to an adhesive mat in the Glowforge.
Disabled all operations except the score lines for the reverse side and the card outline.
Ran those two operations.
Flipped the card over in place, aligning it with the hole from which it was cut.
Placed a strip of white polyester sticker over the face of the card where the white letter would be.
Disabled the reverse scores and outline cut. Enabled the other operations
Ran the operations.
Removed the card and weeded the white polyester stickers.
Folded the finished card!
I started to make a video of the jig-in-place technique but, it is not super clear on the black stock. I will likely do a video showing how this is done when I have another design on a lighter-colored stock to run.
Let Glue Dry Pop Up Card (Block Font)
Files to Make Your Own
These files are for personal, non-commercial use only. Note that, by referencing these, you are agreeing to release any variations you create under identical terms.
In keeping with tradition, I present my 2019 holiday card: a 180° degree opening Celtic spirals abstract origamic architecture / kirigami-style pop up.
180° Degree Spirals origamic architecture / kirigami pop up card for the 2019 year-end holidays.
180° Degree Spirals origamic architecture / kirigami pop up card for the 2019 year-end holidays.
180° Degree Spirals origamic architecture / kirigami pop up card for the 2019 year-end holidays.
180° Degree Spirals origamic architecture / kirigami pop up card for the 2019 year-end holidays.
180° Degree Spirals origamic architecture / kirigami pop up card for the 2019 year-end holidays.
180° Degree Spirals origamic architecture / kirigami pop up card for the 2019 year-end holidays.
I have had several people ask me about this. So, I made a video showing how to score both sides of a piece of paper or card stock with precision alignment using the laser.
After cutting and scoring the front of the card, I cut an outline of the reversed card and, set up a simple right-angle jig to make it easy to put the cut cards in the same spot in the machine. I discuss several methods for work hold-down and, how to adjust for minor errors in the setup.
I am consistently able to get hair-line alignment using this approach.
While I am using a Glowforge here, this technique is essentially the same in other laser cutters.
Laser-scoring both sides of a card
Mountain folds vs. valley folds
microscope shot of scoring the reverse side with a laser
(While this incorporates fiducial markings for a beta alignment feature you may not have (Snapmarks), we are NOT using that here. We just need a right angle piece that will stay put and, let us consistently put our cards in the same spot in the machine.)