Over the next few weeks, I'm going to do something I've never done before on my blog - I'm going to do 'live' weekly updates on a project I'm working on - one with a very definite deadline, my new pop up Easter card! Usually, the projects I blog about are already completed - this will be a completely new approach.
So, first of all - inspiration. I've always loved pop ups - I think they are so magical - and I especially love the pop up books created by Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda. In their Mega Beasts book, there is a mechanism I really like where two gophers pop up and down as you open and shut the page. I'd like to do something similar, with two rabbits popping up out of a burrow.
Secondly, materials. At this stage, I'm just going to be exploring the mechanisms which I can use to try to create the movement of the two rabbits popping up and down. All you need to do this is some graphic paper (which makes measuring easy), a scorer and steel rule to create precise folds, and of course, scissors, a pencil and some glue. I always refer to my pop up bible, a book written by Duncan Birmingham which has almost every mechanism you can think of, and which you can adapt to your own designs. It's out of print now, but you can buy second hand copies online. If you'd like to learn about pop ups, I'd recommend it.
So this is what I've come up with so far - a mechanism with an arm that swings up as you open the page- and another mechanism which works in the opposite way, hiding behind a paper mask as you shut the card. Now, my challenge is to try to combine these two mechanisms onto one card and work out measurements which will be large enough to incorporate two rabbits... But that's for next week, and I will share how I get on!