This post shows how to fashion two of these lotus petal-type paper flowers for a pop-up card .
They will be fitted with proper insides for either lotus or water lily. In the pop-up world invented flowers needn't be perfect. Unless they are made for a botanist and they claim some fidelity to nature. These do not.
As it is, this specific card is intended for a florist, so it does matter a bit, either fantasy flower, which is fine, or at least some amateur attempt at coming close.
A child's compass helps determine the size circles that work, a child's protractor provides 60˚ marks but this is not necessary, I am showing how I arrive at a petal shape for flower that will lay flat, but a flat flower as drawn is not the thing that is wanted, it must be more like a funnel, not flat. Still, the petals overlap.
So there are conflicting guiding aims for arriving at the ideal petal shape, non-flatness when connected, overlapping petals, open center not a pin-dot as here with the compass, strength at the edge for a slot so it doesn't tear, room for tab, tabs that do not interfere with petals or with the whole look.
Tabs through slots will hold the arrangement together.
This is mostly guess. If this is done too precisely then when assembled the flower will lay flat, that is not wanted. It must spread out a bit to leave room for another separate assembly for the flower's center. The tabs provide looseness, they provide give that glueing does not allow. Tabs provide fudge room to shape things with less mathematic precision.
[After the slot-tabs, after finding the most desirable shape, the shape can back-engineered and provided glue-tabs where needed, say, for a production line, but I do rather like the floppiness that slot-tabs provide.]
Ordinarily I'd use photoshop to repeat something, but this time I hand-traced around the template for twelve of these petals. This is png file for 8.5x11
If you cut two at once to go faster, things tend to go awry at the critical places, tab points, slot placement and the like, one small thing off throws off the whole circle. Not a bad thing, your flower will be charmingly goofy.
Each tab is scored and folded in thirds to fit through the slot of the neighboring petal and then carefully unfolded and pressed flat. If not restored flat, then the card will not operate properly and the tabs may slip out. You can see how if these were glued fast the flower would be more rigid.
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Honorable template, now retired. *bows*
Never drew lotus leaves like this before. I'm going for their cell structure. I noticed their structure is like a web between major ribs.
This is about half way.
The leaves will be cut out, nicked as lotus leaves are, glued together almost randomly to form a shape that nearly fills the card. Not a background for flowers, the leaves are connected for a new inner card.
This is a card inside a card.
Elevated by 1/2 inch.
The green leaves are the new card. The lotus flowers open when the patch green leaves open as a card.
Here's the thing about this card. Lotus/water lilies, their leaves, float on the water, they are not hanging in air. But this card shows the arrangement floating on air. The mind accepts that means the arrangement is floating, but honestly, they should not be elevated, the real plants do not do that.
Some water lilies do stick up. Just saying, this whole elevation thing to come is not necessary because it defies nature for effect. The card would be fine without by attaching this petal arrangement directly to a leafy or watery background.
I'm building unnecessary levels of difficulty by doubling the flower and by elevating onto a fixed platform because I do want that for this card, but I'm avoiding drawing and cutting and building in glue tabs to connect it all in order for the description to stay simple.
If this were, say, a 'thank you' card, something to rip off in short order and not a condolence card requiring more thoughtfulness and time then I would be faster, more careless, more free and with more joie de vivre, more élan, more insouciants more careless Frenchness about it and slap one flower that spreads open on leaves drawn directly onto the background, send it off "thnkx."
This will be art. A touch of it. And treated as such. After completion, provided a rigid backing and a separate cover, Possibly framed with matt, It's own envelope, mailed express even though the address is only a mile away. The card will slip in after things have calmed down.
4 comments:
Before the card opens, will the lotuses lie flat?
OIC, I re-read and it will lay flat. Interested to see how it will activate.
They will fold flatly, but not open flatly. As if to smash a funnel. That's how it's going to be. Held in as if pinched in two places. It is a hexagon, so two sides parallel with the central fold. Only two sides attach.
When smashed, the pinched sides remain stuck, and the four loose sides jut outward in pairs the shape of two tents flattened tents. This will be more obvious with the inside flower bits, more clearly a hexagon, more clearly held at two places.
Ah, got it.
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