Saturday, September 13, 2014

grasshoppers pop-up card


Grasshopper pop-up card is four pages of grasshoppers. The first page is a grasshopper on a blade of grass coming right at you. Its face is built on table with layered tops to give its face and body depth, the rest painted on the card.




A green wheat stalk is painted on the background.

The second page is a similar arrangement, except an entire bug is on a longer leaf that plops down extended forward from the card directly in font of the viewer with all six legs attached to the leaf. The second bug is winged. Also with green wheat painted as background.



The third page is a mature wheat field crawling with locusts. Presented as folding cereal box with slits to peer through and layers inside of the same background with cut out areas to see through. A stylized sun rises from between layers as the card is opened.





Fourth page depicts snakes eating grasshoppers. One of the snakes turns, the others attack a grasshopper.




More photos and larger, here

I can see someone thinking and saying so, grasshoppers and snakes are not a good theme for card intended for a birthday. It is a bias I imagine and one I imagine overcoming. It is the sort of thing my mother would say she does not get. Why bugs and snakes? It would be ruined because she could not get over the nagging question, why grasshoppers and snakes on a birthday?

I made a mistake when I mailed it, trying to assure a signature instead I caused the person to go to the post office, and I did not want that. I apologized. He answered, "It was totally worth the walk there and doubly a pleasure for getting art like this." 

So it worked. Somebody liked it. He said it blew his mind.

14 comments:

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Metaphors galore.

Unknown said...

You keep topping yourself.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

ChipA is the king of all pop-up cards.

Synova said...

I like it. Even if I don't understand why the grasshoppers and snakes go together. :)

Michael Haz said...

I look at the cards Chip makes and marvel at his creativity and ability.

Given a pile of paper and some scissors and markers, the best I could do would be to make a larger pile of cut-up, meaningless paper.

ricpic said...

Farmers Rejoice

Snakes eating grasshoppers:
The cavalry to the rescue!
Saved are our fields:
More barley, more fescue!

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

If it's not one of Aesop's Fables, it should be.

The Grasshopper and the Snake.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Silly novelty song is silly.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

It is one of your best. I would gladly walk to a post office to get that.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Given a pile of paper and some scissors and markers, the best I could do would be to make a larger pile of cut-up, meaningless paper.

But you do have a great woodshed and manage to fill it up with cut up meaningful wood.

So you have that going for you Michael!

Nothing nasty about that.

Michael Haz said...

True enough, Evi. And there could be snakes and grasshoppers in there.

Meade said...

Good work, Chip.

Chip Ahoy said...

It seems I left out birds. And mice.

I realized I'm missing layers. I can tell a more complete story.

Also, I have a new way to make the cereal box thing. The idea is instead of cutting away areas, make a lacy structure upon a skeleton of a cereal box. Cut individual wheat for a lacy layer that behaves the same way. In fact, I could create the lacy layer of wheat first and use it as a flat sheet of paper. To create see-through layers, for a dense field. That's going to be my next approach.

I want a page where the field is harvested and life at the base of the wheat plants is exposed.

I want to do this again. With more and better pages, to show birds and mice. Snakes are superfluous as spiders, but I still want to do those. I think the fields attract coyotes. I could end with raptor birds on a cliff with a rabbit and the harvested gold and brown wheat fields fill the background like that whole thing is the bird's pantry.

rcocean said...

Very nice. Although I always like a few ants with my grasshoppers.