How to Papercraft Paper Toys

So you curiously stumbled upon a type of papercraft that you saw while browsing and Internet and are now interested in constructing those models you thought were cool, cute, funny etc. For those of you new to papercrafting, here is a short little tutorial on what I think you would need to start papercrafting.

1. Thick Paper - Cardstock or Printer Photo Paper

Papercrafting is meant to produce self standing models of paper, but in order to achieve this, you need to have some kind of thicker-than-regular printer paper. My suggestion is to use plain white Cardstock or Glossy Photo Paper.

Make sure to choose a paper that is adequately thick enough to lean against a wall on its own - if the paper concaves in and collapses, then it is too thin and your model will not stand on its own. Also make sure that the paper is not too thick for your printer (some printers wont be able to load the paper into the tray because it is too thick).

I also found that cheap Inkjet Photo Paper is pretty good to use in PaperCraft. Not only is it thick enough, but the images turn out nice and semi-glossy when printed out. Remember, CHEAP inkjet photo paper - dont go wasting your money with ultra high gloss Kodak sheets.

2. X-Acto Knife or Generic Knife-Pen

The pen is mightier than the sword, but when you combine the two, you get the all-powerful Knife-Pen (or branded X-Acto knife)!

This will be your definitive tool for cutting your intricate papercraft pieces. It is near impossible to use a pair of scissors to cut those fine edges, those tiny zig-zags and detailed curves so use of a knife-pen is 100x more preferred.

Just remember to use some kind of surface that you can cut on, like a plastic cutting mat, old cardboard, or a stack of old papers. The last thing you want are a hundred of these small incisions permanently engraved into your work space.

3. Glue and a Toothpick

Papercraft involves cutting up fragments/pieces of your model and putting it together using some kind of bonding agent. The example image is a good example of how cut out fragments are cut out separately and then glued together at the specific joining points.

I've found that using regular school glue (Elmer's or a generic brand) and a toothpick is more that enough when working with papercraft. The toothpick is a really useful took when trying to apply a thin layer of glue to a small tab that needs to have glue applied.

4. Time, Practice, and Patience

Like all activities you do, making papercraft models will take some time, practice and definitely some patience. Although a lot of papercraft models are just made out of one big cutout piece, it still takes some precision and accuracy to get the model the way you want it. Of course the first time, your model wont look perfect, but you'll definitely feel proud that you completed it and will want to tackle on much more difficult, modular models to add to your elaborate papercraft army.

If you interested in this topic and would like to know more, please visit my website http://paperycutcut.blogspot.com for exciting and cute paper toys, models, and crafts.