How to Make a Simple Pop-Up

A pop-up is a simple paper craft often used in children's books. Some pop-ups can be very elaborate, but this article will explain how to make a simple pop-up called a floating platform.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Stiff paper or card stock
• Craft knife
• Cutting board or other flat surface
• Glue stick

1. Transfer your image to the stiff card stock. Ordinary paper can also be used in making a simple pop-up, but you will find that it lacks some of the strength of card stock. In the image to the left is the eHow logo. To save time one can merely glue the logo to a precut piece of card stock.
2. Cut 2 strips of card stock for the support structure. The length of the strips should be 4 times the height that your pop-up will stand.
3. Measure your supports with a ruler. Make a line at one-eighth of the length of the support, at three-eighth, at five-eighth and at seven-eighth. If this seems complicated, you can mark the support at the halfway point and then mark it again at half that. You now have 4 sections. Mark the halfway points between those divisions and now you have 8 sections. Remove the fourth line and the sixth line.
4. Crease at the marked lines. You should have a square frame with 3 long, unbroken segments and the 2 shorter segments which together are equal to the each of the others. At this point you shold also crease the base that you are using.
5. Apply glue to the side of the segment opposite the short segments. Place the glued segments on your base. They should be offset from each other so that when your base is closed they are not touching. Wait until the glue dries.
6. Apply glue to the short segments on the top of the supports. When they are fixed to the underside of the platform, they will be leaning inward. This creates a stress on the outer sides of the support which is transferred to the platform causing it to open flat.
7. Place your platform on the supports. Test the foldability of the pop-up before the glue dries. Once the glue becomes tacky enough to hold the platform in place, close the pop-up. Once the glue dries, your pop-up is ready for use.

Tips & Warnings

• When using glue sticks it helps to have a heavy object like a book to place on top of the pop-up while it is drying.