astromoths pop-up card

Pop-up version of a cartoon shown on b3ta by member smallbrainfield.

Here is presented the tragic story of the very first NASA astronauts, before the monkeys and before the dogs there were moths, an experiment that met with an abrupt and ignominious end.  This little-known history is described here over four pages in a pop-up card intended for a friend's birthday.


envelope

cover

moths presentation open

moths presentation 2

moths presentation 3

blastoff begin open

blastoff 3/4 open

blastoff full open

blastoff 4

turn begin open

turn 1

fire begin to open

fire 2

fire 3

fire 4

fire 4

fire 5

fire 6

Much use was made of the V mechanism. It stands up the astromoths, it provides the support for the blastoff smoke, flipping layers in opposite directions. It provides the armature  which flips up the rocket that is returning to Earth, and it provides the matrix upon which the chaos of the exploded lightbulb factory is depicted. Amazingly, that exploded mess folds back neatly because the "V" mechanism is so tight. Content is both attached onto the basic "V" structures, and through them.  It's quite versatile. The flaps are both concealed beneath the card backing and glued on top depending on the need for concealment.

It's a bit of a cop out actually to rely on one mechanism so much but I was in a hurry and I couldn't think of a better way to express this joke. And it works. I must add, I'm always a little disappointed when I get a new pop-up book and see that the constructor has done what I did here, that is to rely heavily or exclusively on a single type of mechanism. Originally, I had the rocket returning on a structure built upon an extremely short-legged table that supported a bank of clouds that filled the page, but that turned out to be thick and clumsy with a weak support for the rocket so the second iteration of that return rocket scene was made of two cloud banks attached to a fuller "V" armature (fuller with more clouds at the base) that flips up the returning rocket and which resulted in an altogether more elegant and sturdier page. That was the only full page that was made twice, except for the rocket tube and cone which was made three times. I had to learn that the cone can be attached at only two spots or else it folds like a canoe instead of flatly.