Up Pops - Paper Engineering with Elastic Bands

Elastic-band paper engineering for pop-up book makers

This authoritative book illustrates, in dynamic form, the mechanisms used in making a pop-up book with elastic bands. Where many movable books rely on pull-tabs, these models spring open under the tension of an elastic band: a form of pop-up engineering driven by stored tension, not a pulled lever.

Each of the ten basic mechanisms is illustrated by a working model that you can cut out and make. Hands-on, the idea clicks when you feel the band pull the paper upright as you open the page.

What is inside this pop-up book

• Ten basic pop-up mechanisms, each shown as a working model to cut out and make
• A special tab for each finished model: glue it back into the book and it folds away
• A 'technical considerations' page for every model

When finished, each working model glues back into the book and folds away. Folding paper models into their pages turns the book into a three-dimensional dictionary or encyclopaedia, a kind of paper sculpture you can open again whenever you need a reference.

Each technical considerations page points out the important features of its mechanism. It then shows you how the paper mechanics might be used to create original designs of your own, so each model becomes a template for your own pop-up design.

Paper engineering for hobbyists and design students

The book offers many imaginative possibilities for the hobbyist and for the student of design and technology. It is best suited to readers who want to make pop-ups and understand why the pop-up techniques work, not just copy them. If you can already fold a simple v-fold card, these models show the engineering that comes next.

The author, Mark Hiner, is one of the world's leading paper engineers. In practice, his models give students a tested basis for their own paper projects and coursework.

A natural next step is to take one mechanism and build it into a pop-up card or a short pop-up book of your own, following the engineering notes on its technical page. Picture your first pop-up project springing open as the elastic band does its work.