What’s the first thing that
comes to mind when you hear the word papercraft?
No, it’s not origami. Origami is
a Japanese art of folding a single piece of paper into a specific shape.
Papercraft (or pepakura) is the art
of printing out pieces of a scale model on heavy paper, cutting it up, and
putting it together. With papercraft, people can make anything from miniature
statues, to prop replicas, and even wearable (paper) armor.
It looks a whole lot better than this, I swear.
Papercraft’s history can be
traced back to the days of World War II when magazines would provide cut-out
prints on paper, so children could put them together and make toys. Paper was
used at that time because it was one of the materials that didn’t have a
regulation for its use. Now, Papercraft has evolved into a much more intricate
and more detailed hobby. ‘Crafters’ can download numerous layouts off the
internet, and print them out at home to put together. Some prints come with a
colored design, so all the crafter has to do is glue the pieces. Some crafters
like to put together a model, and refine it more afterward. They coat the model
in resin so the model would be sturdier and paint it with more details to
resemble the source material better.
Wearable Paper Armor: Do not use for actual protection
For some of the simpler models,
people can just print the design and watch the video instructions online. For
the more detailed pieces, some crafters opt to download the Pepakura Viewer program. It’s a program
that allows you to view the entire model and the pieces that correspond to
specific parts. Some models can be so detailed that it takes days, or even
weeks to put together.
The best thing about Papercraft,
though, is that it’s free. Crafters have access to multiple designs, and all
they need to buy is glue and some heavy paper. Some movie replicas can cost up
to thousands of pesos, but with Papercraft, the same props could be yours for
cheap, depending on how good you are as a crafter.
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