I included a band of white card stock that wraps the closed card with the question written between two green stripes, "Who was the most fierce of the Late Cretaceous?" So there are words after all, just not any birthday words, or anything along the line of "So, how does it feel to be so old and yet still alive?"
In case the card is insufficiently overt I decided to spell it out. Mustn't risk having a bad pun go wasted. So the letters for TRANNYSAURUS REX are cut out and pasted.
The pop up is a table set atop a central V mechanism that lifts upward and tilts forward toward the viewer. The two front legs of the table are shorter than the back legs. The front legs were added separately to tilt the table, which is the reptile's body, instead of simply gluing the table on doubled parallel identical V mechanisms placed along the central fold, as usual. This arrangement enabled one of the table legs to be disguised by one of the dinosaur's hind legs.
The tail and the upper hind leg of the dinosaur on top of the table are attached to each other and they are both attached to a short arm underneath them which in turn is attached to a crimp mechanism glued to the underside of the table. The crimp opens as the table is lifted, which forces an arc movement in the arm which then rotates the tail and leg. The tail and leg move a little less than 90° because the table, which is set an angle toward the viewer, does not lift completely.
The background of trees is also two V mechanisms arranged in and working in the same direction as for the dinosaur mechanism, but these are taller and larger and closer together. Cutout areas in the front surface uplifted by the background Vs allow a forest to be described dimensionally. The two main surfaces are drawn front and back.
It all folds back and tucks very nicely when closed. The only difficulty is the purse which dangles freely. The card must be tilted backward for the purse to collapse properly when closing otherwise because it's not connected the purse is smashed and creased wrongly, which I don't care about. As long as it dangles properly the first time the card is opened it's fine with me.
The prototypes attached additional surfaces to the background surfaces of trees but these were mostly omitted for the final card.
The cover is a simple line drawing of a fern, the same fern that is used repeatedly on the inside surface of the card. It is set on matt board with a window cut into it.
The envelope is made of card stock to fit. It's sealed with a tab drawing of the same fern on the cover. By using the same band with green stripes the year "2010" is pasted next to the fern seal.
Comments? Remarks, spelling/grammar corrections, japes or jabs? Contact: boureATcomcastDOTnet
Love the toes coming through the open-toe shoes. Great touch.
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