Pop-up Legos

Okay I simply had to share this video of a pop-up Lego temple (the temple is Kinkaku in Japan, pictured below). I pulled it off of Epic Win. I'm not sure where they got it. This has to be the most amazing Lego structure every built. I'm completely in awe. Legos and pop-ups, two of my favorite things in one place. If you get a moment check it out. Watch until the end. Amazing.

Basic Pop-ups

I've been playing with paper lately. I mentioned a while ago how much I love pop-up books. So in January I ordered a book on how to do some basic paper engineering. It was a pop-up book that showed how to do pop-ups, which I thought was a brilliant idea. Only it wasn't in stock. Amazon kept extending the ship date further and further and I finally got frustrated. I canceled that one and ordered Paul Jackson's The Pop-Up Book. And it worked out beautifully. I've just started working my way through the book and already I'm addicted. I have been creating paper frogs for everyone I know. 

Here is my paper frog. 

This is about the simplest pop-up to do. It only requires two cuts and just a little folding. After a little bit of practice I want to start coloring them so they stand out a little more. I can see making frog cards for friends and family. Simple and somewhat impressive. 

Another simple one that I've been doing from the book is what I call the MC Escher staircase. I still have yet to come out with one that I've been completely happy with but here is my most recent attempt. The stairs aren't quite even but I have yet to bring out the ruler and X-acto knife. Both of those are needed for the more complicated designs. 

Here are two views of my staircase.

I have no doubt that I will get to the tougher patterns in the book. I've actually just enjoyed working the simple patterns to try to get the basic folds down. I will never be a great paper engineer like Subuda or Lothar Meggendorfer but I'm excited to learn.