Foldskool Heros Series 2

Here's a fun little series of papertoys by Marshall Allexander aptly titled Foldskool Heros.

I meant to post these a while back and now Series 2 is already out!

I love the humor in these and the clever one-piece design.

Download all six Foldskool Heros as well as a diy blank version at Marshall's site here.

New papertoy fun from Horrorwood

Some new papertoys from paper pal Horrorwood Check 'em out here!

Cardboard Design

Everywhere I look these days I find cardboard furniture and homewares, some of it beautifully designed and highly desirable. Cardboard Design is based in New York and offers an assortment of great products through their website and physical store. The Liquid Cardboard range in particular looks very tempting.

Many thanks to Katy for letting me know about this one.

Helen Musselwhite

This fantastic work comes from the hand of artist and illustrator, Helen Musselwhite. Quite simply this is some of the most exquisite and inspiring paper engineering I've seen. Helen's intricately rendered paper gardens and forests are all one-off creations:

Each piece combines the hand cutting, folding and scoring of a wide range of papers and card that are further worked on to create patterned and textured surfaces. They are then used to build scenes in box frames which are often complex and consist of many layers. This process means that each item of work is truly individual with no two pieces the same. Influenced by the natural world each piece is manipulated to become an intriguing place, a glimpse into another world of fiction and fairytale.

Cut It Out!

(seen above laying next to a standard X-Acto #11 blade craft knife on a template for size comparison)

So, with all the fabulous paper toys you've been seeing at the Forest, I thought I should show and tell some of the new specialty precision paper cutting tools I've found on my relentless search for the perfect tool for that exact purpose.


A while back I bought Samurai theater making Paul a Scotch™ Precision Cutter with a pen style ceramic micro tip in hopes of exciting him to make more theaters! Didn't exactly work but I tried it out myself by making a gift wrap box on the fly the other night. I didn't post here about it because I was still unconvinced it was easier to actually use than the ol'#11. The blade looks like a grain of sand but the ceramic micro tip is supposed to remain sharper than metal. It is lightweight and easy to handle. Anyone have experience with this tool?


But then today I saw yet another new-to-me tool. A fingertip control Craft Knife from Fiskers™. There's a sort-of-odd demo .

You know I've got to try it, you too? Happy Cutting!

PYRA:MI[N]D by Ciah-Ciah

Here's a fun little Papertoy/collab project by Ciah-Ciah. PYRA:MI[N]D is a little DIY fortune telling papertoy. C-C is inviting folks to design their own PYRA:MI[N]D the deadline is July 31st to be included in the first series (sorry for the late notice). Download the template here and check out what other folks have done with theirs in the PYRA:MI[N]D flicker pool.

Badstarz Paper Toys

The French street wear site Badstarz has 3 Monkey papertoys you can download as well as a blank DIY contest. Go to the Badstarz site and click on "Goodies" then click on the pic of the monkey you want to download.

Paper Tags and Such

This Australian wedding magazine has some nice little downloads for all kinds of tags, stickers, and party fun. Some are customizable, so that there is room to add your own text. These pdfs can be a nice timesaver if you are planning to have a little shindig sometime soon.

Paper Chinese Zodiac Animals

Paper Toys of Chinese Zodiac Animals. I Think these are quite cute. Get yours here on the HP site.

Fold and Fun Papertoy by Brian Gubicza

Illustrator Brain Gubicza has some new fun little downloadable papertoys on his site.

Get 'em here.

He'll provide the folds, you provide the fun.

Paper Foldables

There are a few fun and free downloads at www.paperfoldables.com . They are on the bottom of the opening page.  I like the poor kitty with the flea collar.

Nani Bird Batch 2

Batch 2 of NaniBirds has hatched! Over 2 dozen new Nanibirds for you to enjoy. Another strong batch, I had trouble deciding which one to post, but I think this may be my favorite, "So-kamo" designed by Ryoojing. Go peep 'em all at Mckibillo's NaniBird site.