Step 2: Preparing the paper cutout

Picture of Preparing the paper cutout
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So, to start with, let's prepare the paper cutout.

The first image is the very simple paper pattern needed in this project. I have the paper pattern prepared by pepakura designer 3, a very handy software for preparing paper pattern. Although it's not a free soft, they offer a free viewer that can display and print their special .pdo files.

For this paper house, you can just download the .jpg file and have the pattern printed onto a thick A4 sheet (around 190 gsm). There are two house in one sheet just in case anything bad happens when you cut out the pattern.

Pay closer attention to the second photo and you will see that one window was not cut out. That window was left there in order to make the inside of the house darker, creating a better contrast when the light is up. Instructions on how the holes on the two roofs are cut out will be found in step 4. 

A dummy house shows how the lower layer of the roof is connected to the house's wall, as well as how the house is flattened. The missing upper roof will be glued onto the trapezoidal flat region of the lower roof later on but, don't do that now as we will still need to do some circuit connection on the roofs first. 

After having an idea of how the house is to be folded, you can now use the pen cutter to create the fold lines along the dotted lines by carefully cutting just a very thin surface layer of the thick paper. This scribing action will aid forming the house's shape as you pops it up from a flat pattern. Note that if you wanna do a mountain fold, you scribe the upper surface of the paper. and if you wanna do a valley fold, you scribe the back side of the paper.  In this model, only two lines on the lower roof and one line at the door need to be scribed underneath. All other lines are scribed on its upper surface.
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JediLoreen1 year ago
Hmm, to me, it would make more sense to scribe on the INSIDE of the fold, since that's where the paper is going to bunch up when you make the fold.

That's what I do when I do leather work, scribe the INSIDE of the fold so that the leather doesn't bunch up in that area when I make my folds.

The way you say to do it seems a little counter-intuitive, to me. But leather, of course, is thicker than paper, so maybe it doesn't matter as much with the paper.