SAFE?
Idea
I was thinking about an Antarctic-themed card for January (both are cold), but my sketches weren’t very interesting. With time running short, I took to my bookshelf and browsed through bookmarks in some of Shel Silverstein’s books. One of them was “SAFE?” from Falling Up, which I thought would be a nice, but simple pop-up.
Shel Silverstein has been a recurring theme. Here are the other Shel pop-ups:
- June 2024, Ploppy Sig Reans His Cloom
- January 2024, Stairway
- July 2020, Strange Wind
- July 2019, Rainbow Thrower
- September 2017, Alphabalance
- May 2017, Runny Mets Guddy
Design
I try to stay faithful to the original illustrations. Aside from the figure and the safe, the book just has a narrow strip of a building on the edge of the page. A simple acute V fold would work for that. Since the tall V flips upwards, its base is 85° instead of 90° to avoid it wanting to tip forward a bit. To add a bit of interest, I made the cornice a separate piece so it would stick out at an angle. I used multiple tabs to keep it even.
Cornice
The safe would be easy since it is far from the main fold with no chance of catching on anything. In the sketch I used paper, but in the final version, I used 0.09” wire to make it look more like it was floating. In the photo above you can see the paper square that holds the wire in place. I curl each end of the wire so it won’t slip out.
Safe
The figure was a bit trickier since it is near the main fold and is attached to the right side of the building. Since it crosses the main fold, and can’t just tip down like the right side, but had to have an extra fold on it. The red line in the photo below is the fold that will raise the figure when the card is opened. The green line is the side of the building and the base of the figure. (It is straight on the card but looks like it has a bend in the photo.)
Figure
The red fold had to be exact, and on a slightly leaning building, it would be nearly impossible to get correct. Instead, I let the pop-up build itself by attaching a piece of paper to the building and the base, then closed the card and let the fold find its own position. I drew the figure separately and attached it to the paper tab (in red).
Tab for the figure
Since the figure is close to the main fold, I had to be careful not to make it too big, otherwise, as it closed it could get caught, or worse crease. It helped to have it away from the building a bit, but it is still very close and this shows with a partially closed card.
Cutting it close
When I did the sketch I laid out where I wanted the text to appear and printed it out on the Bristol paper. I stepped the text on the upper right to match the angle that the sidewalk would be since all the illustrations were done after the printing.
I did think about putting things in the windows, or having the mice make an appearance, but thought I’d leave it closer to the original.
Cover
I didn’t use a Shel-like image for the cover, instead used a don’t walk sign. It was done with PrismaColor pencils and Pitt Artist Pens with a background of pastels.
Build
- 9” x 6”
- The base was Strathmore 300 Bristol 270gsm
- The mechanism was index paper, all cut by hand
- The illustration was done with Pitt Artist Pens