STAR BUTTERFLY PAPERCRAFT WAND: PROTOTYPE!

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My progress regarding the Star vs the Forces of Evil wand I built in Rhino, consists of constructing the first papercraft prototype.

For the first prototype, I decided to focus on constructing the main elements of the wand such as the staff, wings and bigger details in order to make sure that each piece functions as it should. I also decided to upscale the wand to allow this process to go faster as working on functionality with the wand's original size would have been extremely tedious.

As I began printing out the templates for the papercraft wand, I noticed a couple minor errors within my design, one of which being the horns.

While modeling the horns, I used the command Loft to connect the polygons however, once I began unfolding the model, I noticed that the polygons connected with a curve making it impossible to fold onto paper. A solution I found to this issue was to add more polygons throughout the horns and loft each polygon separately.

This ultimately resulted in a different outcome than the original horns but still a great look.

Another major change I made to the model was adjusting the way the wand would open up. In my original model, I had designed the wand to open to the right; however, after further examining images of Star’s wand throughout the series I realized that her previous wands would open from the top so I decided to add that to my model as well.

Screencap of Star's first wand that showcases the direction it opens

previous model of wand and its opening

Final model of wand; closed and open

Once I had completed the changes I noticed throughout my model, I then made each component into its colour coordinated template. Similar to Zim and Zou's work of layering colourful paper on top of each other, I wanted the wand to have a ‘flat’ cartoon effect to it just like my 3D renders of the wand. I thought the best way to achieve this look is to have elements such as the star or diamond printed onto either a slight darker or lighter shade of coloured paper.

 8.5 x 11in templates for every component

Although I added each template to its designated colour, for the prototype I made sure to compile each template onto as few sheets as possible in order to reduce waste since I was constructing the prototype out of white cardstock.

After printing the templates out, I began to score and cut the forms. Being someone with heavy fingers, a helpful hack I found to help with this process was to use cricut tools. Items such as the scorer stylus and tweezers became lifesaving for scoring and placing small details.

wands lower half template printed

While constructing the wand out of paper I noticed a lot of errors and issues. Factors such as missing tabs and too many tabs came up.

An additional issue I noticed was how the cardstock shifted the weight of the wand to the areas where there were layers or details such as the star decorated component. I also spotted that the wings on the wand would droop due to the weight. The thought of the wand falling open by itself came to mind as well.

Nevertheless, A solution I thought up for these issues is to have flat details printed on thin pieces of paper rather than thick ones for the final papercraft and possibly having a small clear tab inserted into the wand to keep it in place. Although this idea still needs testing, I have no doubt about its results.

Despite the errors made and corrections that need to be done, I look forward to seeing the completed wand in its final form. Building the prototype definitely guided me to the right directions when it comes to my next steps.