LOTR Papercraft - Uruk-hai Sword

In the epic Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, the weapon of choice of the fierce Uruk-hai orcs is a wide bladed scimitar. In this film clip, several examples of the sword can be seen...

This miniature papercraft version of the orc blade has only four parts and is fairly easy to build. Full template information is as follows:

Scale: 1:3
Finished Size: 10.5" (26.7 cm) long
Number of sheets: 1
Number of parts: 4
Difficulty: 2/5
Download: Here

Sci Fi Corridor Paper Model

When comic artist Matt Brooker couldn't find an appropriate backdrop for photographing his collection of miniature Doctor Who Dalek toys, he created this modular Sci Fi corridor system out of cardstock. The possibilities of Brooker's system are endless. The corridors might be used as a background for photographing Sci Fi papercraft or to create a papercraft diorama. The system might also be used for miniature gaming. What appear to be light fixtures on the ceiling of the corridor are actually nothing more than holes that allow outside light to enter. To learn more about Booker's system visit his blog here. PDF templates of the various components of the corridor system may be downloaded here.

Alfred E. Neuman Paper Mask

Alfred E. Neuman is the iconic fictional mascot of the long running American satirical magazine, Mad. Since he was first seen on the front of Mad in the mid 1950's, Alfred has appeared on all but a handful of covers invariably accompanied by the printed phrase "What, me worry?" This mask is a scan from an old issue of Mad and may be downloaded here.

On Science and Mystery

These quotations are taken from the science author and physicist, Brian Greene. Greene's most well-known works include, The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos.

For the most part, we teach science as if it were a technical trade: Learn these facts about cells. Memorize these equations describing motion. Balance these reactions that underlie oxidation. And then demonstrate competence by passing an exam.

With this lopsided focus on the end points of research, the scientific explorations themselves receive the most minimal attention.

But science is a journey. Science is about immersing ourselves in piercing uncertainly while struggling with the deepest of mysteries.

Einstein captured it best when he wrote, "the years of anxious searching in the dark for a truth that one feels but cannot express." That's what science is about.

To be a scientist is to commit to a life of confusion punctuated by rare moments of clarity.

Established truths are comforting, but it is the mysteries that make the soul ache and render a life of exploration worth living.

For me, the past decades of anxious searching have illuminated spectacular new landmarks: extra dimensions of space curled into tiny labyrinthine geometries, a cornucopia of universes bubbling up beyond the most distant cosmic horizon, the fabric of space and time being stitched from the threads of vibrating strings.

Regardless of the outcome, the journey has been exhilarating, and through it I feel an emotional connection to the cosmos that I don't think I could have acquired any other way.

My intuition tells me that this particular odyssey will arrive at a promised land, perhaps confirming today's theoretical insights, perhaps in a future form that will have evolved signficantly.

But if not, in the unlikely event that the work on which our generation has labored doesn't make it into textbooks, I can live with that.

It's what happens along the way that enriches us. The wrestling with mystery, not the ascension to resolution, defines who we are.



My Thoughts:

This short article, taken from Wired Magazine's May 2009 edition, gives me a lot surprised joy and it captures, strangely, how I feel about life itself. Greene's elegant sentences shape for me what life is really about. A language of science can describe the moon and the stars and the galaxies, but essentially it is a language that spiritually reflects our condition as human beings. The moon and the stars and the galaxies are the outward signs and symbols of our own inner mysteries.

I love Greene's approach and attitude to science. He almost has a disdain for textbooks and the "end points of research." I agree. It is a backward method we teach in school and this point of view has profound implications for education.

Greene comes close to capturing how I feel in a moment of heightened reality, when I attempt to capture the surrounding complexity of my emotions in a poem. My experience in these moments is palpable and through a poem, I seem to grasp, if not the meaning of the moment, then I grasp the mystery of my being. And so, Greene writes science books and conducts physics experiments, and me, well, I'm a poet, life is my exploration and my ongoing experiment. But I think the two of us meet somewhere--whether it is in language, in our attempts to express the thing itself--or perhaps we meet in the universal human condition, the experience of not-knowing.

Prehistoric Trilobite Papercraft

While it may look like some kind of science fiction cockroach, this papercraft is of an actual animal that lived on Earth millions of years ago. Trilobites were a group of marine animals that according to scientists became extinct around 250 million years ago. This paper model trilobite was originally created by the Australian Geological Survey Organisation to teach children about fossils. The one page, hand drawn template for the trilobite may be downloaded from the Houston Gem & Mineral Society website here.

Tron Recognizer Papercraft

In the 1982 movie Tron ominous hovering vehicles called "recognizers" are used by the army of the villainous Master Control Program to capture programs and guard the game grid. The designer of this papercraft has attempted an accurate recreation of an recognizer even going as far as using clear acrylic rods to give the illusion that the individual parts of the recognizer are hovering separate from one another just as they appear in the movie. Downloads of both color and un-colored templates are available here. A template for a display stand is also available. This model is the work of Marco Scheloske, Germany, 2003.

Marvel Papercraft - Eye of Agamotto

In the Marvel Comics universe perhaps no hero wields greater magical powers than Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme. Doctor Strange possesses numerous magical artifacts which he uses to amplify his power, but there are only two he keeps on his person at all times. One is the Cloak of Levitation wrapped around his shoulders and the other is the Eye of Agamotto fastened at his throat. In this papercraft design I created two versions of the Eye of Agamotto to reflect the varying ways the amulet has been portrayed by different comic book artists over the years. In some cases artists have portrayed the amulet as an open golden eye, but more often as not the amulet has been drawn as a closed golden eye whose lids open when its magic is activated to reveal the true "living" Eye of Agamotto inside. Template information for the papercraft model is below. The download includes PDF files of both the metallic and living versions of the Eye as well as lined and non-lined versions of each.

Scale: 1:1
Finished Size: 3.5" (8.9 cm) diameter
Number of sheets: 2
Number of parts: 14
Difficulty: 3/5
Download: Here

Special thanks to Israel Skelton at skeltoncrewstudio.com for permission to use the photo of his Eye of Agamotto prop in the creation of this papercraft.