About This Project
Both of these Star Wars paper toys were designed and released in the lead up to a new episode in the movie franchise. The designs were later featured in Star Wars Insider Magazine along with a short interview with Alex Gwynne about the design process.
The BB-8 was an astromech droid who operated approximately thirty years after the Battle of Endor. The droid was at one point operating in the desert of the planet Jakku. It had a domed head, similar to that of R2 series astromech droids, with the bulk of its body made up of a ball that the droid rolled on. BB-8 was mostly white, with some silver and orange on its body, as well as a black eye-piece. The droid belonged to Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, and thus was able to fit into a T-70 X-wing fighter’s droid socket.
Porgs were a sea bird species native to the planet Ahch-To, where Jedi Master Luke Skywalker made his exile in the years following the victory over the Galactic Empire. The creatures, who dwelled on the cliffs of the island where Skywalker lived, could build nests and fly. Male porgs were known to be slightly bigger in size than females. Baby porgs were called porglets.
Designer
Alex Josephine Gwynne is a graphic designer and paper engineer with over a decade of experience designing paper toys and paper crafts.
Alex has turned their obsession with paper based design into a career designing for a wide verity of clients including game developers, book publishers and educational providers. Their constant drive to create engaging paper products and international exhibition pieces has lead to numerous awards and seen their work featured in news papers, magazines and BBC television. Overall Alex believes in the power of paper as a 3D medium and lives by the mantra “limitation breeds innovation” striving to find elegant solutions to complex problems.
How To Build
– Download
Click the download button above to receive a .zip folder, inside this you will find the flat template of the paper toy along with a reference photo. Selected Fold Up Toys also include blank versions of the template. Open the flat template in your image viewer/editor of choice and print.
– Print
Print the model onto paper or card, Fold Up Toys recommends a 250gsm card stock for best results, however all models on the Fold Up Toys website should work perfectly well on standard A4 printer paper. On the bottom of the flat template you will see a recommended card stock weight (e.g. 250gsm) for this models specific design.
– Cut
Cut the model out along the solid outline, some models will have sections that need to be cut with a craft knife, younger builders are recommended to get help from an adult.
– Fold
Follow the key on the models flat template, folding up or down along the dotted lines as instructed. Some model builders like to score along the fold lines (go over the lines in advance) with a craft knife or empty ball point pen to get a more precise fold.
– Glue
Most models have numbered tabs, glue the tabs in order to complete the model. If you get stuck, feel free to message the designer using the contact page with a photo of what you’re working on and they’ll be happy to help you.
– Share
Share your creation on social media, it’s always fun to see Fold Up Toys out in the wild. Be sure to share it with the designer @Paperfolderman on Twitter and @folduptoys on Instagram. You can also e-mail a photo to hello@folduptoys.com
Change Log
24/10/2017 – Porg Portfolio item uploaded to FUT website.
25/05/2017 – BB-8 Portfolio item re-uploaded to FUT website with new template.
17/08/2017 – BB-8 Updated server location. Toys upload date altered to send BB-8 to top of website in anticipation of new visitors from Emma F collab.
16/04/2019 – BB-8 Altered page layout to make new 2019 standard template.
16/04/2019 – Porg Altered page layout to make new 2019 standard template.
16/04/2019 – New Group Item “Star Wars” added to website.
