Clunky Companion

This toy was a decade in the making…
After being inspired by Luke Glood’s recent ‘refolded’ project, which revisited one of their earlier paper toy designs a decade later and recreated the design from the ground up, I decided to do the same with my most classic design, Clink. This steam punk robot companion ‘Clunk’ features a thin veneer of copper tone metallic plates on top of dark shadowy mechanical workings. The goal was to capture the ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’ of the original design, updating it with my modern understanding of paper engineering and to throw a few interesting folding gimmicks into the mix.

The template is a single A4 page and consists of a single piece, the legs of the template are held above the rest of the template, which then folds down inside of itself before building a ‘cage’ of paper parts around it to create the inner workings of the model and add textured elements behind those hollow glowing eyes.

As well as the standard version of the paper toy template, the download includes a version with no bleed, for reduced printing cost as well as a blank version to allow for customisation.

Please note, because this product is a digital download there is no physical product to be shipped or mailed, this includes the mailing of the flat pre-printed sheets the product is delivered as a digital .ZIP file and is intended to be printed using a home based printer. 

– Purchase / 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 some reference photos.  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 @folduptoys on Twitter and Instagram. You can also e-mail a photo to hello@folduptoys.com

Patreon supporters (£5+) gain instant access to this and many other paper toy downloads as well as exclusive content and alternative versions of designs.
If you’re already a Patreon supporter of Fold Up Toys, make sure you’re logged into your Patreon account and have an appropriate tier selected so that you can download the model directly below.