Pop Ups

For my last visit to the local school for my volunteer work in their after school program, i showed the girls how to make pop ups in their altered books. I have always used models cut out of magazines for this - because the folds are more obvious that way. Still, pop ups can be confusing and there are many different ways to do it. I'll tell you about two of them.
Take a magazine image of a person. Trim the top half - like from the elbows up and over the head. Leave the bottom intact. The wider the image the easier this will be - so leave a border as needed. Fold the model in half lengthwise - like right through the face.Then fold the top half of the body at the waist, so that it is perpendicular to the fold. Think about bending to pick something up, it really helps! then unfold and refold everything the opposite way - so that the folds are really bent.

Then hold the model in your hands. this is the tricky part. You need to fold the lower half of her in and the top half out. use your fingers to pop the head along the diagonal lines.

Smooth her flat. Apply glue to one side of the back, i do the right side. Put the folded edge into the gutter of the book and press the glued side firmly. Then apply glue to the other back (now on top) - and just CLOSE the book. The pop up should be properly placed, and the model should POP up when you open the book. Another example!
Note: this type of pop up will go completeley flat when you open the book all the way. so another method to keep some degree of elevation, is to "split" the legs so that they can be separated. You can split anywhere - it doesn't have to be along the fold. it just has to be split right up to the point of the v folds.This will force the top half to stay "popped". You can see how it works - before you glue it into the book. The trick here is the glue the folded model into the book - by putting the POINT deep into the gutter of the book. NOT the whole folded edge.glue it lightly at first to test it. Then apply more glue and close the book .
See how splitting the bottom half of the image keeps the head popped up?