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Cove 19 vs Cholera Pandemics of 19 Century.

An 1883 illustration of the Grim Reaper draped in a cloth labeled "cholera," arriving in America on a British ship. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive

The year 1876 start of Hopkins University, is one of the rare moments where the scientific approach started preparing the U.S. for the modern world’s challenges. Yet big chunk of our population still lingers in the 19-century approach disregarding scientific knowledge. No wonder so many of us do not believe in natural diseases, preferring conspiracy theories. Observing popular culture is not hard to conclude. I think the reason our public is more susceptible to it is, in general, disregard for intellectuals and knowledge.
Yet, there are several Viruses, pandemics not yet invading our reality but waiting to happen.
Nipah Virus (From bats), listed currently as one of the 10 most dangerous viruses, has a 10% survival rate and 45 days incubation rate. Already experienced on a few occasions in Malaysia, Bangladesh, and India with fatal consequences for humans.

There are more like, for example, MERS – Middle Easter Respiratory Disease 10- times more deadly than Cove 19 first experienced in Saudi Arabia in 2012, 4 different swine flu viruses with the potential to develop the ability to infect humans, MARBURG VIRUS DISEASE, EBOLA, LASSA FEVER, SARS, ZIKA, CRIMEAN-CONGO HAEMORRHAGIC FEVER, RIFT VALLEY FEVER, MONKEYPOX, and many more.

1918 Influenza with estimated worldwide death tool between 50-100 million was erased from collective memory. Nobody is talking about priests cruising the street of Philadelphia in horse-powered wagons announcing the public to bring out their dead. Bloody nose bleeds are not part of today’s reality.

The first cholera pandemic (1817–24) began near Calcutta and spread throughout Southeast Asia to the Middle East, eastern Africa, and the Mediterranean coast.


The second cholera pandemic (1826–1837), also known as the Asiatic cholera pandemic, reached from India across western Asia to Europe, Great Britain, the Americas, and east to China and Japan.

1855. Wikipedia: “The third plague pandemic was a major bubonic plague pandemic that began in Yunnan, China, in 1855 during the fifth year of the Xianfeng Emperor of the Qing dynasty. This episode of bubonic plague spread to all inhabited continents and ultimately led to more than 12 million (perhaps 15 million) deaths in India and China, with about 10 million killed in India alone, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in history.”

Please do not forget the 1866 cholera outbreak in New York and many other cities.
And the fact that Cellular Connection, WI-FI, and 5G blamed by some for today Cove 19 could not have such explanation hundred or more years ago. The high speed of the 19-century new invention Steam locomotives in Great Britain over 20 miles per hour did not prevent pregnancies, and Early Trains Were Thought to Make Women’s Uteruses Fly Out.
So WEAR THE MASK!

The top Image credit “An 1883 illustration of the Grim Reaper draped in a cloth labeled “cholera,” arriving in America on a British ship. Bettmann / Bettmann Archive”

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uwpluxe.com – O, such painfull name

Scrnli 1 3 2021 11 26 44 am

Do you know them? Interesting! But not quite Original pop-up cards.
The cryptic name “uwpluxe.com” ensures that you are going to forget it quickly.
Straightforward construction. It catches my attention for two reasons.
1) They supply a nice selection of pop-up cards to MOMA NY “Museum of Modern Art.”
2) Simplicity of the construction of the cards on the border of boredom.

No, they are quite nice but seeing the selection of available cards, I put them above the Chinese/Vietnam-designed cards (Too ornamental) and below the British ones.
What attracts my attention is that one of the designs mimics one of my first ever designs (Green wardrobe). Of course, this is their own (White Color) interpretation, but I think the designer may have difficulty coming out with their own new subject.

Surprisingly I see one of their best designs in the “sale” section of their website. “Dream Big” card.

I think this “Southwest Skull” subject may play well in the EU but not in the United States of America where people subconsciously avoid subjects referring to the painful areas of American Lives and the feeling of guilt.
The world “stockists” used on their site suggests that the owner of the web site is from the other shores, a lucky escapee from the abyss of Brexit
So we wish them good luck but, overall we are not impressed.

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Amazon Amazing steal

Genuine

The story of US-based small and not so small business put out of business by Amazon copying their product itself or pushing made in China Fakes is not universally known.
An article published by “The Wall Street Journal” describes one aspect of the well known Giant. As the article states: “Amazon Has Ceded Control of Its Site. The Result: Thousands of Banned, Unsafe or Mislabeled Products”
The most Amazon-Amazing fact is that such a giant can exist despite our antitrust (another Paperweight) laws.
To ensure its market dominance not only engaged in direct theft of intellectual property of others but also joined its resources with other Big Tech companies to successfully push the 2011 Legislation “Reforming” our patent laws. The first Success of the “2011 Leahy–Smith America Invents Act” was a 50% average drop in US patents’ value. Now 10 years later, we deal with several problems. There is no problem with IP (Intelectual Property) theft because patent issued by USPTO has no value, and it may be freely taken by competition from startup or individual inventor without any consequences thanks to the “Efficient Infringement” doctrine telling them that it is cheaper to steal than to pay licensing fees to the inventor. The cost of any patent-related lawsuit in the US is in millions what rarely any inventor or startup can afford. Plus, if the inventor misbehaves, the new USPTO arm PTAB, known as “Patent Death Squad,” will invalidate His/her Patent. ( 84% chance). It leads to a situation where the Patent owner is often forced to pay ransom to an entity applying to invalidate his/her patent. Entities hunting for patents with juicy infringement awards. Also, several Supreme Court decisions subsequently weakened the position of the Patent owner.
Thanks to such an arrangement, Big Tech has guaranteed no competition Market.
Shame on us.

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The quality of your Greeting card goes long way

The Face By Jacek Alfac.us

Have you ever thought about how your greeting card is received?
Is it quickly put away?
You bought run-of-the-mill cards and they are recognized as such by recipients?
Lost opportunity since a better, memorable piece of paper art may keep your name longer on display and bring you either some love or some new business.
It will not cost you a dime more, just some attention to where to spend your hard-earned money and get a better product. There are some significant differences in how cards are received.
3-dimensional cards stay on display While flat greeting cards?
Usually, they disappear quite quickly. Some remain on display for a few days. Especially during the holiday season. After that? Most of us discover flat cards during big cleaning projects; years later tucked away.
3D pop-up cards hold more staying power with some differences.
1) The one in the “book” form requires two hands to open and face a similar fate. They are exposed to the viewer just for the moment. Not a big difference compared with the flat one.
All of them are Almost or let’s say simply IDENTICAL.

Sold, for example, by Lovepop, Hallmark, Americangreetings, Chinese companies on E-bay, and a number of other sellers under different names.
2) and then really original Free-standing cards remaining open on their own, at the TOP of the Pack.
Like Santoro, Paper D’Art, Graphics3inc, or us, Paperbee.net



They stay displayed by the recipients for DAYS., and months to come.
Take it into account when you decide which of the little ambassadors you will employ.

The quality of your card goes long way.

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Rothko religious art – Chapel of Death

the devil dancing on your grave by DanielWagesSep 22 2014

A few years ago, I learned about a Chapel described as “Catholic” decorated with the art of Rothko. Upon seeing the “art,” it is not hard to conclude that there is something amiss. Huge pieces covered with black paint dominate the space. The symbolistic meaning of the black color is obvious and doesn’t demand an explanation.

Looking for the logic behind it, there is no explanation why any “Catholic” institution would accept art showing black surfaces without any indication about the subject.
Faith, Christ in religious tradition, is a synonym for Light, happiness, and knowledge, not about the night.

Of course, I saw it as dumbness of people to finance this “ART” The explanation of why the canvases are black surfaced quickly after taking into account the painter’s background. There is the view of Christ as a false prophet. Historically, some Jewish writers and scholars have considered Jesus as the most influential “false prophet,” and their traditional views of Jesus have been mostly negative.
Apparently, the painter painted it that way as a “false prophet,” darkness, I think unintentionally taking advantage of the rather dumb sponsors, or maybe he was not creative or wise enough to stay away from his habit of flatly painted plain canvases.

Is his interpretation intentional? This art interpretation is apparently the reason behind why the Chapel is labeled as non-denominational.
I do not think any religion would accept images of deity as a plain black surface. Also, I do not know any priest who would use it.
Regardless of your religion. Would you pray to the piece of black canvas?
Unless you are a SATANIST.
The artist committed suicide a year after painting this “ART,” still displayed in Houston, Texas, since 1971.

In your opinion who or what depicts this “art”?

“Literary historian William E. Cain observed in the Southwest Review that it is said of these canvases that they “are saturated with death; they are representations of the void, stark and remorseless but, somehow, uplifting evocations of emptiness: they absorb us into themselves the longer we gaze at them.”

The top Devils gif image of the devil dancing on your grave
is by DanielWagesSep 22 2014
The bottom GIF Source
clterryart’s Tumblr post

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Paper Bee Pop-up mania

bee popup card


Have you noticed people’s unusual fascination with pop-ups? Grown men and women long past their teenage years are attracted to small paper buildups opening another world up the front of their eyes.
I think their attraction to such toys shows that everybody caresses a playful Child inside regardless of age. Our normally shown outside is Knight’s armor to defend ourselves from intolerant people without imagination and low self-esteem. This playfulness makes unbearable days easier and brings unquestionable benefits because people with smiles live longer, healthier, and happier lives. So Do not limit your happiness regardless of how silly the reason may appear to others.

Because of the health benefits a smile brings shouldn’t I consider myself a Healthcare provider? And charge people accordingly. I mean out of the blue and sky-high. If U.S. Congress a few years ago recognized pizza as a vegetable… in our country anything is possible.

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Santoro – British pop-up cards.

santoro card

Santoro is one of the most innovative publishers of pop-up greeting cards. Engineered, designed, and printed in the UK.

First, they searched for their soul, trying a few different design types before settling on a few proven ones.
Since they ventured outside of the pop-cards realm, I would not expect major changes in their offer.
Their energy is now applied in other directions. (Among other Real estate development)
But their selection is first class.
One of my observations is that their cards are divided into two parts.
!) Self-assembly (by the recipient – of course)
2) More complicated and elaborate Buildups.
All of them containing something movable, free-hanging elements.
I am a big fan of their (simple) “Swing Cards,” but when it comes to their “Pirouettes” and “Poprocks” and “Pendulum” cards, I think that they may be too complicated and too big to enjoy on everyday displays of their recipients. I think small is more beautiful than BIG. More intimate and better equipped to reach the hearts. But their popularity is telling me that I am wrong. One of the lessons I learned in the past is: do not underestimate your lesser achievements because they may be the top ones in public eyes. I still remember Chicago Art Institute Buyer, who chose, to my surprise, not the best-designed Glass Flowers, when to enlarge my offering. I included some (In my eyes) lesser designs in a bunch of my samples they requested.
Going back to the Santoro. They are an excellent destination for your gift offerings.

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Up with Paper. Pop-up simplicity.

Jjp129howloweensp3 1

When I first saw “Up with Paper” greeting cards I was impressed with their small square cards. Their traditional book format was something new in the right size, and they were a success story with virtually no competition. Graphic3D existed much longer but was and still is invisible, focusing on a steady business market. Far away from the hustle and bustle of retail. I think “Up with Paper” initial success was not justified for a period of time because their made in China cards did not stand out exactly with their quality. Their rough-cut pieces glued together did not make an impression when inspected close up. It changed, and now you can enjoy well made and designed cards with nice simple artwork. I do not see any new concepts, but as with every established business, they focus on their proved holdings. A nice choice for occasional mailings to your friends and family. They also try their hands on a small collection of pop-up books. I am less impressed with it, but they addressed it to kids, and apparently, some kids enjoy their work.

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With Me&McQ pop up card you will not dare loose Christmas Cheer.

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Me&McQ is in its 30th year publishing groundbreaking greetings cards. What I admire are the illustrations. Painstakingly rendered details with a big dose of imagination.
I do not favor that the cards are overflowing with too many details, and their technical construction is based on the basic trellis construction. Of course, my personal taste or distaste should not stop you from loving the cards. They are charming. Exactly the type of item to bring Christmas cheer to any household. Highly recommended. Designed in Great Britain produced in China. Their designs are 90% original. However, I saw a couple of identical cards sold by others. The reason behind this is that some Chinese manufacturers sell overruns of some designs produced for a particular company and also like for example bird cages are produced independently for several customers at once.

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I love pop up cards. Your Christmas Card may pay you well.

Christmas pop up card

I love pop-up cards. My long-time love of paper started in grammar school, where in a school competition I won first prize for a paper steam engine. I loved my creation so much that I refused to let it out of my hands to submit it to a between-schools competition.

December is the time we can see collections of flat Christmas Cards posted all over the offices.

  • I never asked what is happening to this display after Christmastime is over. Mostly, this is a missed opportunity to keep your name up in the front of your client’s eyes.
  • Nobody keeps them, and there is no reason to do that.
  • The usual Flat generic cards with simple messages and very simple designs are not exactly eye and heart catchers.

Stand-alone kind of Pop-up cards tends to stay displayed as a handy decoration or remainder

Smart Marketers know well that 3-dimensional mail has an unusually high up to 25 to 50% response rate, and that’s why smart companies like graphics3inc  are selling pop-ups almost exclusively to business customers.

Every few years they refresh their existing contraptions with new graphics and with a limited number of designs they serve their customers for more than 20 years. You can grab some of their designs right away from their website.

Their designs are powered up with rubber bands. We decided not to use rubber bands.

If you like something original, there is our option. Contact us with your requirements, and we will provide an original design with original art and higher impact than any generics, Our unique pop-up cards designs pops-up under gravitation force. The weight of paper they are assembled from.

Pop-up cards

1. Grabs authentic attention.

2. Create an instant positive impact.

3. Have very high response rates.

4. They leave a lasting impression.

For generic 3D cards, the response rate can vary from 2-4% or higher for retention campaigns.   I have heard about higher rates, but of course it depends on the quality of your mailing lists, industry, and your offer. Successful flat mail have 0.5%-2% response rate.

In our personal experience, flat cards are easily lost in a stack of paper and after the initial encounter the recipient no longer pays attention to them.

3 D pop-up cards get more attention, but it depends on design quality and size. The big sized are disposed of quickly since, due to their space requirement, they are viewed as a problem.

Smaller pop-up greeting cards have better luck, unless they are required to be held open in the recipient’s hands or the design is of poor quality.   That’s why Graphics3D rubber band open cards and SmartPaperCuts.com gravitational force cards are my favorite.

By the way. Have you met our St. Nick?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wLyXZ_8SxI]

 

 

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Smart paper cuts. Vojtech Kubasta Pop-up books in Florida, Fort Lauderdale museum.

Cinderella (snipped)
A Christmas Tale
A Christmas Tale pop-up book by Vojtech Kubasta

When my wife and kids enjoyed the warm beaches during our annual Florida vacation, an active person like me scouted for the unusual and beautiful, found in the local museum’s collection of pop-up books by Vojtěch Kubašta. The paper “Umelec”(Artist In the Czech language) puts the old-world’s overwhelming charm into the pop-up world. In Florida, unexpectedly, I was back in Prague still remembering the charm of the Old City. The antiquarium where I was buying the 19th century, old human anatomy books with wonderfully illustrated pop-up cut out of organs you can move to see the next layer of the human body. The “Wlasky salad” and “housky” buns I bought in the neighborhood store every morning.

Vojtech Kubasta was able to transfer the charm of the old-world into the pages of his books. For me, it was a sudden transfer into the charming and long-forgotten world.

The language I was able to master enough to start reading books in Czech quickly. Places where everybody wishes you a good day, regardless of if you know anybody there. The strange way the coffee is served and people keep utensils when they are eating. During the fall, the dark sweet cherries I was eating sat among the branches of huge cheery trees in an old palace park—the dark memory of the day I had to leave this newly discovered and charming world behind. After so many years, it still hurts.

Hej, wake up. I have heard the voice of my wife. The curator of the Fort Lauderdale museum asked about the Vojtech Kubasta books’ collection and agreed to show to us, my family, the treasures in his possession. I wish you the same experience.

But please do not go to Prague for the beer-drinking trip. Lucky I was able to enjoy the old city before the era of tourist invasion. There were still old antique cars on the streets, dark cities after sunset, and beer number 10 showing without question automatically up front of every new guest in the local “Wycep” (Pub).

And there was the Soviet Army stationed in some places. My like uniform, denim red dress purchased in Poland, along with an army-style coat, apparently looked like the Royal Canadian Mounties uniform, so soviet soldiers saluted me in the street. I could not believe it. They salute a guy in a strange uniform with very long red hair. Me. The exact opposite of their dull uniforms and depressing ideology.

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The end of the Reign of the Ring Binder. Ringless Binder is born.

Cat 2 video gif

 Friedrich Soennecken inventor of the Ring Binder should certainly wake up from his well-deserved final rest knowing that finally there is something/ somebody good enough to challenge his invention “Ring-binder” 133 years long reign in every office on the earth.

  • To my surprise, the new solution comes not in form of a complicated mechanism but as a single, flexible sheet of material cut a certain way. All rings and metal parts are eliminated. And it works.
  • There is no sticking-out spine always taking the same space on the shelf even if empty. The New Ring-Less Binder is flexible and quite pleasant to handle, the same as the rest of this new family serving the same binding functions.

  • The Challenger says he has ambitions to improve range of products currently on the market. Eliminating the Rings, Spines, prongs etc. His solution simply is simpler. It means less expensive. It means Not welcomed by competition.

This is not the first time the Reign of the Ring is challenged. There are numerous challenges to its rule sponsored by many companies. None of them were successful, lingering on the fringe of the Office market mostly due to the fact that they introduce their own sets of problems.

In the U.S. there is an additional problem with the office market dominated by very few big players. Players with immense financial resources not taking any risks when it comes to the introduction of a product competing with their well-established offerings.

To make things more palatable for inventors the 2011 Leahy–Smith America Invents Act effectively makes U.S. patents worthless and unenforceable by a small player not having financial resources to finance legal challenges.

  • Leahy-Smith’s act (2011 America Invention act) sponsored by Big Tech effectively enables “Efficient Infringement” practiced by already established companies barring entry to the market for eventual startups/competition. Introduced by this legislation PTAB (Patent Trial and Appeal Board ) enjoys well-deserved fame as a ” Patent killing squad” invalidating by own admission 84% of all challenged patents. The effect: Invention exodus to more promising lands already caught politicians’ attention in Congress. 
  • So far, there is no real action to fix things except proposed bills released with misleading titles and preambles and opposite in effect, the rest of the text. Under “Save The Inventor”false flag trying to cement the current situation, benefiting no one except the BIG TECH.
Ring binder
Empty Ring binders. Please notice the space needed to store even the empty one.

If we add the long string of anti-patent rulings by the US Supreme Court, there is no wonder why the US public do not see the latest fruits of technological development we can easily spot in other countries. To learn more about the plight of US inventors please check https://innovationgadfly.com/ & https://usinventor.org/

5 Ring-Less binders by Alfac.us
Ring vs Ring-less
compare Ring-Less with empty Ring binder

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Allen and Patty Eckman Paper Sculptures

Papercraft 1

Among the unusual and beautiful Allen and Patty Eckman paper art is in one of the top places.

I was looking for some small sculptures, examples of western art. I stumbled on a striking image showing an Indian boy.

A long time ago,I became a wannabe in this western art field, trying to promote glass Christmas ornaments with western subjects.

  • I was able to sell only glass “Prairie schooners”, Cowboys and their maidens and Stagecoaches, but never any Indian subjects.  
  • Later on, I realized that the reason is well embedded in the American psyche.
  • The deep wounds are still dividing society, more than 100 years after the carnage.
  • It makes native inhabitants unable to accept anything from outside as part of the still-ongoing invasion and, on the other hand, deep denial of the historical facts, denial of the facts of the real and brutal history, and inability to reconcile.

As a naive newcomer, I never realized the deep scars of the American psyche trying to promote a naive propagandistic view of US history.

Authentic art from both sides is the only acceptable line of communication. That’s why we buy Indian jewelry on the side of a highway in Arizona or pottery in South Dakota and that is why I am searching for authentic western art.

It brings certain unspoken truths. If you have a minute, I think you should take a look at their website: https://eckmanfineart.com


 

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Smart paper cuts. The pop-up greeting cards among us.

Animated dragon image 0164

It seems, during the last few years, everybody gets infected with the idea of pop-chinese dragon popupup greeting cards.

  • Several companies started producing (in China & Vietnam) a bunch of pop-ups. Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to distinguish one “original” design from another offered by the competition.
  • The reason is that labor, especially labor of skilled and able to produce original artwork paper engineer is time-consuming and quite expensive, and there are so few really creative people around.
  • It Is easier to grab already made Chinese designs. In effect, most offered pop-ups are generic, and in my humble opinion simply “Boring.”
  • Looking at the flurry of colors and forms first is hard to catch the obvious, but after a while, it becomes apparent stopping us in our quest to find something unique for our valentines. 
  • The flood of mass-produced pop-ups is especially visible when we search for pop-up cards on the internet. There is the sea of Chinese-style trees, and over-sweetened and drowning in ornaments paper flowers, castles, hearts, motorcycles, paper steam locomotives, and Chinese dragons. Ourselves we received an email (through our Etsy shop) from a Vietnamese company offering its services but having the desire to offer only unique and beautiful of course we declined.  Please check a short list of cards we like.I will show you the true gems of the paper word invisible in the flood of the run of the mill.

 

 

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Pop up Christmas Tree, For you…. and ME

#44 christmas tree 10secas gif

The Christmas tree

Invisible to the viewer’s eye, this tree is equipped with a string. Arrives flat in an envelope, and when removed and the string is pulled, the tree changes from 2D to 3DPaper Christmas Tree. The ingenious design allows this tree to serve as a standing pop-up or hanging paper Christmas Ornament. Thanks to our designer’s efforts, regardless of space or place, everybody can have a miniature Tree. Let us know if you like to see a subject close to your heart translated into a 3Dimensional paper sculpture. PaperBee.net

 

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Graphics3inc.com, Florida and it’s original pop-ups

Santa by Graphics3ink
Santa Space-Xmas Rocketship’
Santa Space-Xmas Rocketship by Graphics3inc

Years ago, during my annual vacation in Florida, when my family enjoyed the beach, usually I drove around finding interesting things.

One of my trips ended in Jupiter FL. As I discovered at the time, there was a company, Graphics3, producing original (rubber band-powered) pop-up greeting cards.

When I entered the building, there were pallets of huge paper sheets printed with images and ready to cut.

The pleasant crew quickly showed me around. Unfortunately, regardless of my fascination, they were not impressed by my idea to allow me to sell their product.

They specialize in selling Christmas cards to businesses, as you can see on their website. I was so impressed by the quality of their ART. Looking for a product able to replace those lost in the carnage of 2008, my Luna Moth Christmas Ornaments company.

  • Their cards became my inspiration. It was my starting point to try to develop my own pop-up card designs.
  • First, I was only trying to avoid the deteriorating after a year or two rubber bands powering their pop-ups. After some attempts, I was able to come out with an original card not glued but assembled from interconnecting, free moving parts opening itself under pure gravitation force, under the weight of paper the card is made from.
  • Pressed by other activities, first I kept this project on the slow burner, promising myself to go back to this project. Since the gravitation cards are quite interesting and their development aligns with my other invention, I think now is the time to add some more to this pop-up collection.
  • I urge the reader not to settle on the popular “trellis” construction made in China/Vietnam cards but strive to find something higher quality like the Graphics3inc.com cards I here recommend.

You may enjoy our automatic self-opening popups on the paperbee.net pages.

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My favorite maker of Popup Cards

Popnrock sample lrg

Are you looking for a neat gift to send to your friends? A company in Great Britain, “SANTORO” developed some quite nice 3-dimensional sculptures made, of course, from Paper. “Swing cards,” “Baubles,” “Piroquettes,” etc. What unusual is the number of new challenging types of construction they attempt to offer to their clients, A gift and card in one? You may be sure that your pop-up gift is not going bo tossed away right after Christmas time. Even better, they may survive the carnage of the coming months and show as decorations on your friend’s Christmas Tree next year.