“Sniffles the Frost-Breathing Dragon” Paper Toy

Last Updated on Monday, 12 March 2012 02:55 Written by Liz McLean Knight Tuesday, 6 March 2012 11:29

We’ve added a free paper toy, “Sniffles, The Frost-Breathing Dragon.” Instead of breathing fire like other dragons, he breathes frost–he freezes whatever he breathes on. As you’d expect, the cold has given him a perpetually runny nose, so his sidekick is a Box of Kleenex. You can either add him to your cart or download from the page.

RIP Benoit Mandelbrot, Fractal Innovator

Last Updated on Friday, 22 October 2010 01:38 Written by Liz McLean Knight Monday, 18 October 2010 08:50

Benoit Mandelbrot, the creator of fractal geometry died at the age of 85 this week. Fractals are a visual representation of an equation that is self-similar and based on recursion, and just so happen to mimic an incredible array of natural processes and formations, from mountain ranges to coral reefs, and interestingly, as the above video explains, explains not only the way branches of a tree are differentiated but how trees in a forest differentiate themselves. Pretty hot.

Mandelbrot Set featuring the song “Mandelbrot Set” by Jonathan Coulton

Here is a zoomed Mandelbrot fractal set to a song aptly entitled “Mandelbrot Set.”

Mr. Mandelbrot also did a lovely TED talk, which you can watch above.

For the geek boutique I run, Fractalspin (namesake obvious), I designed a paper toy called “Mandelbot” named after the man himself. You can download the PDF, print it out and assemble it for free.

RIP Benoit, and thank you for adding to our collective understanding.

Paper Game Boys

Last Updated on Friday, 22 October 2010 03:29 Written by Liz McLean Knight Saturday, 20 March 2010 07:44

Pretty impressive!
More photos here.
via LikeCool

Build your own arcade–from paper!

Last Updated on Friday, 22 October 2010 02:18 Written by Liz McLean Knight Friday, 30 January 2009 01:03

This paper arcade was given out as a series of flyers from the “I AM 8BIT” event held in LA. It was designed by Scott C, who apparently imagines himself as a giddy potato (click on the link and you’ll see).

[via Unsung Paper]

Open source Tuxes

Last Updated on Friday, 22 October 2010 02:29 Written by Liz McLean Knight Friday, 31 August 2007 05:35

Tux, the chubby, cuddly penguin mascot of Linux is now as open source as the software package it represents–how appropriate!

If you would like a plush Tux, head over to The Free Penguin Project and download their latest “development release” of open source sewing patterns. The blog attached shows a few of the penguins made from the patterns, a few of them differently-colored. I think this would make a pretty cool Etsy project, seeing how many variations and interpretations you could get from one pattern.

No fabric on hand? You can still get a 3D Tux in paper form by downloading and printing out the Paper Tux Model made by Pricoinsa.

[Thanks, Fractalspin Blog]

Mandelbot: Your new paper robot friend

Last Updated on Friday, 22 October 2010 02:31 Written by Liz McLean Knight Monday, 13 August 2007 08:19

Here’s a paper toy robot that I designed for Fractalspin.com, Mandelbot. Just download the PDF (email address required), print it out on cardstock or heavy paper, cut him out with an X-acto knife and then glue or tape him together.

He’s also featured on the back of a 5.5 x 8.5″ postcard featuring items from Fractalspin, although the gloss coating means you’d have to use super glue or a similar adhesive to get him to stick together (printer’s error *shrug*), and it will look nicer if you lightly score the fold lines before putting it together.