How to make a giant Christmas card?

December 2, 2005 10:33 AM

I'm completely artistically and artsy-craftily challenged. But I'd like to design and print a giant Christmas card that starts out looking more or less like a regular-sized one but then unfolds and unfolds and unfolds, etc. until it becomes more of a Christmas greetings poster... Problem is, I can't draw a straight line to save my life, much less envision how I'd design one using some software tool. Does anybody have any suggestions for someplace to look for any guidance? Thanks!!!
posted by Misciel to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (9 answers total)

Can you give us a better idea of what you want? Do you want this poster to ba a large image with some text? Will it be an illustration or a photograph. Large Images will need to be high resolution if you want them to look nice poster sized.

I'm guessing that you want to print your cards on a large sheet of paper, but how large? Also, keep in mind how much folding you'll have to do. Card stock will no be cooperative, but tissue paper will be too delicate.
posted by Alison at 10:46 AM on December 2, 2005

You can't double any piece of paper more than 8 times. A limitation to be aware of.
posted by Miko at 12:22 PM on December 2, 2005

You might be able to do something with Rasterbator.
(Not really what you're asking, though.)
posted by chococat at 1:17 PM on December 2, 2005

You can't double any piece of paper more than 8 times.

Don't be so certain.
posted by Robot Johnny at 2:05 PM on December 2, 2005

If you're worried about how the card will look at all the stages of its unfolding—i.e. how do you make sure you've got all the images lined up properly so that the first unfold looks like a coherent picture, and the second, and so on (as opposed to a jumbled puzzle), then I'd suggest taking your giant piece of paper, folding it the way you want (I assume in halves until you get to the final "card" shape), and then labelling all the resulting panels as you unfold it with a number corresponding to the unfolding stage and the orientation of the panel (i.e. THIS SIDE UP).

Once you've unfolded the entire card, you should have a nice map of how you should put the thing together in something like Illustrator or Photoshop. It also serves equally well as a guide for cut'n'paste collages; all you need are a bunch of magazines, some scissors and paste/tape, and some grey matter.
posted by chrominance at 2:48 PM on December 2, 2005

she used a 4,000-foot roll of special toilet paper

the sheet of paper had to be about 3/4 of a mile long.

So, OK, you schooled me, Robot Johnny. But I stand by the basic premise of my statement -- there is a limited number of folds you can *practically* make. Unless Misciel plans on making her Christmas cards out of 3/4-mile lengths of special toilet paper, s/he ought to plan on no more than 8 doublings. When I was teaching, some students and I experimented with this using full sheets of newsprint, and then giant sheets of drafting paper attached together, and never could do more than 8.
posted by Miko at 2:48 PM on December 2, 2005

Hmm, this might be completely overstating the obvious, but here's how i'd go about this:

I'd use an 11x17 piece of paper as printing on anything larger will mostly likely be rather costly. I'd suspect, that since you will be folding it a text weight paper will be fine. But, if you chose to go the cardstock route keep in mind you'll have to score your folds. Regardless, I'd consider getting a bone folder (an impossibly simple tool which you'll find yourself using over and over again for these sorts of projects).

I'd take the 11x17 sheet and fold it down to 4.25x5.5, a bit small for a traditional card but still a nice size which offers a lot fun unfolding discovery. From there I'd number the sides of the mock-up and draw an arrow pointing up on each, the front being the first side you see, that opens to sides 2 and 3 and that unfolds to 4 and so on. When the sheet is entirely unfolded you'll have number sections with there orientation indicated with the arrows. Measure those sections and use you measure to make guides in whatever program you intend to use to lay this out. And ta-da-- You've got a template for your lovely unfoldy card!

on preview, chrominance has got it!
posted by verysleeping at 2:55 PM on December 2, 2005

on post, apologies for horrendous spelling and grammar!
posted by verysleeping at 2:57 PM on December 2, 2005

Wow! Some great ideas!! Thanks!!

Yeah, I knew there'd be a limit to how many times it could be folded, but I was intrigued to find out if anybody had some suggestions that could make the most out of the medium! I can't wait to give these a spin!! Thanks again!!
posted by Misciel at 3:00 PM on December 2, 2005