Accordion Screen - TCK 68

[Image ID] A stand up 3-D accordion screen made of card. There are three screens visible, two of which have flying bats on them and the middle one has cogs on it. An art deco corner round the bottom left of the front screen enables the whole thing to stand up. There is a similar art deco corner on the back screen but it is at the top rather than the bottom. The screen as a whole leans back so the back screen is resting on the bottom of that screen [description end]

I made this project having been inspired by the ‘Window accordion booklet’ shared by @Sevenplaza (the specific video I was inspired by can be found here).

I cut the body of the accordion booklet (the yellow panels and frames) using my Cricut Explore as I find it difficult to use a craft knife. I made the cut file myself using the basic shapes available in the design space software that comes with the machine. It was a relatively simple file to put together as the base of the accordion is just five copies of the same panel merged together with score lines on the joins. The most difficult part was creating the ‘cut corners’ effect, but by reusing the first corner as a guide for the rest even that didn’t take too long.

[Image ID] A side on view of the screen enabling you to see the screen between the front bat panel and the middle cog one. It has a tone on tone design on it. [description end]

Although they aren’t very visible in any of the photos, I glued a slightly smaller yellow frame on top of the tracing paper to help support the back and cover up the glue lines on the tracing paper. I didn’t cut the tracing paper panels on the Cricut, so as not to struggle with the cut settings. Instead I opted to trace round the frames I made to strengthen the back of the screen and cut the tracing paper with scissors.

[Image ID] This photo shows the bats and cogs in more detail. There are two bats on the front and back screens and three cogs on the middle screen. [description end]

The bats and cogs were cut from some scrap white card which had been ink blended with Ground Espresso Distress Oxide. They appear nearer to black in the photos, but in person the bat and cog details are a dark brown. I also blended some Vintage Photo ink around the edges of the yellow panels for a more ‘aged’ finish. The ‘Art Deco’-esque corners on the front and back panels of the accordion were cut using dies from the most recent Tonic Craft Kit ‘Assorted Frames’ / No.68. I cut the decorative layer from some 220gsm kraft card, and the plain backing panel from lighter weight kraft paper. However, I chose which to cut the layers from for their colour rather than their weight.

[Image ID] In this photo the screen is lying flat so you can see it in its entirety. This enables you to see the design on the second panel more clearly but also lets you see the foliage design on the bottom of the panel between the cogs and the back panel with bats on. [description end]

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Card: Marigold Yellow Classic Card by Tonic Studios, 220gsm Kraft Card, Kraft Paper, & 220gsm white card

Dies: Bat Crazy and Gearhead by Sizzix, Assorted Frames (TCK 68) by Tonic Studios

Inks: Ground Espresso Distress Oxide, Vintage Photo Distress Ink

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