My parents are birders. The large windows in their Indiana house overlook a yard dotted with birdhouses and feeders. Binoculars and bird ID books wait on the windowsill. My grandmother was buried in her favorite cardinal (bird—not baseball team) sweatshirt. My people love birds. I live in Chicago and, like my parents, have binoculars on the windowsill. My ID tool is the Merlin Bird ID App from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology (birds.cornell.edu). I keep a casual bird count on my phone: 26 species in 5 years at my current location. From my window I have watched the neighborhood hawk devour rats and pigeons, and I have watched migrating finches plunder the seed heads of my coneflowers. I love birds too. Audubon released their report shortly after I received Hand Papermaking's invitation to create something for an issue focusing on 3D and sculpture. I had already been thinking about creating a dimensional project with moving parts to manipulate. Reading the report persuaded me to make something that would feel like a tool; something that would prompt an interactivity that, in turn, would inspire action. I also wanted to give a nod to the gorgeous, elegant graphic style of fellow artist and nature lover Charley Harper. This tool features the Baltimore oriole, due to its striking color and markings, but it can be used to assist any of our migratory birds. This is what you do with your migration navigator after you build it: You open it, giving three layers of dimension to the oriole. You spread the bird's wings, preparing it to take migratory flight. You set a direction in its summer 2015 - 21 thought-bubble compass, helping it to find good spots for breeding and wintering grounds. Then fold it up, stick it in your pocket, remind yourself that action is required, and hope that the birds find a way to sort this all out. TECHNICAL NOTES I have used handmade paper for many of my books because I enjoy being able to closely control the color, weight, and surface of the sheet. For pop-up books in particular, I value the strength of handmade paper. I regularly use a 75-percent cotton and 25-percent abaca blend for paper-engineered projects. In the 15 years since I made my first pop-up book with handmade paper, I have never been asked to repair a tear, nor am I aware of anyone else having to repair a tear in one of my books. As the shelf life of popup books is measured in months rather than years, I think this is fairly remarkable. design: shawn sheehy paper: shannon brock The paper is 25-percent unbleached abaca and 75-percent cotton rag. Carriage House Paper retention agent and pigments were used to achieve the orange color. printing: GW Corcoran Art and the Book Program The oriole pop-up was printed on a Vandercook #4 using a polymer plate and printed with NA Graphics Black rubber-based ink. The printers were graduate students–Jihae Kwon, Ian Warren, Marisol Ardon, Magdalena Cordero, Jennaway Pearson--and Professor Georgia Deal. See assembly instructions on next page. ASSEMBLY DIRECTIONS Assembling your oriole migration navigator will require a knife, a ruler, a fine-edged bone folder, and about 30 minutes. Tweezers might be useful. No glue is required! 1. Cut out the 5 pieces on their contours: folio, bird body, two bird wings, and compass. 2. Using a knife, make the following interior cuts on all 5 pieces: folio a. At position A, cut around the black tab, being careful not to cut the side that has the black dashed line. With a bone folder, score for valley folds on the three dashed lines at A. (Fig. 1) b. At position B and D, cut on the solid lines that surround the two semi-circular tabs, being careful not to cut on the dashed lines. Score for valley folds on the 12 dashed lines at B and D. (Fig. 2) c. At position C, cut on the solid lines to remove the slot entirely. (Fig. 2) bird body d. At position A, cut around the small rectangle to remove the slot entirely. e. At position C, score the two dashed lines for valley folds. (Fig. 3) bird wings f. At position B on both wings, cut on the solid lines to remove the circles entirely. compass g. At position D, cut on the thin solid line to remove the center circle entirely. 3. Lay your ruler along the two hash marks at the center of the oblong folio, and score down the center of the folio for a valley fold. (Fig. 4) 4. Hold your oblong folio in the "landscape" orientation, so that it is wider than it is tall. In the two semi-circular tabs at the B position, fold to flat on the four vertical score lines. On the two horizontal score lines, fold so that the two tabs are perpendicular to the folio. (Fig. 5) This will allow you to thread the B holes of the two wings onto those two tabs--both wings, with holes lined-up, thread onto both tabs. Once the wings are in position, you can unfold all of the score lines at position B to lock the wings in position. See photo for correct wing orientation (Fig. 6). 5. At position A on the folio, fold to flat on the two short horizontal score lines. On the long black score line, fold so that the tab is perpendicular to the folio. Slide the slot at position A in the bird body piece onto the tab A in the folio piece. Stop at the lock position at the midway point on the tab. Unfold at the two short score lines to lock the back of the bird body in position. (Fig. 7) 6. At position C on the bird body, fold to flat on both score lines. Push tabs at C through slot C in the folio. (Fig. 8) Open tabs in back to lock the front of the bird body in position. 7. In the two semi-circular tabs at the D position, fold to flat on the four vertical score lines. On the two horizontal score lines, fold so that the two tabs are perpendicular to the folio. This will allow you to thread the D hole of the compass onto those two tabs. When the compass is resting against the folio, unfold the tabs to lock the compass in position. (Fig. 9) Rotate the wings so that they tuck under the bird's body (Fig. 10), then carefully close the folio. To activate your navigator: Open the folio, slide the wings out into flight position, and choose a bearing on your compass that helps the oriole find comfortable wintering grounds.
