Crafts: Paper Buildings & Bridges

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I am always, always, always on the look out for crafts I think the boys will like. So I picked up Buildings, Bridges, and Landmarks, which has paper versions of about 25 famous landmarks around the world.

I find that NOT paying attention to the news is the best for improving anxiety [I went 6 days at the beginning of August] but if I fail and find myself horribly anxious, doing something fiddly with my hands is a decent salve. Better than trying to read or fic. I do some with the boys [they like tape] and some alone [I prefer glue].

Here's London's Tower Bridge.



And in the cut, Bavaria's Neuschwanstein, the Eiffel Tower, and Barcelona's Sagrada Familia. There are a lot of interesting ones to do, including Angor Wat, Chican Itza, and St. Basil's.

Comments

[garonne]

This looks like a lot of fun! I love this sort of construction project. A bit like Lego, but the Lego kits of famous landmarks are so expensive...

Based on the first photo I thought they were really big, and wondered where on earth you would put 25 of them, but from the photo with the glass I see they are not actually that big :D

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

They are fun. And fiddly. Yes, I watch (as a kind of background noise) Brick Builder youtube videos of those Lego construction projects but, yes, they are at least $200 each.

None are bigger than one hand.

BTW, I did think of you yesterday because I listened to the audiobook of K. J. Charles' Slippery Creatures. The narrator was Cornell Collins, who also narrated Band Sinister. I liked it more in audio form, and I had more appreciation for the first sex scene, which I thought was kind of lifeless on the page. My only tiny complaint was that the voice he used for Libra and the voice he used for Kim were a bit too similar at one point but then Libra dies so that's the end of that. A good Will Darling voice. I can't believe my library got it, but I was thrilled to discover they did.

[misbegotten]

These are so cool!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thanks!

[smallhobbit]

Tower Bridge worked out really well. It made me smile thinking I walked over the top part last summer.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! That must've been fun. I plan to work on the Houses of Parliament today. I am picking up a Choose Your Own Adventure book at the library for Minor today 'Can You Escape the Tower of London?' He did one about the Paris catacombs and liked it.

[luthienberen]

These look like lots of fun, and serving excellent distraction aids!

<3

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thanks! Yes, they are!

[lunabee34]

Those are really cool!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! FYI, the book is $20 at Michael's. I think it's worth it. There are about 25 different landmarks to make.

[lunabee34]

Oooh.

Puts on list.

[scfrankles]

The finished items are so appealing ^___^ I had a look at the book via your link - I particularly like the look of the St. Basil's model.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! I may (or may not) save Saint Basil's for Christmas time. It looks very festive.

[autumnia]

These are so much fun to build. I love that sense of satisfaction once you've put the whole thing together and admire it. :-) Tower Bridge is my favorite of the ones you've put up here.

A few years back, we went all crazy for the simple sighting of a Mandarin Duck in Central Park. My coworkers and I would go down after lunch and try to get a glimpse of it (if it was there). After it stopped appearing, I somehow came across a 'build your own Mandarin Duck out of paper' like these buildings though I did a very poor job of assembling it. :-) My coworker took a copy home and worked on it over the holidays and hers was much more successful!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thanks! I am working on the Houses of Parliament now.

That's funny (about the duck). I like ducks. There are a few at the little lake where I go. I think there is a bit of innate talent with the paper folding and fitting but practice also helps. I'm getting better. But the instructions (the arrows!) are sometimes puzzling. The boys like to secure with tape but that looks rather off to me so I try to use glue, which takes more time and is messier and holding things in place until they stick.