Paper Icons

Make a Paper Icon of some of The Maker Studio's favorite Makers. We created trading cards for African American Makers & Womnx Makers for our guests & turned the cards into a paper icon activity that could be made in our makerspace. We wanted to share this activity with people outside of our makerspace & for our guests to do at home. Make some paper icons from our list & explore other makers you are inspired by.

You will need:

• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Glue
• Pencil
• Markers/drawing & coloring utensils
• 2 Pipe cleaners*
• White paper
• Card stock/chipboard/paperboard
• Paper icons template sheet

Optional:

Maker Trading Card & tools sheet

Download the template sheet, trading card & tools sheet here: Maker Trading Card Resources

*If you don't have pipe cleaners you can substitute string or rubber bands but you may need tape to help them stay in place.

Print out the template sheet and cut out the body- you want to make sure the body is made of stiff material so it won't tear as you work with it. You can either print it out on card stock OR print it on normal paper and then glue it to another material & cut that out. We like chipboard or paperboard (what a cereal box is made out of).

Upper Body:

1. Start with one of the forearm pieces. Put the pipe cleaner through the hole and bend it backwards so that you can wrap it around itself and lock it onto the forearm.
2. Thread the pipe cleaner through the upper arm piece, the torso, the second upper arm and the second forearm. When you get to the second forearm, wrap the pipe cleaner around itself like you did at the beginning. Cut off any excess pipe cleaner.

Lower Body:

1. Start with one of the lower leg pieces. Put the pipe cleaner through the hole and bend it backwards so that you can wrap it around itself and lock it onto the lower leg.
2. Thread the pipe cleaner through the upper leg piece, the torso, the second upper leg and the second lower leg piece. When you get to the second lower leg piece, wrap the pipe cleaner around itself like you did at the beginning. Cut off any excess pipe cleaner

You can look at each of our Maker Trading Cards to get some info on the featured makers to choose which one you'd like to make into your paper icon. The Tools cards have QR codes with links to each maker's website/youtube/etc. or you can do a search if you want more info.

You can lay your blank paper icon on a piece of paper and trace around it (we'd recommend in pencil so you can erase it). That will give you an idea of how large to make your clothing pieces. As you're making the clothing pieces lay them onto your icon to make sure they are sized properly.

Cut out the head of the maker you've chosen to turn into your paper icon. Glue the head and the clothes onto the bare icon. You can add tools that your maker may use as they create too.

Follow us on Instagram @The_Maker_Studio to see all of our maker projects!