Tunnel Book: Three Wishes for Cinderella (video Included)

Have you heard of a “tunnel book”? I am absolutely enchanted and here’s one I made according to a scene from Three Wishes for Cinderella, the most internationally famous Czech fairy-tale.

Tunnel book is a 3D art book create from various layers that make the painting appear three-dimensional when you open the tunnel.

There’s a good chance you’ve heard of the Czech Christmas fairy-tale Tři oříšky pro Popelku. It’s the best internationally known Czech fairy-tale, very popular in Germany (Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel), Norway (Tre nøtter til Askepott) and it has its fan base also in the English speaking countries (Three Wishes/Gifts/Hazelnuts for Cinderella). Here’s more about the movie.

I chose a scene from the ballroom because who wouldn’t love the moment when the prince asks Cinderella for a dance? And who’s that in the back? It’s the stepmother, the stepsister Dora and the “enormous” princess Droběna (literally “the tiny one”).

Here’s a video from my Cinderella tunnel book.

Tunnel books have to be composed of several layers. I chose 6, although you can choose a different number of layers for your book, I recommend at least 4. The dimensions of my book are 6 x 8 cm and for the imperial measurements, I am going to be working with 3.5 x 2.5 inches. It’s not an exact conversion but I wanted to use numbers that are easy to find on a ruler and it’s fairly similar in size.

1. Heavy-weight paper
2. pencil
3. ruler
4. scissors/cutter
5. glue
6. exacto knife
7. colors – water paint, color pencils, felted pens…
8. optional: stencil for the front page – download here for book 3.5 x 2.5 in / download here for book 6 x 8 cm

I also tried cutting the layers with a cutting pencil but I don’t recommend that, it’s just not enough for cutting through the heavy weight paper.

If you choose to use my stencil for the front of your book, make sure to print it in “true size”, not the “adjust to page” regime.

First, measure your layers. Those will be rectangles of 6 x 8 cm / 3.5 x 2.5 in. In this case, you will need 6 of these rectangles.

Each layer will have the same frame of 8 mm / 0.2 in. This means, measure 8 mm / 0.2 in from each side of the rectangle and draw the frame.

The next step is to sketch the layers. I do this with a very light pencil trace but I brought up the contrast in the pictures so you can see my sketches better. It’s very important to plan the layers and how much space they take up so that everything’s well visible in the finished book. If you made a different scene, you might want to arrange your layers differently although I believe the following is a good starting point and will work for many different scenes.

Do not draw anything into the frames.

1. First layer is the background. You will not cut anything out from this layer, so sketch everything you want to be visible in the background. In this case it’s the ballroom with balcony and the guests standing around, including the three famous characters from the fairy-tale.
2. Second layer should reach about half of the frame (here it’s slightly above and that’s ok) and these elements will make your background look 3D I added a couple standing a little bit closer to the viewer so it doesn’t look like everyone is standing in one line.
3. The third layer should reach just below mid-frame and here it’s the dancing couple, Cinderella and her prince.
4. The fourth layer should have the elements on the sides of the scene. I added more people standing around but there could also be, for example, columns or walls of the ballroom.
5. The fifth layer is the royal couple and their councilor who are watching the dance and they are sitting with their back turned to the viewer. You can also generally switch the fourth and fifth layer but not here because the king and queen sit at the wall.
6. The sixth and last layer is the front of the book. Here you just need an opening through which you can watch the scene. I decided for an ellipse and as I mentioned, you can download my stencil for the front page – download here for book 3.5 x 2.5 in / download here for book 6 x 8 cm

Now it’s time to color your layers. Color only what stays in the layer, not the parts you’re going to cut away. I start with the background and light colors.

Then I add more colors and details.

Color also the first layer, including the frame. Here I added the name of the book and the three hazelnuts later.

Cut all the layers to be separate.

Cut out all the layers except for the background. Cut all details carefully and use a ruler to cut all the straight lines.

You can also decorate the frames.

Arrange the layers as they will be in the book.

Now you’ll draw and cut two equal rectangles which will be the frame of the book. Their width (here the shorter side) is the same like the height of the book, here 6 cm / 2.5 in.

To calculate the height of the rectangles, follow this formula: (number of layers x 2 – 1) x layer frame width:

1. imperial: (6 x 2 – 1) x 0.2 = 2.2 in. Each rectangle will be 2.5 x 2.2 in.
2. metric: (6 x 2 – 1) x 0,8 = 8,8 cm. Each rectangle will be 6 x 8,8 cm.

Place the rectangles as you see in the picture and divide it into equal stripes, each stripe being as wide as the frame of the layers, so each stripe 8 mm / 0.2 in. You can see that the number of the frames is the same like the number of layers times two minus one (I have 6 layers, therefore, 11 stripes).

Fold both rectangles in this accordion way. I recommend you to crease all the lines with a creaser or scissors, they will fold better.

Place both accordions in front of you as you see in the picture. You will be applying glue to all odd folds one by one.

Apply glue to the first fold of each accordion and attach the first layer (background).

Apply glue to the third fold of each accordion and attach the second layer.

And so on until you get to the front of the book.

And you’re done!