A STEM Project: Adding Scenery to a Slice Form Sphere

A Slice Form Birthday Themed Sphere with a Base that Folds for Mailing

A Slice Form Birthday Themed Sphere with a Base that does not Fold

In the previous blog post https://papercraftetc.blogspot.com/2020/10/a-stem-project-how-to-make-slice-form.html, I described how to make a slice form sphere.  In this post, I will explain how to add scenery to this sphere and how to display the sphere.

Here is the .Studio file which reflects the 4 inch snow globe that was made in the previous posting.

I used 65 lb. Neenah metallic card stock from Office Depot to make this slice form.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l6ekHJjy63DM-Bpe_JUEY1HtRslktYE1/view?usp=sharing

Making a Birthday Themed Slice Form Sphere

The outer slice of the slice form sphere has a plain circle in the middle.  This area will be used to display the diorama with five scenes, one on each inner circle.  Notice that there are only three outer slices above. The 3.872 inch and 3.464 inch slice will be duplicated on either side of the center slice.

Choose some images to put in your diorama.  Make sure the images do not have any broken paths.  You can determine this by double clicking the image and looking for any red dots.  If there are any red dots, make sure to close them by moving the one red dot to the other red dot.

Arrange the circles, one 4 inch outer circle, two 3.872 inch outer circle and two 3.464 inch outer circle. Move the image that you would like to see on each circle. Group the image to the circle  

Move the circle to the center of the page and imagine what the slice form sphere will look like. The  circle with the banner will not center correctly.  Center the circle first and  then move the banner to the circle. If you are happy with the positioning. Attach the shape to the circle with the following instructions. 

The Sophia name was made with the Silhouette software using the font Lucida Grande, 25.72 pt - character spacing - 135 %.  The Silhouette text to path grab handle put the letters on the edge of the circle.

The letters were attached using the Modify function. The Modify function is dependent on images being in the foreground and background. To determine the location of the image you can use a fill pattern and move the one image to the other image to determine if you need to move it forward or backward.

Notice that the red balloons are in front of the circle.  In order to use the Subtract function in the Modify window, the image that you are subtracting must be in the front.  The procedure to attach an image to the circle is as follows:

1. Center the outer slice form circle to the Center of the Page

2.  Ungroup the circle.

3. Move the circle with the slits off to the side, while keeping the inner circle untouched.

4.  Move the image that you want onto the circle.  Make sure that the edge of the image overlaps the circle.

5.  Select both the circle and the image to highlight them. In the Modify window, Subtract the image.

6. Select the circle with the slits and center it on the page.

7. Select the entire image and Object Group it.

Completed image.  Repeat for all of the other slice form circles.

Making a Foldable Base Suitable for Mailing

Arrange the base pieces

Slid the two largest pieces into one another and place them face down.  It s easier to do the bottom first.

Add the next largest piece to either side.

Add the smallest piece to either side and flip the entire base over.

Add the largest piece on either side.  Repeat for the smallest piece.

Completed base that can fold flat.

Slice Form Sphere With Foldable Base

Making a Base That Does Not Fold

Cut out the base pieces

Glue the Strip together. Fold the tabs and apply glue to each triangular tab.

Insert the tabs into the circular base and adhere the tabs.

Slice Form Sphere With Non-Foldable Base