Ash 39 Card: May 2012

The Inspiration: the Konami ASH II Game

I was looking around the Konami game site for an image that might be appropriate for someone working for Konami, and came upon an iPhone/iPad role-playing game called "ASH II." I practically fell over.

 

The Cutting Plan

Tracing paper was placed over a 150% grayscale copy of the face image. Lines were traced to delineate areas that would be considered white (card) or black (cut out), being careful to make changes in the pattern where absolutely necessary to prevent isolating white pieces from connection to the sides, so that they would not fall out. The process was like trying to follow a complicated maze. The sections to be cut out were pencil-shaded to make clear in the intricate areas exactly what was going on. (Click on the cutting plan for a larger image.)

 

The Cutting

The tracing paper was then taped to a sheet of paper that already had a black/white copy of the face, and a photocopy was made of this. The black/white copy acted as a constant reminder of what was what, given the rather messy tracing-paper image. The cutting plan part of this sheet was then taped over the 100-lb bristol board card, and an Exacto knife was used to make the cuts. The picture on the left shows the shredded cutting plan and the pieces that were cut out. On the right is a close-up photo of the shredded cutting plan. Click on it for a larger version -- just a little scary.

 

The Card Structure

I think this card is the most complex structure I've tried. It is designed to display the face in either black/white or its original colors. Its components are: The back fold of the card (on the right) has the personal acknowledgment cut into it in Braggadocio font. This photocopy used a piece of black backing paper (not on the actual card) to show the lettering clearly. To this is fastened a color copy of the face, so that when the front of the card is closed on it, the remaining card stock corresponds to the lighter parts of the face and the colors show through the cut-away areas. On top of this, near the inside edge of the card, is glued a folded strip of paper to act as a slot into which piece of black paper can be slipped, so that when the card is closed on it, the face image is pure black and white, showing the cutting more clearly than when backed by the more-complex color image. Over the front of the card is taped an acetate flap, to protect the very fragile filligreed card face. The acetate has to be a flap because when the black paper is removed to reveal the colored version of the face, the striking red Terminator-like eye of the face is obscured by a disk of card stock that is necessary to show the eye with the black/white presentation. That disk must be carefully folded back when using the colored face, which would be impossible if the acetate were completely fixed to the front.

 

The Card Face

Here are photocopies of the black/white and color versions of the face of the card, with the original for comparison. My color copier leaves something to be desired...