Make your own Obama campaign swag!
A kaleidocycle is a moving 3D paper sculpture that turns inside out again and again, displaying four pictures in an endless cycle.
Okay, I know that one doesn't have anything to do with Obama. On the flip there's two Obama-cycles you can download, and a link to a website that will let you make one with your own photos.
I started with these 4 photos from Barack Obama's photostream at flickr.com.
Then I went to foldplay, uploaded the pictures and made my own photo kaleidocycle which gave me back this:
(Click on the picture to download a full-size printable version.)
If you look closely you can see that the photos I started with have been sliced up and rearranged into a diamond pattern. Print it out on light cardstock (or regular paper) and follow the directions in this slide show to turn that 2D paper into a 3D moving sculpture.
How To Build Your Kaleidocycle
The foldplay website is relatively new. Any feedback on the website or directions would be greatly appreciated. I have more photos and another example of an Obamacycle up at:
Obama-cycle flickr set
I wasn't able to find a good print version of Obama's logo --- the ones I downloaded off his website came out as miniature .jpgs instead of the promised .eps files after I unzipped them.
A few more kaleidocycle making hints: Notice that I used square photos with the main figures slightly off center. The kaleidocycle has a hexagonal face. If you upload a rectangular photo a hexagon will be selected from the center. (Look at the photo of the Obama Obaby: the man & baby are inside a hexagon.)
Also, the folding parts come together in the center of the hexagon, so it's actually better to have the faces off to the side so they appear inside one of those diamond shapes, not with half a face on one side and half on the other.
Let me know how it works out for you.