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Changing Picture / Volvelle

It's Christmas in July!!

Adapted from a design by Joan Irvine. It's a volvelle that creates a changing picture. 


Start position.
Pulling the underneath tab down, counter clockwise, starts the change from shiny gold to the interior photo.


In the middle of changing pictures. See the tab emerging at the top left.




End position.  The inside picture is fully visible with a rim of gold. Tab is almost at 9:00 position.



This card is supposed to look like a molded glass Christmas ornament with the colors in the middle, like these by Christopher Radko.

I started with a huge sheet of shiny gold heavy card stock which I cut to fit through the printer, printed on the wrong side, and hand cut.  Some toy ads and kids' pictures complete the other piece.

How to make a changing picture volvelle.

Download file set for hand or machine cutting.: PDF, SVG, DXF, Silhouette Studio

Here I show the template pieces in different colors to make the directions easier to understand.

In the finished example above, the circle with the photos is cut with the black pattern. The gold circle is cut with the red pattern. The blue pattern is the center front piece that holds the two larger circles together.



In the sample below, the red circle uses the same pattern as the gold circle above, and the white circle uses the same pattern as the photo circle.



Cut out black circle and use a craft knife to cut along the thinner, radiant, lines. You will have 6 wedges.



Cut out red circle and cut along thin red lines with craft knife. STOP CUTTING at the dotted black line. Discard the wedge shaped pieces marked X.



Using a hole punch, punch out the center of the blue circle.

Using a paper fastener (brad fastener), punch a hole in the center of the red circle.

Stack the black circle under the red circle. One at a time, slide a (black) wedge through a slit in the red circle, working around until all six are pushed through.










Spread a small amount of glue on the triangle shaped parts of the wedges, in the center. It is important to be precise with the glue or the layers will stick together.




Attach the blue circle, and poke the brad through the middle to align the punch in the blue circle and the punch in the red circle.


Spread the ends of the brad to secure. Rotate the card to make sure the glue has not stuck to the middle of the red circle. I rotate the card periodically while it is drying to keep the glue from sticking to the wrong places.

Hold one tab and pull down on the other to change the picture. Here we change from red to white.