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Peeps Bunnies and Tulips Torus

In this post I am revisiting the torus, a fascinating kind of paper sliceforms, with inspiration from Peeps marshmallow bunnies.

This torus Easter wreath has gone through numerous iterations.  I started with only rabbits, but the front rows covered too much of the back ones, so all you could see were the tips of the ears.  It looked odd.  I tried eggs (terrible) and finally settled on tulips for the inner rounds.



The torus files are in two sizes.  (Note that you cannot scale sliceform templates significantly as the slots can become too wide or narrow.  10% in either direction is probably the limit.)

The smaller one fits 4 template pieces on an 8.5" x 11" sheet of card stock and has a finished size of about 6" in diameter.  This is the size shown in the video below.




The larger wreath fits 2 template pieces per 8.5" x 11" sheet of card stock and has a finished size of about 11" in diameter.  This is the one shown in the assembly photos.
 


How to make a Bunnies and Tulips Sliceform Torus Wreath

Torus Sliceform Template
Download Cutting Files: PDF, DXF, SVG (how to use my SVG files in Cricut Design Space), Silhouette Studio.

Files download for free; pay what you wish for the tutorial and to support this site. Suggested contribution for this project is $1.99.

Please, please, I beg you, practice by assembling a plain one like this one before you attempt to make my Easter bunny and tulip torus.

Keep calm, and remember you will always slot like pieces together--like pieces from the same side of the two pieces.  So a right-hand smaller bunny attaches to another right-hand smaller bunny; a left-hand larger tulip slots together with a left-hand larger tulip, etc.

Low tack (painters) tape can be your friend!  Once you place a piece you may want to tape across the slots to adhere it temporarily.


I used four colors of card stock.

--For the smaller wreath you need 4 sheets of card stock, one sheet per color.
--For the larger wreath you need 8 sheets of card stock, two sheets per color.

Cut 8 pieces with slots at the bottom (4 each of two different colors), and 8 with slots at the top. Alternate the colors as you assemble the torus.


I started by slotting together two pieces together at the center bunny.






Then a piece to the center bunny of that piece (purple attached to pink).



You will be able to fold the whole thing flat if you are slotting the pieces correctly.




Continue to alternate, adding to the side, then the middle, until you have used all of the pieces.  I do this with the torus flattened, just lifting up the top layer and sliding the new piece into the proper slot.


And now the tricky part, that you more or less need to power through and make it happen in a way that works for you.

Expand the torus, pulling the ends toward each other to form a loose ring shape. Find the two card stock pieces whose large bunnies are still unslotted.  Those two need to slide together.

Once those are hooked it will look like a big mess.  Courage!  Handle it gently, and start looking for obvious places that should slot together.  Look for matching pieces that are near each other and join them.  Resist the impulse to pull things apart and start over.  Most things are still either slotted in the right place or nearly so.


Here is my big mess sitting in my lap.  You can see most of my bunnies have slipped apart, but not completely!  They are still in the correct place, just need tightening.


Work around and around, finding unused slots and matching them up.

For example, here you can see the green and blue tulip are matching up, and behind that the smallest green tulip will slide into the pink. 







Work around and around the circle, joining anything that is still loose. Eventually it will all come together.



 Pull all the pieces until the slots are tight.  Be sure to turn the wreath over and do the other side.






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