Pacific Northwest Style Totem Pole Papercraft

The totem poles of the US Pacific Northwest are an art form of the Native Americans of that region.  According to the Manataka American Indian Council, totems are non-religious in nature:

"Totem figures are not Gods. Totems are not worshiped like religious icons nor used as a  talisman.  They were never used to ward off evil spirits and claims of bizarre, magical "totemism" practices are fiction.   A totem pole may be compared to the symbolism portrayed in the Great Seal of the United States or a Coat of Arms.  These national emblems are roughly equivalent to the meaning bound up in a totem pole except they identified clans not an entire nation."

 This papercraft totem pole was designed by Glitschka Studios who have offices in the Pacific Northwest and who have found inspiration in the local culture for their illustration work.

KH1 Cave of Wonders Ape Statue Papercraft

In the Agrabah (Disney Aladdin) area of the Kingdom Hearts 1 video game, the player must enter the "Cave of Wonders". Among other things inside the Cave of Wonders are statues of apes holding enormous gems. This paper model is of one of those statues. The build photo above is by TouchFuzzyGetDizzy, the designer of the papercraft. He has made his Pepakura PDO template for the statue available on DeviantART.

Karatsu Kunchi Parade Float Paper Models

Karatsu Kunchi is a three day festival that takes place each November on the Japanese island of Kyushu. Each day of the festival there is a parade in which large floats are drawn through the streets by families who live on the island. Each of the floats was originally built in the 1800's. Pictured above are papercraft models of three of the floats. From left to right are a red lion, a green lion and a red bream fish. Templates and instructions for each of these paper models may be downloaded at the bottom of the page here.

Saint Seiya Papercraft #2: Athena Statue

Here is another papercraft by Moustagua. Once again based on the Saint Seiya anime series, this is a papercraft statue of the Greek goddess Athena. In the series, Athena is assisted by warrior "saints" in her struggles against the other gods. This papercraft model appears to be heavily based on the real life gold and ivory statue of Athena that once stood inside the Parthenon in Athens. On the column is the traditional Greek winged symbol of victory and behind Athena's shield is a snake which is a symbol of Erichthonius, who legend has it was one of the early rulers of Athens. A PDF template of the statue may be downloaded here.

Saint Seiya Papercraft #1: Odin Statue

The Saint Seiya anime television series was popular around the world in the late 80's but wasn't aired in the US until 2003. Based on a Japanese manga series, the storyline of the show follows the exploits of mystical warriors called "saints" who fight for the goddess Athena in her struggle to protect Earth from other gods in the Greek pantheon. In the "Asgard" story arc of the show the saints encounter characters from Norse mythology. This papercraft Odin statue by French papercrafter, Moustagua, is presumably based on an image from this particular story arc. Odin is king of the Norse gods much like Zeus is in the Greek pantheon. With instructions in French, the PDF template may be downloaded at the bottom of Moustagua's page here.