Pencil Toppers

A ninja cat and a little robot sit on the ends of two pencils. Each character is drawn with markers and cut out with a white margin; on the back is a paper tube rolled right on the pencil and held with tape, so the topper slides off and on.

Easy
2 toppers
4 pieces
1 Letter sheet

Make it with your phone cameraLesson code: 6425

On VanGami the template appears over your sheet through your phone camera — no printer needed. Trace it, cut, fold and glue. Below are all the steps in text.

What you’ll need

Letter sheet — office paper, 80 gsm (20 lb)
Markers
Pencil — and eraser
Scissors — small
Glue stick — or PVA glue
Tape — narrow, clear
Pencils — 2 pcs, regular hexagonal
Glass — phone stand

Steps

Trace

Ninja cat: outlines. Trace the cat with a solid line — as one outline, scarf and star included — and the strip on the right, 1⅛ × 1⅜ in. You’ll cut along these lines.
Ninja cat: drawing. Copy in thin lines: the hood with ears, the face, the scarf, the star in the hand. On the strip, a line ⅜ in from the top edge.
Little robot: outlines. Same way: solid line — the robot with its antennas and the strip to its right.
Little robot: drawing. Copy in thin lines: the head with a screen, the curved eyes and the smile, the antennas with balls, the light on the chest, the arms. On the strip, a line ⅜ in from the top edge and a border along the left edge.

Color

Color: ninja cat. Hood, suit and strip — dark gray; scarf — yellow; star — gray; bangs — brown; face and palms — skin tone; inner ears and blush — pink. The margin on the strip up to the line stays white; outline only the eyes, face, scarf and star in black — the dark parts need no outline.
Color: little robot. First the eyes, smile and light in light blue, then the screen around them in dark gray, without going over the blue. Antenna balls, headphones, palms, the ring around the light and the border in orange, antenna rods in gray; the body is white, so outline all of its edges in black.

Cut

Cut out: ninja cat and strip — 2 pcs. Cut the character along the outer line: it runs around the drawing with some room to spare, so there’s no need to cut into the corners. Cut the strip straight, along the straight lines.
Cut out: little robot and strip — 2 pcs. Cut with scissors along the solid line. Turn the sheet, not the scissors — the cut will come out neater.

Roll

Tube on the pencil. Lay the strip colored side down and put the top end of the pencil on it, along the short 1⅛ in side. First wrap the pencil with the end with the white margin, apply glue to the margin, press the other end onto it and seal the seam with a small piece of tape.
Second tube. Roll the robot’s strip around the second pencil the same way and tape the seam. The orange border goes at the bottom edge of the tube, on the pencil-tip side.

Glue

Character — onto the tube. Lay the pencils seam side down and apply glue to the tubes on top. Press each character onto its tube by the middle, so the bottom of the tube sticks out 5/16 in below the character; hold for 10 seconds.
Tape on the back. Flip the characters face down and stick a 1⅝–2 in strip of tape across each tube, near its top edge. Press the ends of the tape onto the back of the character.