Cosmokrator's Assembly Instructions

Download these instructions as a pdf.

Unpack the geometric, colour-printed web of triangles and squares, and gently bend along all the scored lines to 'soften it up'

If you want to avoid putting your finger-prints all over the surfaces, wear light fabric or polythene gloves, as given away in hair colouring kits. You can buy packets of disposable gloves in Boots.

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Before beginning to stick the model together, notice generally how the parts will fit together, and see how there is only one way all the parts are going to fit (it’s worth rehearsing with a ‘dry run’ the order you will stick each tab before you do it permanently with glue!).

We recommend using a very small tube of strong, fast-drying, clear glue for best results (a very small tube of Uhu, Loctite or Bostik). Use it sparingly, stroking a thin flat line of glue along the inside edge of each tab where it meets the colour.

Alternatives are the glue gun obtainable from Argos which enabled one child in our experiments to put the model together in ten minutes without getting fingers sticky; and another group liked instead to use double-sided sticky tape for the same reason and were happy about stopping to cut the tape in strips in order to do this.

In the end it’s down to personal preference, though we urge you not to use a water-based glue as it will make the card soggy, and corrugated when it finally dries!

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Then Follow this Order of Sticking

Don’t be in a hurry – stick only one or two tabs at a time, making sure you get the facets to meet at their common edges exactly, and avoid denting the corners.
First stick together the shapes around the black triangle, making a cup.
In the early stages paper clips help in keeping surfaces pressed hard together.
Allow each new sticking to dry completely before moving on to the next one, otherwise the model will slide apart if still moist.
Once you have the first cup established, fold down on to it, one by one, the next triangles and squares, leaving the deep pink square of until last.
As the solid begins to close inwards round an invisible sphere you will not be able to get a clip onto the tab to press it against the facet. Now press surfaces together with fingers and thumb if you can reach. Leave the free floating pink triangle to very last.
As you get to the last tabs, and your fingers can no longer fit inside to press, it becomes important to let the glue dry slightly before sticking the tabs, so that they adhere instantly when slotted into place. To help them hold, don’t bend the tabs in too much.
If you find you have pushed some facets in too deeply, stick a long sewing pin or needle under the corner to ease it back up to the right level.
Remember, do not try and stick too many tabs at the same time, as the shape is now getting tighter and it will be harder to put your finger in to press from inside and make a firm join. It is now even more important to let each glued tab dry completely before moving on to the next. I would walk away for half an hour after each new sticking and go and do something else!
Before you have entirely sealed your Cosmokrator you could insert a knotted loop of string at one of the last corners so that you can hang it from the ceiling and view it as a mobile.

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You will find that the final double pink facet for bends over as a flap onto the remaining exposed tabs below it, making it easy to complete your model assembly.
Place the model on the work surface with this last-stuck facet on the bottom, pressing gently downwards for the final seal.
Buff up your completed Cosmokrator with a duster to get rid of any pressure marks incurred while making it.
Now you are ready to put it to use – or just contemplate it as it sits on your mantelpiece or windowsill, or hanging from a hook on the ceiling, turning it to a different view from time to time (see under Using Cosmokrator as a Calendar).

Other equipment you could buy or borrow to enhance your use of Cosmokrator, apart from the tube of glue

Copy of Sun Signs (Pan paperback) by Linda Goodman (for using Cosmokrator to understand the people in your life in fuller detail, both at home and in the office)
Set of Acrylic Colours so you can paint your own Cosmokrator-based colour schemes and related diagrams (see under Cosmokrator's Colours and Book 0)
Copy of Love Signs (Pan paperback) also by Linda Goodman (for Using Cosmokrator to find your "other half")

Download these instructions as a pdf.

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