Fin the Diving Dolphin: 3D Paper Wall Art Template

Fin is halfway through the wall. A head on one side, a tail further along, and between them nothing at all, because the rest of him is still in the water. How steep the dive looks is up to you.

What makes it special

The missing middle is the design, not a shortcut. The body reads as submerged, and the wall becomes the surface he broke through. Children work it out on their own, and on a blue wall nobody has to explain it at all.

You set the distance between the pieces, and the angle too: nose down for a dive, nose up and he is surfacing instead. Upside down works as well. Dolphins play like that in the water, and on a wall it is easily the funniest way to hang him.

The two pieces get played with long before they reach the wall. The head is big enough to hold up in front of your face, and because there are two of them, nobody has to wait a turn.

At 38 cm out from the wall Fin is the most three-dimensional piece here, an object in the room rather than a picture on it. He pairs with Tiki, who is longer and takes the same trick along the wall.

What's in the download

• The full template, drawn for A4
• A bonus practice model, so you can test your glue and your paper before you start the animal
• Illustrated step-by-step instructions, with tips for the tricky joins

What you'll need

• A printer and A4 paper
• Thick paper or card, not ordinary printer paper
• A cutting tool
• A scoring tool
• A ruler
• Glue: UHU All Purpose Adhesive or white PVA

Good to know

• Instant download: you receive the file after checkout. Nothing is shipped to you, and there is no waiting.
• Finished size: 74 cm high and 37 cm long, standing 38 cm out from the wall
• Pages to print: 22 sheets of A4
• Where it goes: made to sit against a wall
• You choose the scale: print at A4 for the size above, or resize the file first for something smaller or larger.
• Two pieces, no middle: this dolphin comes as a head and a tail with nothing in between, so the body reads as though it has gone into the wall. Set the two pieces closer together or further apart, and the finished height changes with them.
• Print it your way: colored and patterned card both work, so no two people end up with the same piece.
• Handcrafted design: an original, 100% human-designed template, with no AI at any step of the design.

Print it, cut it, fold it, and hang it where the light comes in from one side. That is where the folded facets do their best work.