Heart Beat
A #ValentineCraft Project
Blimey, it’s the 11th already. So much for releasing a Valentine project in plenty of time. I had grand plans to launch this one with at least a week to spare, but here we are: I’ll be putting out a half‑complete project in the morning and saving the rest for next year. Happy Valentine’s Day! Sorry, let me explain…
This paper‑engineering project features a simple four‑frame animation of a fluttering heart, brought to life by a neat little set of paper gears.
Although I’ve designed a lovely new base with the paper gear on full display, I haven’t yet had time to finish all the instructions and photography that go with it. But don’t worry, the spinner itself is finished, and you can use the base from the earlier 1‑to‑1 Mesh Gear project as a perfect swap-in.
If you’re a premium subscriber to this newsletter, you’ll find downloads for both projects at the bottom of this page.
If you’re not a member, you can still download the files from the website, where I’ve added the new heart spinner.
So, a bit of back story about how I ended up here. I’ve been using Adobe software for a couple of decades now. Photoshop and Illustrator are second nature to me, so it’s been with growing disappointment that I’ve slowly fallen out of love with Adobe.
They seem determined to push AI in ways I’m not comfortable with, and at one point there was even talk of scraping artwork created in their apps to train their models. The prices keep creeping up, you never truly own the tools you rely on, and they’ve threatened to stop supporting software I still use regularly. All of that added up to a general unease I just couldn’t shake.
So when renewal time rolled around recently, I decided to take the plunge and move over to open‑source software instead.
The whole philosophy of open‑source software sits much closer to my own maker instincts. These tools are built by communities, not shareholders, no stock market to appease, no quarterly targets shaping the direction of the work. Sometimes the software isn’t quite as polished as the big commercial packages, but overall I’ve been genuinely delighted (and a bit surprised) by just how capable it all is.
That said, it has meant learning whole new pieces of software from scratch, and the learning curve has been… noticeable. There’s plenty of online support, thankfully, but I’ve had to look things up rather than relying on years of muscle memory. I’m getting there, slowly but surely, but it has slowed things down a little. Hopefully, as I settle in and the news tools become second nature, I’ll be back up to my usual pace.
Here’s the new software I’m using in place of the Adobe suite:
Adobe Illustrator → Inkscape
A fantastic bit of software that I’m really starting to enjoy.
Adobe Photoshop → GIMP
I’m finding this one harder to love, but it’s certainly capable. Also, cards on the table, I’m not a fan of the name.
Adobe Lightroom → Darktable
I’ve only just begun exploring this, but it’s looking very promising.
Adobe Animate → Blender
An absolute behemoth of a program, and one I’m genuinely excited to get to grips with.
Anyway, thank you for your patience while I get to grips with these new tools. I do hope you, and your true love, enjoy the Heartbeat project.
Thanks so much for sticking with me while I find my feet with this new toolkit. It means a lot. If you’ve enjoyed this project, or you’d like to support more of these little mechanical adventures, please do consider subscribing. It helps keep the workshop lights on and the ideas flowing.
Until next time, I hope you have a joyful, quietly satisfying maker‑week, full of small victories, curious moments, and things that click together just right.
Enjoy the Heartbeat project. ❤️