Extracting Mulberry Fiber

| wonko

So I had this slightly crazy idea, based on the fact that my son in law (Andy) wanted to prune his small Mulberry tree after it had finished fruiting (apparently the possums are grateful for this years crop).

Figuring the fruiting Red mulberry (Morus rubra) is related to the White mulbery (Morus alba) and in the same family as the Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera = Kozo). Kozo is known for glorious bast fibers (the inner bark) that is really suited to making fine strong paper. I can hear the experts screaming “don’t go there, it is the wrong plant”, but … meh, time to fuck around and find out.

As a test, I got a single branch, fresh off the tree, took it home and chopped it up into 30cm ish pieces (so they FIT in my pot) and soaked them overnight in water. Next day, using a small sharp knife, I nimbly removed the quills of bark off the sticks, noting how difficult this was, but not damaging myself. (this was not working smart … but I was exploring processes that could be scaled up). I cooked the quills in an old pot on the BBQ with waaaaay too much washing soda (I learned from this) until it was limp and soft, then rinsed, washed, separated the detritus from the inner silky but strong fibers and air-dried the tiny bundle.

I learned a LOT from the proto-twig.

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1163: Compleat II

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My second experiment in radial perpendicular pleating was based on a 30cm square of crispy Kraft paper, a regular 32 grid and a random number sequence:

I decided it would be interesting to see what happens when you use random numbers to control the collapse sequence for a micropleat corrugation based on a regular 32 grid of mountain folds. I typed “100 random numbers between 1 and 3” in google and blow me down but there was a website for that: https://numbergenerator.org/100randomnumbersbetween1and3

Each time you open that you get a new sequence. Mine was “3 2 3 1 2 3 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 3 3 3 2 1 1 3 2 3 1 1 1 3 3 1 1 3 1 1 2 1 2 3 3 1 2 3 3 1 3 1 2 1 3 2 2 1 2 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 1 3 3 3 2 3 1 2 1 1 3 1 3 1 3 2 3 1 3 1 2”.

Starting on the pleat just down from the centre line (in retrospect I wish I had started with the centre line, but… meh), I used the first 3 mountains and laid in micropleats (partial 128ths) across the sheet as uniformly as my fat clumsy, nerve damaged fingers would let me. I then rotated the paper 90 degrees clockwise, crossed out the first number and used the second number to determine how many cross-sheet micropleats to lay in. Rinse and repeat to the edge of the sheet.

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1162: Zen

| wonko

There are times when thoughts turn to the complexity of simplicity:

A few simple folds on an eccentric waterbomb base and you end up with a model that encourages deep contemplation, invoking a calm.

This is Pierre-Yves Gallard’s wonderful “Buddhist Monk”, folded simply (if not accurately) from a 15cm square of orange-white kami to simulate the otherwise vibrant saffron robes.

I am always delighted by how few folds it takes to evoke a human form – we seem innately able to recognise “people shaped” things, faces also.

A lovely exercise in restraint – this is my first fold, as I was discovering how to isolate the head and form the robes – I have no doubt subsequent attempts will be an improvement, but real life doesn’t give you a “re-do”, so here it is.

I posed it here with my Vietnamese soapstone dragon behind. The model is free-standing, it has a fold-back tab that makes it pretty stable. I like the the juxtaposition of the meditating monk playing against the hidden dragon in sharp focus, with the background blurring into obscurity.

I wonder if paper is folded in the forest and there is no one there to see it, does it remain as origami?

1161: Compleat I

| wonko

It is rare that an idea wakes me up – this one did.

I had a scrap of Kraft paper, tore the edges to make it roughly square, quartered it approximately and then began laying in a series of mountain folds starting off fairly close together, gradually getting further apart. I did this on all 4 axes from the centre. I COULD have been much more precise, but I decided to just wing it.

Now, having a series of mountain folds, i used each as the basis of a shallow pleat (by adding a new valley fold near the mountain but decided to do this in an organised way – starting in the middle, I made a pleat, then rotated the paper 90 degrees clockwise then did the next … rinse and repeat until you run out of mountains.

What emerged from the process was a deeply sculptural surface, with a subtle concave 3D structure.

The net effect of the process was also that the whole structure self-locked – ie. it stops itself unravelling by each additional pleat layer locking the previous one in place.

In my head, this then opens up a HUGE new field of exploration – the order in which I form pleats, how far apart they are etc are all delicious variables I must now explore.

This work is reminiscent of the glorious and textural work of @foldsome (Goran Konjevod), and I now completely understand his fascination with it.

I am so interested that even a scrap of kraft (junk paper I use to wrap other paper things) becomes something so luscious to look at – it also WANTS to be touched – some form of paper magic.

1160: Baby Penguin

| wonko

Browsing my collection of Tanteidan Magazines, as one does, I stumbled across a rather cute little baby penguin designed by Yoo Tae Yong that I had never tried:

I dug out a lovely sheet of Navy/White Yukogami from origami-shop, and began, carefully, laying in creases.

Yukogami is a deeply textured paper, making pre-creasing difficult as you cannot see your crease lines easily – for the finished model this is an absolute bonus, but during the actual folding this is a positive pain in the arse to be honest.

A relatively simple base leads to a careful collection of colour-change moves to isolate enough flaps to clearly define the face details, while surfacing enough white to do the body and isolate the flippers – all in all a genius design.

The final model is this plump, almost furry little penguin chick awaiting it’s next meal – fun fold.

1159: Polly Verity Corrugation

| wonko

Polly Verity is a paper artist I have watched since she came on Instagram (@polyscene)

She has a singular style and a seemingly superhuman touch when it comes to teasing character from paper – her paper silhouettes are like nothing else.

Polly is drawn to the geometry of plain paper, expertly capturing the light and shade that corrugated paper naturally causes.

Today she posted a corrugation that LOOKS curved, but as I bathed in it’s posted beauty, I recognized it had to be a much simpler underlying box-pleated crease pattern, and I knew that I HAD to try it.

Peeling off a 2:1 rectangle from my 90cm Kraft roll (90x45cm resultant sheet), I lay in a longitudinal axis gutter (valley), then added a deeeeep zigzag. This afforded the laying in of standard box-pleat fill-in creases that I then alternated mountain/valley to make the sheet one giant accordion pleat that folds up and on itself (resulting is a stored size that is tiny – 23x2cm).

The joy of this corrugation is that when it opens up, curves emerge from the straight lines – like by magic.

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1158: Wilhelmina the Wyvern

| wonko

Flipping through Makoto Yamaguchi’s “Origami Dragons Premium”, as one does, I stumbled across a lovely Wyvern, designed by Chuya Miyamoto:

Digging through my paper stash I found the perfect sheet for this model, a purple spotty Do paper that was part of a prize I won from Phạm Hoàng Tuấn’s Vietnamese origami paper shop pre-pandemic, so decided to give it a whirl.

My philosophy when approaching a super-complex origami design is based around “fuck around and find out” or more politely “fold until I finish or it fails”, and this model was a real treat.

A truly great design and fold sequence takes into account the material, not overly stressing it, managing accumulating layers and locking things together to keep things tidy. This design was so satisfying to fold, and in combination with the paper choice the resultant model is stunning.

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1157: Fairy Penwings

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I fell down an internet rabbit hole and stumbled across a Graeme Norton interview of Benedict Cumberbatch who, during a nature documentary commentary seemed singularly unable to say the word “penguin”:

I was approached by fellow Aussie origami designer Gary Fonarik to test his ‘Fairy Penguin” diagram. I fired up a 15cm blue/white square and completed his charming design. The result, to me, looks a lot like a penguin chick wanting to be fed by an exhausted parent.

Then Steven Casey, another Aussie origami designer asked me to try his (more correctly names “Little Penguin” as the scientific community has moved away from the Fairy label apparently).

Both design are charming, and I will add them to my growing flock of penguins. Fun instance of synchronicity.

1156: OnePiece Den Den Mushi

| wonko

One Piece aficionados know that a Den Den Mushi is a telepathetic snail used as an important communication device in-world:

Communicating via snail beings new meaning to the term “snail mail” but I remember seeing the snails in the Live-action remake and wondered if they existed as Origami.

To my delight, Tong Liu (G.T. Liu) designed one and released the diagrams in Bogota 2013’s conference booklet so I knew I needed to folded it.

I decided to try using some of my Kozo and Cotton paper that I made at Dion Channer’s Paper Mill in Gympie back in February 2024. The paper from this session was fairly soft and a little fabric-like (because, like, I really did not know what I was doing), but with a little TLC and some treatment it was perfect for this design.

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1155: Dasa Star

| wonko

Inspired by a friend and fellow folder (should out to @aboy021), I decided to throw a 60cm square at Alessandro Beber’s “Dasa Star”:

Carving a hexagon and laying in basic axial creases, initially the paper is collapsed into a tato (envelope) and then re-folded into a tato to form a pinwheel structure as the base.

Then, in a process reminiscent of the algorithmic fractal sequence of Shuzo Fujimoto’s “Hydrangea”, we go through processes of teasing paper until it is no longer free, then flipping over and feeding more paper through the middle structure in a “paper pump”, then flipping over and teasing again.

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1154: Glossy Black Cockatoo

| wonko

As part of my 5-Aussie Animal series, I present my Glossy Black Cockatoo:

As an endangered species, I am thrilled to be able to have a go at representing it in Origami. Reference images of the Cockatoo show it has a striking red flash in it’s tail features in an otherwise black bird.

Folding this model has shown me how hard it is to photograph such intense black paper.

Folded from a 60cm square of black Kozo with sugar cane inclusions – the resultant model has flecky shiny deep black, and is quite gorgeous. I rendered the red flash with red Kozo containing mango leaves – I laminated strips over the pleated tail feathers and am really happy with the result.

I decided to go with a “about to land” pose, so fashioned a wire stand with a ground outline shape that is meant to mimic the outline of the shadow of the landing bird – I think it works – what do you think?

After a lot of research looking for cockatoo origami diagrams, I found a diagrammed sequence designed and diagramed by Arthur Champigneul in the 2022 Origami de Bogota conference proceedings – this design forms the basis of my model – I have added some features and shaping to more closely align to the Glossy Black Cockatoo.

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1153: Tanteidan “Cubes”

| wonko

At any moment, I have a half-dozen Tanteidan magazines, from my subscription to the Japanese Origami Society, on my chair-side table yet to be filed:

Flicking through them, it is impossible not to be intrigued by the challenges, fold tidbits, crease patterns and full diagram sequences.

Sadly, I contrast it to British Origami Society Magazine – I used to subscribe but let that membership lapse when I got to the situation that I folded nothing from them for 4 issues in a row.

These models are modular “cubes” designed by Jun Maekawa – delicious geometric puzzles with radically different design methodologies. The “Cat Ear” cube is a 6-module cube that is related to the “Business Card” cube I have made into a huge Menger sponge.

Paper friction and tabs and pockets offer structural strength, properly interleaving the tabs make it a really stable piece of geometry.

The “Zig Zag” cube is different – it uses 2 pieces of paper total – each “half” of the cube is folded complete (internal and external surfaces) from a sheet of Duo paper. Ingenious in design, fiendish the first time you try to link the 2 halves, delightful together and apart.

I love these little gadgets – every Tanteidan has at least 2, I have barely scratched the surface of them.

Green Tree Frog

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Working on an Australian Wildlife series, naturally I had to include Satoshi Kamiya’s lovely Green Tree Frog:

I had a day-glow lime green sheet of Hanji in my stash, gifted to me from a collegue who brought it back from Seoul a few years back. I decided I wanted to treat it and colour it with some of my acrylic inks.

I misted the sheet with water, wet a large glass window, rolled the damp hanji onto the wet glass and then coated it with a thick coating of methyl cellulose (MC).

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Kangaroo

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As part of an Aussie animal series, it would be wrong to not include a Kangaroo:

The best Origami Kangaroos are designed by Gen Hagiwara – this is Gen’s 2013 design, a lovely mother ‘roo with a joey in her pouch. Fortunately it featured in Tanteidan Magazine #147 – part of my growing collection of JOAS origami magazines.

Starting with a 50cm square of rust Lokta paper – a Nepalese paper made from the inner bark of a species of Daphne, a remarkably durable paper that has natural resistance to bugs, mildew etc.

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Short-Beaked Echidna

| wonko

There are only a few origami figures I MUST have in my collection – Steven Casey’s “Echidna” is one of these:

This adorable little monotreme is covered in one of my favourite square-grid tessellations, but skillfully crafted to allow all the other body bits to be where they need to.

I bought the British Origami Society booklet describing how to fold this treasure as soon as I knew it existed, and have folded it a few times now. Some sequences are nightmare fuel – this one is just so enjoyable to fold.

I recently received a shipment of paper from Origami-shop.com and in it was a 65cm 11 colour pack of the NEW Shadow Thai paper. I last bought it in 40cm square form but it was THICK so to my delight this version is thinner and takes complex folds really nicely. I chose this fur-like colour because it most closely matched the quill and hair colour of an echidna.

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