Author: admin

145: An Electric Monk

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High on a rocky promontory sat an Electric Monk on a bored horse. From under its rough woven cowl the Monk gazed unblinkingly down into another valley …

And so begins one of my favorite books of all time “Dirk gently’s Hollistic Detective Agency” by Douglas Adams.

Today we remember DNA, and carry a TOWEL in his honour – may he rest in peace.

Whlst i could not find a “towel” origami (interestingly there IS a branch of origami that deals with folding towels for guest beds into exotic shapes) I thought I would go with the Monk – I decided against the bored horse – am convinced that this monk is more than willing to believe anythig it is programmed to believe in, as a service to it’s master … if you haven’t read the book – do so, it is fab!

144: Carambola

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I stumbled across this nice geometric “floral” design by accident but rather like it’s simplicity:

It reminds me of an apple blossom, or a star fruit in cross section

Unusually, it is made from a pentagon, and the pre-creasing means the shape is largely just a collapse

Busy day, vicious earache, simple but lovely model – enjoy. You too can have a go at this here

143: Moped

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Now it is my brother-in-law’s Birthday today (Happy Birthday Robert!!!) and he loves all things Motorbike (especially high powered zoomy ones), so I thought I would make him a Moped:

This is doubly hilarious because this little dinky model looks like it would be slower than walking

Made with some simple (if compact and intense) box pleating – no cuts nor glue, this is a well proportioned and fun to fold model.

You should have a go at this yourself – take care, 32nds are a pain to fold on a small piece of paper – Instructions are in Austrian but the diagrams make plenty of sense.

142: Interlaced Tetrahedra

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Now I have never tried MODULAR origami – it is a huge and enthusiastic movement in the society of paper benders – making modules that lock together to make a compound shape. I found instructions for Francis Ow’s 60° Unit and thought I would give a tetrahedron (6 of these units) a go:

I … got a little carried away and discovered they can nestle amongst each other in a lovely geometrically interesting sort of way. With this module, apparentyl, it is possible to complete 5 (yes, you heard me, 5 = 5×6 = 30 strips of paper) intersecting tetrahedra – scale beat me here (the tiny units are just too fiddly to lock together – must try it on A4 scale).

This is a new frontier for me, and it interests me strangely – the units are self-centring, lock each other so require no glue, have an amazing tensile strength when locked together and are simple to fold (1-2mins each). Based on 1/3 of a square, the folded thickness apparently is mathematically proved to allow a 5-intersection – we shall see.

You should try this – I enjoyed the modular approach and will probably try another in the next month (there are lots of flavours that do all sorts of things geometrically speaking) – Engineers (and those budding ones) should have a fiddle – something stunningly beautiful about regular geometry (better not say this too loud, maths teachers might hear me)

365 Days of Origami

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So I decided to move this project to a blog, because it lets me index and be a little cleverer, sorry for any poor sod trying to actually follow this project as it has jumped around a bit.

My aim – 365 models, one per day for a year. Ambitious and scary actually – no idea if I can do it, willing to give it a try.

referenceFor your reference, the models, when photographed, are standing on a block of note paper some 17cm long. I will try to remember to include in the tag what shape paper is used to make it and what base it is derived from (if any) and if I remember the Designer of the model.

Rules (attempted guidelines at least):

  • * if I am unable (due to awayness) to post, I will, as separate posts, the next available day, catch up. Circumstances and busyness vary, sorry.
  • * models made from sheets of paper, white
  • * after the initial shaping of the unfolded page (square, rectangle, transverse polyhedra, whatever) no cuts, no glue
  • * model must be (hopefully) recognizably something
  • * ONE box/container model per month
  • * ONE compound model a month (ie. a model that uses more than one sheet of paper, combined into a single figure) unless a celebration day has a model that looks good but requires more sheets

…wish me luck