764: (214/365) We are all Pawns

We begin another Chess set, this time designed by Mark Kirschenbaum. This is his Pawn:

A lovely little figurative foot soldier, lovely circular base and an interesting fold. Continue reading

763: (213/365) There’s a Fly in my …

Looking for something to fold that was vaguely “insecty”, I stumbled across a lovely box-pleated fly mangled from a 2×1 rectangle:

Based on a 16×32 grid, we isolate head, legs, lovely plump abdomen and leave the back flap for a lovely set of wings. Continue reading

762: (212/365) Free Hugs

Anyone who knows me realises I am a HUGE Alien fan (well, except for Alien 4 – The Apology) so I find it irresistible when I find an Alien-related fold:

This is Makoto Anzai’s “Face Hugger”, a snarly hand-inspired ovipositor that is the precursor to a chestburster. Similar to Fernando Gilgado’s model, this one has a different fold morphology. Continue reading

761: (211/365) Spirit House

When I went to Japan in the early Noughties, I loved so much of the culture I encountered in the everyday. On my return I decided our house deserved a “Spirit House”. The principle is simple, it guards our front door, traps the bad spirits from entering and amplifies the good:

Since it’s install, it has worked a charm and today I brought it into this century by adding a solar-charged light inside the stone lantern section, that glows softly at night. To commemorate the renovation I was looking for a fold of a spirit house and happened across one designed by Ichiro Kinoshita. Continue reading

760: (210/365) Akiko Yamanashi’s Scallop Box

To celebrate the 201st fold in this challenge, I was looking for a shellfish-based fold – not sure why but there you go:

Leafing through a Tanteidan Convention book, I came across a “Scallop Box” design designed by Akiko Yamanashi. Continue reading

759: (209/365) Takashi Hojyo’s Dragon

Leafing through the Tanteidan Convention book #5, I came across an early Dragon design by Takashi Hojyo:

This model is a modular – 3 parts (head/tail, body/legs and lovely wings) made from the same sized square, it needs glue (shhhh, I used a couple of nubs of double-sided tape) to keep it together but has a comic-like charm. Continue reading

756 757 & 758: (206..8/365) Cat, Mouse, Cheese

So I have been really busy, with meetings and … stuff, so I fell a little behind. Looking to catch up, I noticed a lovely group of folds designed by David Brill:

This is Cat, Mouse, Cheese – a naturalistic composition with a pair of lovely fold-related critters and a lovely wedge of cheese. Continue reading

755: (205/365) Gaff’s Blade Runner Unicorn

Returning to Blade Runner, there has historically been much discussion about the humanity of the central protagonist, Deckard:Ridley Scott has recently confirmed that Deckard is a Replicant, a point visually reinforced by his recurring dream of “Unicorns” (unreal beasts).

Near the end of the movie, an origami Unicorn is left at the door of his abandoned apartment, presumably by Gaff (although Edward J Olmos says he was not the folder, Scott clearly liked the idea of the echo of an idea). Continue reading

754: (204/365) Gaff’s Blade Runner Chicken

My top 5 movies of all time includes the Sci-Fi classic “Blade Runner”. A couple of times during the movie, to confirm a character’s opinion of Deckard’s actions, his sidekick “Gaf” left an origami figure:

One was actually folded by the actor (Edward James Olmos) – a gum wrapper was fashioned into a Chicken. He said he did this as a way of staying in the scene without pulling focus, apparently the Director, Ridley Scott, noticed it and included it in the scene to counterpoint the main characters reluctance to get himself into danger, which later he does anyway. Continue reading

753: (203/365) Origami Lampshade

I am clearly in the wrong business, if making money is the aim. Being slightly (well, I think it is healthy) obsessed with paper, when a new dealer arrives on the scene I take notice. A colleague asked if I knew of “The Paper Empire” – a new QLD outlet in Newfarm:

I had not heard about them, but visited and found some papers of interest. They are the second outlet in a franchise that has been in Melbourne for a while, and their online shop has some interesting paper products imported from Norway. Continue reading

752: (202/365) Riccardo Foschi’s Koi

It was late, I was tired and I must admit to going to bed before folding yesterday. Full week, new levels of fatigue:

I found these diagrams on Pinterest – seems they are test diagrams (oops, sorry) but I love the shape and model structure. Continue reading

751: (201/365) Pushing Shiz Uphill

Sometimes work can be busy. When spares are sparse, classes all doing new/complex things and physical exertion hit their peak, sometimes you can feel like you are pushing shiz up hill:

This is a lovely little dung beetle, coveting it’s little ball of dung. It is a charming fold that I was unsure if I could complete with the size paper I started with.

Designed by Shinji Sasade, appearing in a Tanteidan I was leafing through, described entirely in Japanese so I hope I have fold it correctly. The dung-ball is a waterbomb, but the beetle actually locks into it – very cool. Continue reading

750: (200/365) Triple Tsuru

Continuing the exploration of Hiden Senbazuru Orikata, this is the “triple tsusu”:

Folded from a partly separated 2×2 grid of squares, with one set of adjacent sheets living inside each other to make an interconnected chain of 3 Tsuru. Continue reading

749: (199/365) Oyster Box

David Mitchell is a legendary origami designer, responsible for countless geometric wrangles:

This is an “Oyster Box” – a box that resembles a bivalve, that locks together rather satisfyingly and opens to reveal a spacious interior. Continue reading

748: (198/365) Brill’s Square Silver Star

Busy times indeed – perfect for folding a 12 piece modular:

Fairly simple modules that sit over one, inside another adjacent module, locking fairly positively into swirls of 4 “petals”, you get a shape that describes a cube when you look just at the points. Continue reading