Browsing the internet, as you do, I came upon a chance find of an amazing archive of pages from what is thought to be the oldest Origami book published – “Hiden Senbazuru Orikata (The Secret of One Thousand Cranes Origami)”, first published in 1797:
Looks like i have a new project, making Tsuru (traditional Cranes) in multiples on a single (cut) sheet – looks like it is going to be a fascinating ride.
Continuing my exploration of some of Eric Gjerde’s introductory tessellations, I liked the look of a square-twist based weave:
Sitting on a square grid, off-set squares are added to near diagonals and twist to collapse and lay flat again. The front side then is a jumble of rolling squares but when you flip it over to the waste side a lovely weave pattern has been made as a side effect of the surface twisting. Continue reading
After leafing through Eric Gjerde’s “Origami Tessellations” I knew I had found the motherload of paper punishment:
This is the “Pinwheel” tessellation and it has a hidden beauty. I am learning that a tessellation is a regular repeating pattern, magically interlocking “molecules” that go together like tiles on a mosaic floor.
Usually based on a grid (at least initially), this one is based on a triangle grid, and features closed hexagon twists and open triangle twists that compliment each others vertices very neatly. Backlit they reveal an intense and curious but often completely different geometry. Continue reading
Folding is something I do, often to stave off boredom. When my students are working on assignments, I get large slabs of time where I need to be there but am not needed, so I bend paper relentlessly:
Folding grids is painstaking, but excellent discipline – accuracy is the key Continue reading
Many beauties reside in Eric Joisel’s folding legacy, most have no hints as to how he achieved them. The “Horse Head” design exists as an obscured crease pattern from his original notes:
A friend of this blog (Hi Jean-Baptiste!) offered his interpretation of the crease pattern and invited me to try folding it as he was having trouble with the collapse, so I thought why not. I need all the practice I can get on interpreting CPs. Continue reading
I am always on the lookout for something to keep my hands busy in the boring bits of the day. At the moment, many of my classes are doing assignment work, when they do not need assistance, rather than sit idle I fold:
This “Star Twirl Torus”, designed by Yuri Shumakov, was a bit of a mistake – I must learn to read the fine print (you know, the bit that says “now repeat this 196 times”) – facepalm.
A simple module, 6 of which interlock to form an overlapping hexagonal star that is part of a twirl that keeps going. I sourced 6 different colours, sort of spectrum-themed and began to fold. Continue reading
Few Origami models reach Iconic status, few have the charm and grace of Eric Joisel’s Pangolin. I thought I would have a go at this fold:
Based, in part, on a field of diagonal graduated pleats that are “popped” into scaley plates, shaped simply to suggest tail, head and feet, his folds have a unique life breathed into them. Continue reading
When asked by a friend (hey Trevor!) “can I make Sunflowers”, my answer initially was “dunno”, but let’s find out:
I found a Youtube video by Ph2 with a flower base that was near identical to a number of other flower petal turnings I have done before. Squash then squash then squash and you get 16 petals per flower – nice. Using a simpler form the sepal works. Having the basis for the fold I set about selecting paper and scale to make these things near actual size.
I had some Lokta paper, in yellow and chocolate, so laminated a smaller chocolate square to the centre of a 26cm square, waited until dry then began the paper coaxing. Continue reading
I find it fascinating that there are so many models and folding techniques I have yet to try. The “Magic Rose Cube” is a case in point – I am amazed I have never folded it:
Such a beautiful little modular, 3 pieces the flower, 3 slightly different pieces the leaves, slots together into a cube easily, unfurls beautifully. Continue reading
I seem fixated on modular origami at the moment (a branch I have not really done very much in). When I saw Francis Ow’s Double Cube, I asked him if I could have a go at folding it:
He generously shared some instructions with me (how amazing is the Internet – it can put you in actual touch with people you consider design legends) and I set about wrestling with the fold. Continue reading
As a teacher, I have a pastoral care group of students from multiple year levels, many initial strangers and new students at the start of the year.
I look for an activity that we can all focus on, conversations and collegiality usually follows.
Francis Ow published diagrams on a “house” module (strangely appropriate) and hints on how to compose large structures using lots of them. Continue reading
Having pre-ordered the new album by David Bowie, I was delighted when it arrived in my postbox yesterday morning (Monday 11 January 2016). Much hyped, I put it on loud, in high rotation for the day, each listen affirming a new favorite Bowie Album.
In the afternoon we went grocery shopping, to return home to the news that Bowie had passed on, after a long and private battle with cancer.
Few aspects of the music industry were not influenced by this artist.
His music woke me up as a teenager, a welcome relief from the bang and twang that monopolised the music charts. Continue reading
Curved creases seem to do interesting things to stiff paper.
Paper tension that has been tortured by curved folds tends to force planes into curves and distorts geometry in interesting ways.
I had a huge offcut of Canson watercolour paper and decided to try Thoki Yenn and Josef Albers “Before The Big Bang” – an odd collection of concentric creases, alternating mountain and valleys. Continue reading
I have had sheets of Elephant Hide for ages, and read that it was really good for geometric folding (corrugations and tessellations), so set out to find something I could do as fold therapy:
Jeremy Shafer is a genius designer of origami action models and I had seen his series of collapsing “flashers” so thought I would give them a go. they are termed “flasher” because they are tiny when resting, but expand out in an explosion of pleats when you stretch them.
This is the “Flasher Hat” – perfect for the silly season where wearing paper hats seems mandatory. It combines the classic features of a flat flasher with special corrugations and crimps that raise a crown. Continue reading
In 1975, after finishing year 10, a friend (hey Brendan!) and I decided to cycle to the Sunshine Coast as “something to do” during the Christmas holidays. Living in Maleny, this was a journey but not really that far in retrospect, but on a bicycle in the middle of summer it was kind of madness. 
Our bikes were laden with water bottles, tent, airbeds and other camping equipment (I was a scout, and, generally, was prepared), down the range we made for our first campsite at Caloundra. In those days the caravan park/camp site backed on to the beach – cool breezes and ocean sounds – all good, right? That night, we went to the local cinema to see a new release blockbuster movie – “JAWS” directed by Stephen Spielberg. I’ll be honest, this movie really gave me the willies – the now classic film had palpable suspense, shock, gore and was set at the seaside. Continue reading
