Scrambling for a model for the day, and finding time to actually fold it, I found a lovely butterfly by Yoshihide Momotani:
This is a Swallowtail, and was designed to be folded in bicolour blue, like this. Continue reading
creepy crawly
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
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
736: (186/365) Stoopid Monkey!
Australian politicians are a weird lot. Not “American” (shoot first then barbeque something) weird, just an odd lurch from crisis to crisis and stab your mate in the back for a shot at leadership kind of weird:
A recently deposed Prime Minister (Mr Tony Abott) is being a bit of an arse clown in the media, white-anting his own party and providing gifts for our hapless opposition in terms of instability and leaks. Continue reading
717: (167/365) Michael LaFosse’s Le Papillon de Nuit
Le Papillon de Nuit translates, roughly as “The Night Butterfly” – a charming fold with a lovely detailed abdomen:
Unlike the other La Fosse butterflies, this one works and then re-works layers on the wings, making the finished model smaller but unique in shape. Continue reading
716: (166/365) Michael LaFosse’s Mudarri Luna Moth
Catching up, finally, and continuing exploration of the form, this is a luna moth: apparently the main difference between a moth and a butterfly is that moths typically do not have winds that meet above the body – I may have just made that up:
I like the slight “swallowtail” formation here – lots of work pre butterfly formation in getting proportions right makes this seem graceful. Continue reading
715: (165/365) Michael LaFosse’s Butterfly for Russell Cashdollar
Yes, I know, it is a day late, but i have been busy marking, so, yeah:
This is another Michael LaFosse butterfly – more fancy than most with the pleaty zig zags adding decorative touches. Continue reading
714: (164/365) Michael LaFosse’s Butterfly for Tony Cheng
Continuing my exploration of the butterfly form, where better to look than a lovely papillon from Michael LaFosse’s “Butterflies” bible:
This lovely little flapper again uses bicolour paper cleverly, has a nice efficiency of final model size for starting paper size and was fun to fold. Continue reading
Flight, Wing or Swarm
As I continue to explore the butterfly form, I am amazed by the similarities and differences in approaches taken by origami designers:
It seems the references are firmly divided on what the collective noun for butterflies is. Some say swarm, some flight, others wing. What do you think?
I am on the lookout for others – suggestions please.
711: (161/365) Rikki Donachie’s Butterfly
Cruising teh interwebs for today’s fold, a butterfly design was shared on the Sydney Origami Society’s Fakebook feed:
This is Rikki Donachie’s Butterfly, a lovely simple but effective butterfly design. Continue reading
707: (157/365) Tumasek Butterfly
Browsing a BOS convention booklet, I came across a rather nice butterfly designed by Ronald Koh:
This is the Tumasek butterfly, I folded it in duo yellow/green paper making it a little like a cabbage white butterfly. Continue reading
698: (148/365) Cicada
I must admit to enjoying the challenge that is inherent in most of Robert Lang’s designs:
When the Tanteidan magazine arrived, I saw there was a new version of his cicada, and I knew I needed to try it.
Starting with a 35cm square of Daiso washi (that turned out to be slightly rhombic problematically), I began the marathon folding sequence. Continue reading
693: (143/365) Ladybird Wing Hinge
I was reading a paper on Ladybirds, and it turns out they have remarkable wings. What makes them truly remarkable is they fit beneath tiny cup-shaped hard wing covers. Until recently, scientists had no idea how that mechanism worked:
When ladybirds are about to take off, they lift their wing covers and then inflate complicated pleated wings that flip out from their zig-zag folded position.
When they land, they put their wing covers down first then retract their wings under them. This mechanism is bewildering until you look at an origami maquette which explains the natural zig zag hinge. Continue reading
685: (135/365) Bug
Old-school origami can still be fun, and this model is no exception:
Eduardo Clemente’s book “Papiroflexia” contains a plethora of old-style 60’s origami, before the boxpleating, tree-maker days. Continue reading