427: Geiger’s Xenomorph

January 14, 2013 | wonko

Anyone who knows me realises I am a huge fan of the Alien movies, the first one is, for me, close to perfect science fiction horror:

I had been aware of Kade Chan’s Alien design for ages, had the crease pattern and wrestled many times trying to make it with no luck. I had relegated this to the “give up on it” pile – there are a few that have just beaten me for the moment.

Kade posted a near complete video tutorial, suddenly this model was back on the radar. The video is pretty clear – you should have a go – it is NOT a beginners model but the techniques for forming the main features are pretty clear.

So I set about a test fold, in Litho paper – the paper gave up half way through, splitting on most major creases, but I learned the basic collapse and some of the featuring before it gave up so resolved to fold it with something more durable.

I cut a 55cm square of Kraft paper off the roll and, very carefully, began folding. This, like most models, relies on accuracy for things to work out – a part of a mm out here and it compounds when you do accordion pleating, and this model has so many layers because of the amount of the sheet that is hidden.

I like that most surfaces provide layers that you can then texture in the modelling, sculpting them in graded steps to create carapace, armour and small beautiful details like the rib cage and prehensile tail.

The alien as envisaged by the movie franchise took on shape and general morphology from the host it bursts through the chest of – this one is fairly certainly humanoid and so posing it I found myself anthropomorphising its stance a little. I used a little MC to ensure the pose was rigid, clamped details in place until the paper was dry, then mounted him on a textured circular base and am quite chuffed with the result.

This was WTF (What’s That Fold) #2 – stay tuned for more paper bending

WTF (What’s That Fold) #2

January 8, 2013January 10, 2013 | wonko

So, last week’s fold became obvious, I gave LOTS of clues and many guessed not only what the model was but also the designer and the book it features in – nice work.

On a different tack this week, I present the first clue in WTF#2:

Take guesses as to what this will become (assuming I can achieve the model and it does not end up a scrunched up mess in the bin).

Depending on how it turns out, you can win either this actual model or a refold of it (the refold will be tidier I suspect).

Thinking caps on, suggest away (and expect less clues this time)

After Step 25, the model looks like this:

And a little later, it looks like this:

After a LOT of open/close sinks, it looks like this:

And with some nifty wrangling, it looks like this:

Follow that up with some shaping and modelling and you have this:

A critter only a mother could love – a Xenomorph that is fairly faithful to the HR Geiger original – Alien, designed by Kade Chan and wrangled to it’s final shape by me.

I have yet to apply MC to stabilise and pose this chap, but already I like him a lot – the paper is so very thick in many places (my prototype fold actually disintegrated in my hands as I was folding it – litho paper fell apart at important creases) – I had to get creative with the shaping as, although the video instructions are great at getting the base, the modelling and shaping is not covered well at all.

426: Satoshi’s Tree Frog

January 5, 2013January 5, 2013 | wonko

The Weekly WTF#1 (what’s that fold) had to be a Satoshi model, and I had been itching to make this little beauty ever since I was aware he had designed one:

Initially, I folded this with a odd end of a kraft roll, starting with a nearly 40cm square (nearly in that I discovered it was not quite square), but found it very small for my fat clumsy fingers.

I resolved to fold it neater, so went larger – second fold (the one pictured) is a 60cm square of brown Kraft paper (no, it is not green, and I know of no easy way to make it so).

There is a LOT to like about this model, and some concerns – some of the steps are fairly poorly explained (given the nature of some of the manoeuvres I can not imagine how that would be improved) and some of the folding is through so many layers that without help this model does NOT stay as folded.

I decided to do wet-folding, with a little MC (methyl cellulose) to fold, mould and let it dry before moving on – this lengthened the time to make the model, but in the end made it most beautiful. Some of the subtle shaping would ONLY be achievable with foil-core paper or via wet MC folding.

In the end, this is the most frog-like thing I have encountered that was not actually a frog. the details are astonishing even to me (and I wrangled them out of a flat, uncut square).

426TreeFrogMumKid — “Can I go for a swim Mum?”.
“No, you just ate that fly, wait a half an hour
or you will get stomach cramps junior!” .
“Aww mum, that is an old toad’s tale.”

I ended up with 2 – my first fold, whilst smaller is different to the larger one, they both have interesting postures and attitudes and I am torn as to which one I prefer.

I am sure I will fold this one again – he is so cute, but I think I will wait until I have suitable thin green paper – the model is so well designed that it’s tummy is one colour, rest of the body is the other – so I will be hunting paper that is 2 shades of green front to back (or perhaps making a bit of double tissue – we shall see).