bird

le Coq

| wonko

I try not to let folds beat me, but honestly, until now this one has. I have attempted Eric Joisel’s ‘Le Coq” more that 6 times, this is really the only fold of it I am happy with:

Joisel's Le Coq variation

Continuing to fold models that are part of a competition I was eliminated from is part of the motivation, but a “hidden” technique, published obscurely (not in my library) surfaced that allowed for a layered/ruffled breast and clarified the eye/comb and “bingo!”, I finally get it.

Giverny meets Vernon - Joisel's Le Coq variation

This model is folded from a 1m square of Officeworks Kraft paper, measures 20cm toe to comb, and is all attitude. One of our fondest memories of France was the bicycle tour to Giverny (Monet’s house) via Vernon. While in Vernon, looking for baguette and cider, we stumbled across a bric-a-brac store that had resin chooks – we fell in love with a rooster we subsequently bought, naming him “Vernon”.

Joisel's Le Coq variation views
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1033: Ducks in a row

| wonko

Ducks and Drakes usually are different – apart from gender, the drake is usually the pretty one, a quite common convention in the bird world:

Shiri Daniel's Ducks

Each model is folded from a sheet of the same paper, one the reverse of the other to create the different plumage patterns.

Shiri Daniel's Ducks view

A lovely fold sequence is really efficient, so entirely achievable using 15cm origami paper (I have so much of this, and rarely use it). I decided on some teal-ish Yuzen, and the results are lovely.

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1025: Polly Wants a Cracker! Now!!!!!

| wonko

The post title reminds me of the punchline of a favourite joke: “What does a 10 tonne parrot say?”:

Gastronis Skeleton

This is a “Diatryma gigantea” (aka “Gastronis”) skeleton, designed by Mase Eiichiro based on fossil records. In real life this beastie would have been scary indeed.

Gastronis Skeleton views 1

Nicknamed “murder bird”, it seems paelontologists are divided as to whether it was a herbivore, carnivore or omnivore – it was HUUUGE – like 7ft tall, and the musculature marks around the beak suggest it had a titanic bite. Curiously it has no other “predator” characteristics – like a hook at the end of the beak or shredding talons on it’s feet, making it a confusing snarly. The first skeletal reconstruction of fossil remains happened in the early 1920s, and the result looked more like a 9ft emu (seems they had parts of a number of different animals in the one model).

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1007: The Difference Between a Duck…

| wonko

I am reminded of a joke, oft told by my Father In law: “What’s the difference between a duck? … Nothing … One leg is both the same”:

A duck

In looking to start some recreational folding I remembered a model from Wei Lin Chen I found ages ago but had not gotten around to until now.

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936: Naomiki Sato’s Hummingbirds

| wonko

Cruising around on Fakebook, as one does, I can across a photodiagram series from Naomiki Sato:

Lovely little hummingbirds, folded from 15cm square patterned paper, from bird bases.

I discovered he published a variation also, so thought I could give that a try. I think I like the wider tail one better, but they are both so cute. I have yet to see an actual hummingbird so have no real idea how morphologically accurate this is. Continue reading →

933: David Brill’s “Robin”

| wonko

I have been a fan of David Brill’s designs ever since I read his book “Brilliant Origami”. Such a lovely touch, breathing life into paper:

This Robin is delightful – I saw hand-drawn diagrams on David’s website and then professionally drawn diagrams in the latest Tanteidan Magazine and knew I needed to try it. I particularly like the free-form nature of the hand-drawn version, making it a bit more of an adventure to fold this bird.

The shape, management of colour change and general model stability is wonderful in this model. There is nice sense of volume, beautiful 3D head, and an animated pose. The subtleties in fold here are such that I found all 5 of them (yes, I got a bit carried away) are all slightly different, making almost a family grouping. Continue reading →

901: (351/365) Little Bird

| wonko

On my “must fold” for some time has been this design bu Hideo Komatso:

Entitled “little bird”, I folded it in black to make an obese crow. A deliciously complex fold that ends up being a 3d representation of a robin-like bird. Continue reading →

889: (339/365) Sitting Duck

| wonko

There has been a lot of talk in the media about people demonstrably doing the wrong thing, over a really long period of time. Interesting that one of the defences offered was that they were a “sitting duck” in the post-weinstein era. Regardless, a backyard should be a safe place to play:

This is Henry Pham’s “Little Duck” – a charming model I watched a video about before folding it. Continue reading →

850: (300/365) …and now the Penguin on your television set will explode.

| wonko

…how’d he know that then?

Being a fan of Monty Python, I find quotes emerge everywhere. What better to celebrate 300 models than a lovely little penguin:

Designed by Jun Maekawa, I am amazed I have never folded this little cutie before, such a nice shape and, with presentation paper it would be a great display piece. Continue reading →

846: (296/365) Peacock 1

| wonko

I gotta learn to be more careful, the previous post (which I removed the number from) turned out to be a refold from my first 365 (years ago) that I had forgotten about (I got the fold sequence from somewhere else and did not twig to the duplication … so sue me 😛 ) Fortunately a follower pointed this out:

This is Jun Maewawa’s “Peacock 1” – a lovely exercise in Miura Ori corrugation folding for the tail and some interesting layer management to form legs and head among it. Continue reading →

834: (284/365) Swallow

| wonko

I know, I am behind, but have been inexplicably tired of late, time to catch up:

This is a swallow, or more correctly a mud lark, but is a fun fold from DOT1 that I was going to try. Continue reading →

826: (276/365) Pelican

| wonko

What a wonderful bird is a Pelican, whose beak can hold more than it’s belly can:

We saw lots of pelicans when on holiday up the mid-north coast in the holidays just ended. Majestic gregarious birds that seem to be an odd sum of parts. Continue reading →

823: (273/365) Owl

| wonko

Cruising through my copy of Drawing Origami (Tome 1), I noticed a bunch of folds from there that I had not yet tried:

This little fellow is a bi-colour owl designed by Juan Hibou. Owls seem popular in origami design and this one cleverly manages layers and colours. Continue reading →

813: (263/365) Llook out, there are Llamas!

| wonko

PART 2: THE LLAMA, LIVE FROM GOLDERS GREEN
The llama is a quadruped
which lives in big rivers like the Amazon.

It has two ears,
a heart,
a forehead,
and a beak for eating honey,
but it is provided with fins for swimming.
Llamas are bigger than frogs. Continue reading →

803: (253/365) Roman Diaz’s Owl

| wonko

There are many approaches to folding owls, all concentrate on the eyes and head structure:

This fold takes you on quite a ride. Diagrams taken from “Drawing Origami Tome 1”, the folding sequence is clear and rich, but I am sure my next fold of this model will be better as I now know what becomes what.  Continue reading →