So it is late, and I am tired, but sometimes I am a silly goose:
So what is a goose – long neck, beak, webbed beat, stocky body – this model ticks all the boxes. Continue reading
bird
737: (187/365) Penguin
Reading through Origami Bygota, I stumbled across Ma Yong’s charming penguin:
Clever use of colour change goes part way to defining a penguin, but proportions and general morphology also helps. Continue reading
723: (173/365) Feathered Tsuru
Few would argue that the Tsuru (crane) is the quintessential origami figure. Everybody starts there, the form is so familiar and the skills necessary to fold it form the backbone of so many models:
While I have tried many variations of this model, few compare to Riccardo Foschi’s “feathered Tsuru”, a glorious and complex variation with such beautiful wings. Continue reading
719: (169/365) Jason Ku’s Duck
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it probably is a duck:
This is an intense little model that eats paper like few others. The body is heavy and shaping I found difficult because of the many layers. Continue reading
709: (159/365) Satoshi Kamiya’s Tsuru Rose
I am nothing if not determined at times. This model has beaten me many times but, due to a perfect storm it seemed to just happen in my hands:
This is Satoshi Kamiya’s “Tsuru Rose” – an odd but beautiful combination of a Kawasaki rose twist in the body segment of a traditional Tsuru. Continue reading
684: (134/365) Wise Owl
Cruising Fakebook, as you do, it is often that you stumble across interesting folds (well, in my circle of friends it is):
This is “Owl” by Angel Jacobo Figueroa Arriola. I spotted it as a photodiagram sequence in one of his galleries. Continue reading
645: (95/365) Peacock
A model I had mastered as a child was the only Peacock I had seen folded until fairly recently:
This is Edwin Corrie’s Peacock, a magic little model that makes a tight efficient little body out of one corner of the square leaving lots of paper for the fan-shaped tail. Continue reading
641: (91/365) Sparrow
I recently was on holiday in regional Victoria, and have a few models as “catch-up”:
Our holiday digs were near a lake, rich in bird life. Continue reading
622: (72/365) Nesting
Sometimes tending the nest is more important than what is happening elsewhere:
This is Edwardo Clemente’s “Mother Bird” (I think that is what it is called, it is all in Spanish) and is a charming little bi-colour model that manages to tease a lovely flappy mother twitter bird, a pair of hungry chicks and a colour contrasted nest from a single sheet. Continue reading
588: (38/360) Sipho Mabona’s “Swallow”
When planning origami models that will be good for permanent display, locks and paper tension matter as a model will try to unfold itself:
This genius design results in a fairly faithful swallow, the body is rounded, beak and head cleverly proportioned, tings and tail streamlined – it looks like it would fly. Continue reading
582: (32/365) Flapping Bird wearing a Tsuru Costume
Those of you familiar with a traditional crane (Tsuru) will notice this one is a little odd – that is because it is folded on top of/inside a flapping bird:
This is an ingenious and complicated fold, for bi-colour paper that cleverly interweaves one model in the other. In the 3D photo below you can see the flapping action more completely – this model moves!
I realised I had never folded a traditional flapping bird, so this was a bit of a revelation – such a simple action model indeed. Continue reading
578: (28/365) Happy Chinese Lunar New Year!
The Chinese Zodiac is rich with myth and legend, most cultures are full to the brim with such fancy. Chinese New year is based around the Lunar cycles, as such seem oddly placed to us westerners:
Moon cakes, yum cha, char sui hanging in a chinese butcher’s window, the red of firecrackers, the noise and smoke of a dragon dance – all wonderful to be part of. Most cities have a “China town”, in Brisbane it is a section of Fortitude Valley – these areas come alive at this time of year … mmmm, need some dim sum and a nice pot of jasmine tea. Continue reading
577: (27/365) Chinese Lunar New Years Eve
Chinese New Year seems more complicated then celebrating the end of a calendar year, my research suggests that today is Chinese New Years Eve:
This year the symbol is a Rooster, well more correctly a fire rooster, and this is the first in a series of folds designed by Mi Wu that perfectly capture the mood of a proud cock. Continue reading
572: (22/365) Origami On The Brain
Those who know me realise I am a little obsessed with paper folding, some would say to excess. The truth of the matter is I am constantly amazed what you can coax a flat sheet to do. I think I missed my calling as a materials engineer:
I like models that I can visualise, as I am folding. Equally, I am fascinating when there is a tangle and then, out of the mess, something wonderful emerges. Continue reading
567: (17/365) Jo Nakashima’s Penguin
Returning to work, we balance between the stinking hot outside temperature and the painfully cold airconditioning (yes, I know this sounds like a first world problem, and it is), but I decided to fold a critter that has evolved to put up with intolerable temperatures:
This is Jo Nakashima’s Penguin, a lovely little model with a blocky, cartoony feel to it. Continue reading