A craze among the young kids at the moment is the “fidgit spinner“, that little toy that … spins, and … well, that is just about it:
According to some fairly shady “research”, these toys improve concentration, and that may be correct for a limited number of kids with specific learning issues, but, yeah.
Enterprising businesses sell these, advertise “tricks” you can do with them, and offer ways to pimp out your rig in ways that, well, make it more fully sick. Continue reading
This adorable cheeky monkey is a masterpiece of design:
Using the back colour of the paper to highlight the face and ears, then working a nice body, lovely long tail and all. Continue reading
Starting with a square-twist tessellation, you add to the intensity by folding it some more:
Alternating spin squares with stars, you get this nightmare of paper torture. Continue reading
Assignment time can sometimes be boring for a teacher, especially when kids are beavering away independently:
This is a tessellation I have not tried before. Based on a square grid, diagonal squares rotate 45 degrees to lie flat again, causing pleat ripples that are cancelled out by adjacent twists – clever. Continue reading
I have been a fan of Talking Heads pretty well as long as it was possible to be one. “Burning down the house” remains one of the great songs of all time:
This is Martin Wall’s “Matchbox”, an ingenious model folded from a single, much tortured, piece of paper. A lovely little life-size matchbox, folded from a 50x17cm rectangle (3×1), it comprises an outer tray and a movable tray that slides open and closed. Continue reading
…a little known fact, up until the night of the day this fold was supposed to be folded (last night if I am honest, missed a day, catching up, sorry) I had NEVER watched a Rugby match. Ever:
So I was over at a mates place, we were supposed to be playing a board game but apparently State of Origin was on, so they watched and I did too. Continue reading
Trolling through the interwebs, as you do, you oft come across things that you save for later:
This “Little Bear” is a simple model (I have little time today) that I had saved for later but do not know who the designer is, sorry. Continue reading
…little ball of fur! Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr purr purr:
When I saw this model, I was fascinated by the whiskers, and wondered if I could fold it at the scale I had origami paper for.
After finger-nail breaking manipulations, I managed to form the head complete with colour changed whiskers and was happy with my first fold. Continue reading
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
Tomoko Fuse is a living legend in the Origami Community, her designs are numerous, intricate, ingenious and challenging to fold:
This is a 12 part modular with double-locks, frilly bits and framed holes in each face. Continue reading
Scratching around for something to fold, I stumbled across a 2-part modular that I had filed in the “must try” pile:
LED displays are part of my past, little blocky symbols that were all the rage before screens went pixels and graphical. Continue reading
Jono sent me a link to the new trailer for the coming series of Game of Thrones:
Seems like big things are set to happen in the seven kingdoms.
Knights in shining armor in this series are rarely shiny at all, often dirty, lacking honor and glory – such is the reality of war. Continue reading
So it is Wednesday, ‘Hump Day‘:
Silly season in the assessment calendar, lots happening and a 2do list from hell.
This is Eduardo Clemente’s ‘Camel’ – a dromedary or bactrian (who knows the difference?) Continue reading
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
Looking around for a chess board in origami was fun, there seem to be a few out there, including a few that use only 1 sheet of paper and a million creases to perform the necessary colour changes for the squares:
I discovered I could not source paper large enough to make a playable chess board, so looked for alternatives and stumbled across Joseph Wu’s modular chessboard. Continue reading
