887: (337/365) Tree Topper

Always looking for a nice Xmas tree topper, this little angel is designed by Leonardo Pulido Martinez and was presented in one of my BOS journals:

Had accuracy (and my Spanish) been better, I would also have hands (fingers) on this little model but I started with an almost square and crease drift occurred towards the end. Continue reading

886: (336/365) Second-Level Octospiral

Paper fractals are fascinating self-repeating/reducing designs that are relatively new in the origami world:

This 2nd-level “Octospiral” is a model I saw in one of my last BOS journals before my membership lapsed. Designed and modified by Roman Diaz, Endre Somos and Meenakshi Mukerji, it is a delightfully dense spiral that, theoretically, could keep reducing inside itself indefinitely. Continue reading

885: (335/365) Trefoil Knot

In topology, a branch of mathematics, the trefoil knot is the simplest example of a nontrivial knot:

This is Kevin Hutson’s design, well CP really, that I sort of just nutted out after mis-folding it 4 times and uttering some bad words (sorry Mum). The observant amongst you will notice that it starts and finishes at the same point – like a mobiius strip on acid. Continue reading

884: (334/365) Pegasus

In my list of “models to try someday” was this model designed by Takashi Hojyo:

A complex management of points, this lovely rendition of a Pegasus has much to love. The wings, legs and general morphology are very pleasing to the eye but not easy to achieve as a fold. Continue reading

883: (333/365) Cake Tin Liners

…then my wife casually asked if I could line some cake tins:

A simple fold, unequalled as a way of protecting a fruit cake from extended baking – the outer layer is 35cm square kraft paper, inner is 25cm greaseproof paper, they fit snugly in the tins. Later they will protect the maturing cake as it regularly bathes in rum. Continue reading

882: (332/365) Brian Chan’s Fiddler Crab

…yes, I know I am behind, but I have been busy and my brain is fairly broken. As part of the cleanse I took a 35cm sheet of washi and decided to try Brian Chan’s Super-complex “Fiddler Crab” model, never entertaining the notion that I would achieve the model, but rather just to fold for the love of it:

My fold-philosophy on this gig was to faithfully (well, as faithfully as I could) follow the hideously complex fold sequence and sort of just stop when I could go no further. Step 53 alone took me over an hour and a half to achieve – I just could not get my head around what was happening in the sparsely diagrammed model. Continue reading

881: (331/365) Nativity Scene

People I work with know my OCD tendencies. When it was casually suggested that I might consider folding a Nativity scene for the end of year celebrations, it was a forgone conclusion that I would:

The assembled figures (each nearly 30cm tall) form quite a striking display – hopefully one that works for the display space – we shall see. Clearly Christmas is just around the corner, with this scene, it is beginning to look a lot like … well … christmas.

We have on the left, 3 kings, bringing gifts (bronze waterbombs are quite the thing this year). Centre there is an angel, looking over a mother, father and child. Bringing up the rear is a random shepherd … because … the scene needed balance.

880: (330/365) Seated Mother

So the challenge to render a more feminine figure, seated, as if tending something was on:

Using a variation of the generic judaian I managed to change the head, add knees and change the posture so sitting is suggested. Continue reading

879: (329/365) No Crib for a Bed

So, I needed some furniture, and thought of a feed trough, but had to invent one:

Folded from a smallish square, this has trough and some rather nice legs, but does not look very comfortable. Continue reading

878: (328/365) Holy Infant

So the next challenge was to render a babe, in swaddling clothes:

Using principles garnered from an adult fold, I sort of MacGuivered a larger-proportion head, wrapped the body and presto. Continue reading

877: (327/365) Generic Judaian

…now when you want to fold someone from ancient Jerusalem, the options are few and far between. I stumbled across a design, again by Max Hulme, that will, with modification, do nicely:

My generic Judaian is wrangled from a 50cm square of thick Kraft paper, and ends up being about 25cm tall all up. Continue reading

876: (326/365) Angel

Cruising around the internet, as one does, I stumbled across a thumbnail graphic of a diagram that appears somewhere else and sort of just worked it out:

This is loosely based on an angel design by Max Hulme. Continue reading

875: (325/365) Cat in Box

It is a well known fact, in households that own a cat, that when there is a box, your cat will, at some time, be in that box:

It has taken me a while to get around to perfecting this fold – it is designed for a larger sheet but I managed to achieve it on a 17.5cm square. Continue reading

874: (324/365) Fifteen Degree Cat

There are many strategies when designing an origami figure – many of them originate in a number of degrees as the main division:

This cat is based on angles of mainly 15 degrees, different to 22.5 degrees that is usual from bisecting right angles twice. Continue reading

873: (323/365) Elephant Trophies

When an orange clown decides that rich stupid people should be allowed to hunt wild animals for fun, hack bits of them off and use them as trophies it makes me cross:

When that same “ass hat” orange clown then tweets that he might change an existing law to allow this banned activity to happen again (presumably so his stupid rich family can go shoot things again) it SHOULD make the world furious. When will ENOUGH BE ENOUGH? Continue reading