I have this image in my head – last day of Dalek highschool, a bunch of Daleks more and more excitedly rattling off “Matriculate! Matriculate!”:
Yesterday another cohort of seniors left school to join the journey to the next phase of their life. I am blessed to have taught some of them. For a teacher there is no greater gift than an enquiring mind that wants to learn. Continue reading
Always on the lookout for a cute model, I saw this design shared freely on Fakebook by it’s creator:
This is “Little Pig” by Hung Cuong Nguyen, a lovely rich and complex model that seems to eat paper like … well, like a pig. Lovely round body, beautiful ears and a tail I decided needed to be curly. Continue reading
Exam invigilation is one of the most boring things that exists, when possible I fold repetitive things during them (thus allowing me to be vigilant and productive):
This is a 30-piece modular ball made from Ekaterina Lakasheva’s “Nymph” module – simple tab and pocket creations folded from 7.5cm squares. Continue reading
For what seems like an age, Australia has been torn apart by a divisive postal survey that the incumbent government decided was the best way to determine what the right thing to do was:
Ignoring world trends, common decency and justice, we “voted” on whether 2 people who love each other should be allowed to marry. Labelled the “Same Sex Marriage Debate”, it became an embarrassing mud slinging match as conservative bigots surfaced all sorts of reasons why this was a bad idea.
Thankfully, the majority (61%) of Australians said “Yes”, this (theoretically) now means the government has a MANDATE (hahaha, sorry, my inner 7 year old took over for a moment) to change our constitution so “Marriage” becomes a union between a loving couple, regardless of gender, orientation, hair colour, religion, IQ or political ideology. Continue reading
It is a commonly held belief that Goldfish have a short-lived memory:
I have no idea if this is true, but suspect it is complete bunk. Continue reading
This time of year is horrible. The plain truth of it is that, for a teacher, we have more marking than a reasonable person can do, and deadlines that seem impenetrable:
I guess it is why teachers in Australia are payed the big bucks, right? Continue reading
The online Origami community is rich and supportive. Last night Kade Chan shared his publicly diagrammed “Iris Butterfly” diagrams via Fakebook and knew I had to try it:
I used a fake US dollar bill, but it is actually designed for a Hong Kong dollar (which I think is a little less long and a little wider) – the proportions of the note would change the wing shape subtly. Continue reading
The poppy has become a symbol of remembrance, reverence and honour:
A humble flower capable of thriving in the harshest of conditions, flourishing under duress with a beautiful, if short-lived ephemeral flower. Something existential to learn here for all of us. Continue reading
…yes, I know, a day late but, meh! Always on the look out for fascinating geometry, I had put this 6-part Rhombicuboctahedron, designed by David Mitchell, in my “fold this when you get a moment” pile:
6 relatively simple modules interlock to make a fascinating ball-like structure but the devil is in the details. Continue reading
I always find it remarkable that with relatively few folds, we can hint at a shape so familiar that our minds go nuts and full in the visual context:
This is Roman Diaz’s “Casa Illusione”, a faux 3D dwelling that nicely plays with light, angle, perspective and proportion.
I chose to fold it white (Casa Blanca) with a terracotta roof, and imagine it perched on some Tuscan hillside, awaiting my return after a hard day wining and dining at some cantina.
Now I am as much a fan of Game of Thrones as the next person, but I do like a good ice zombie as a baddie:
This is Nick Robinson’s “Hairy Man”, but I think it is much more demonstrative of an icy undead monster. Continue reading
I saw a photo sequence of a tessellation that was fashioned into a box and knew I had to try it:
Well, I say tessellation, but really this is just one molecule, but it is none the less beautiful. Continue reading
You know, I thought I understood Pizza, then I went to Naples, Italy, and realised I knew nothing about pizza at all:
There are moments in your life when things just make sense – that moment of clarity where the perfect combination of crushed tomato, basil and mozzarella on a thin crisp base spends 90 seconds in the wood fired oven and emerges perfect in every way. Continue reading
The traditional world of Origami has many classic folds, it is constantly amazing to me how few of them I have actually folded:
This is a traditional jumping from – well, at least one version of it. The mechanism is simple and relies on paper thickness to provide a spring on the back legs. You gently press between the back legs and as the paper flips out from under your finger, the frog hops – ingenious. Continue reading
Sometime a simple model has a charm of its own:
This tadpole is a relatively simple exercise in box pleating to isolate tail and back legs but the shaping is lovely. Continue reading
